Taking responsibility for our ocean trash
What can one person do to cut down on the amount of plastic in the ocean? How about picking up 560 pounds of garbage from the shoreline?
Wed, Feb 17 2010 at 9:06 PM EST
Photo: Lepiaf.geo/Flickr My friend Jaymi Heimbuch (who guest blogged here a couple weeks ago) did an interview with Current TV's Leah Lamb to talk about Lamb's project to remove nearly 600 pounds of plastic from the ocean — the amount she calculated she's been responsible for putting into the seas over her lifetime. If you're not familiar with the giant problem that is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, click over and check out Russell McLendon's animated walkthrough here on MNN.
We all share the blame for this one, at least those of us living in the developed world. We all use plastic — it's nearly impossible not to these days — and we all have shared responsibility for the various massive islands of plastic soup found in various gyres around the world.
Leah is taking that responsibility seriously and is actually doing something about it — she's committed to picking 560 pounds of garbage out of the ocean, 15.12 years for every year she's been alive.
Leah: count me in. I live in Portland, Maine, and have easy access to plenty of shoreline in need of some pickin' up. My 32 years means I have to pack up 484 pounds of trash.
How about you? Will you pick up (your age x 15.12) pounds of trash from the ocean?
Read more about ocean garbage patches:
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Comments
Phillep Harding
02/22/2010 19:43 PM
"We all share the blame for this one, at least those of us living in the developed world. "
Yes, plastic is a problem. Yes, the developed countries are responsible for some of it. Do not leave the developing countries or the undevelopable countries out of this, though. Not unless you want to contort logic and lay on some version of "white man's guilt" or "white man's burden".
Go take a look at those "15 most toxic places..." article in this very web site. "Citarum River, Indonesia"?.... More
