Plastic Stew - Tapped: World Water Week

Plastic Stew - World Water Crisis - Tapped World Water Week

The mission of Plastic Pollution Coalition is to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, the environment, and wildlife worldwide. ...more »

Plastic Pollution Coalition provides a platform for strategic planning and coherent communications; increases awareness and understanding of the problem and sustainable solutions; and empowers action to eliminate the negative impacts of plastics on the environment, wildlife, marine life, and human health.

TUESDAY – MARCH 23, 2010

The idea to make Tapped all began with the discovery of the plastic stew, twice the size of Texas located between San Francisco and Hawaii. I remember the exact day our Executive Producer, Michelle Walrath sent me a link to a video of the Garbage Patch. All I could think was, "How can people not know about this?" At the time, the Garbage Patch had two times as much plastic as it did plankton. By the time we did our interview with the Captain who discovered the Garbage Patch, Charles Moore, it had 46 times more plastic than plankton.

And now, as I sit down to write this, we are learning that there may be four more similarly large garbage patches in our other oceans. One newly discovered garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude—roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia. How does something like this happen?

Captain Moore took us to Kamillo Beach in Hawaii, which is an area where a lot of the debris from the Garbage Patch washes ashore. Instead of sand, we saw miles and miles of plastic.

So what can we do about it? Sadly, we can't take back what we've already put out there. Much of the plastic has been broken down in to particles so small that fish mistake the slivers for food. At this point, the best thing we can do is prevent this tragedy from growing. Standing on a beach made of plastic really makes you look at everything you buy differently.

I had been naïve enough to think recycling alone was enough. The only thing we can do is to stop putting plastic in to the ocean. Be more aware of the way things are packaged, say no to plastic bags, don't buy Styrofoam cups, order less take out (or bring your own containers when you do), stop drinking bottled water, reduce, reuse, recycle and REFUSE plastic.

In the words of the great Captain Charles Moore, "Convenience is the mantra of the 21st century. We're binging on convenience…" And the Earth is paying the price.

Reduce your bottled water use! Take the pledge to only use bottled water when absolutely necessary. Take the pledge »
Or become a fan of Get Off the Bottle on Facebook: Become a Fan »
Carry a refillable water container (we like Klean Kanteens) rather than buying bottled water. Production, transportation, and disposal of bottled water consume large quantities of water (and energy). You can actually conserve water by switching from the bottle to the tap. You can find out how the water quality in your area is here: EPA.gov »

Read More »

by Anna Cummins

“Looks like we found the Atlantic Garbage Patch”.

Standing on the bow of the 72-foot Sea Dragon, our crew gazed silently at a trail of brown seaweed mats peppered with countless pieces of plastic trash. Bottle caps, shot gun shells, toys, flip-flops, and buckets marred the delicate, leafy-brown plants, gently floating this synthetic load of urban detritus.
Read More »