Piles of trash twice the size of texas, in our oceans?
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
United States
June 29, 2008 9:07am CST
The albatross chick jumped to its feet, eyes alert and focused. At 5 months, it stood 18 inches tall and was fully feathered except for the fuzz that fringed its head.
All attitude, the chick straightened up and clacked its beak at a visitor, then rocked back and dangled webbed feet in the air to cool them in the afternoon breeze.
The next afternoon, the chick ignored passersby. The bird was flopped on its belly, its legs splayed awkwardly. Its wings drooped in the hot sun. A few hours later, the chick was dead.
John Klavitter, a wildlife biologist, turned the bird over and cut it open with a knife. Probing its innards with a gloved hand, he pulled out a yellowish sac — its stomach.
Out tumbled a collection of red, blue and orange bottle caps, a black spray nozzle, part of a green comb, a white golf tee and a clump of tiny dark squid beaks ensnared in a tangle of fishing line.
It's all part of a tide of plastic debris that has spread throughout the world's oceans, posing a lethal hazard to wildlife, even here, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest city.
Layasan albaotross scour the ocean surface for this sustenance, albatross encounter vast expanses of floating junk. They pick up all manner of plastic debris, mistaking it for food.
Of the 500,000 albatross chicks born here each year, about 200,000 die, mostly from dehydration or starvation. A two-year study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that chicks that died from those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs as those that died for other reasons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is so sad:( I just dont understand how the trash gets there, i mean that much just from rains washing some into the ocean and wind?. There was mentioned a few ships that lossed like 33,000 nike shoes and 29,000 plastic rubber duckies or somthing in thoes ranges.. i imagine thats from diffrent companys ordering from over seas,but i assume if they loose it they dont just leave that stuff there. I HOPE anyways.
And also,why hasnt it been cleaned up?. i mean im sure it will take awhile to do so. as they say its twice the size of texas,But how come we never hear of them outthere cleaning it up. taking ships out there loading yp coming back and going back out. what do you think about all this?..Albatross are by no means the only victims. An estimated 1 million seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic nets or other debris every year. About 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate.
this just saddens me so much:(
2 people like this
3 responses
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
1 Jul 08
this saddens me but I know that we americans are damned'careless where we put our garbage. along the beach at Newport beach are dozens of trash containers yet you caN walk along the beach and find pop bottles, pop cans, plastic rings from cans, and all sorts of other trash just thrown on the sand where it will wash down into the Pacific ocean where else did they think it would go,or
no they did not think or even care. lol.
1 person likes this
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
2 Jul 08
Were is newport beach??.... i dont think people think about it before they do it. its the satisfacton they get out of it at that time.
sad that we do that..
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
29 Jun 08
We as the buying public are the blame for this atrocity because we don't protest all the packaging that is used for the products we buy. Almost every thing we purchase is covered in plastic of some kind. We are such a rich nation and we are also very spoiled. As a nation we think nothing about the waste that we create. When we get tired of things we just throw them away and go on to the next new product out there. Just maybe the high price of gas will get us to start slowing down with the waste. I don't have any idea how that particular mess could be cleaned up. It would be interesting to see what kind of ideas that would get it cleaned. I imagine that all that garbage is just floating out there in the ocean. Could it be cleaned up by dragging some kind of net trough the water. If so then what about all the water life would be caught with the trash. Maybe the cure is worse than the problem.
1 person likes this
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
30 Jun 08
thanks so much for you responce it is greatly valued:)
1 person likes this
@Gargoyle0134 (1257)
• United States
29 Jun 08
This could be changed wiht better packaging of all products that is minimal and recyclable.
1 person likes this



