A couple of days ago I was photographing at the beach in Oostende.
Cirripeds
Turnstone and sanderling
Knot
When suddenly my attention was drawn to the vast amount of plastic on the beach.
Over the last 60 years plastic has become central to our lives and mankind has subjected the planet to a tsunami of plastic waste. Around 300 million ton of plastic are produced each year. We have produced more plastic in the last 10 years than we did in the whole of the last century and this plastic production is having a huge impact. Year after year it requires vast amounts of limited oil reserves (approx. 8%), equal to the amount used by the whole of Africa.
Almost half of the plastic we use is used just once and is then thrown away. But is that the end of it?
It is thought that about 10% of plastics annually produced, end up in marine environment. But plastic is so indestructible that when you discard it, it does not go away. It does not degrade, it does not disappear.
Samson and beach debris
Almost 58 % of the marine litter found can be attributed to shoreline and recreational activities, such as beach-picnicking and general littering. This must be avoided in the future.
Cleaning up what is there (to stay), that is another story.
I always thought this ocean pollution by plastics and especially degraded microplastics was irreversible. Only yesterday I saw this interesting TED presentation (click here). So, there might well be future possibilities to redeem the oceans of their (at least floating) debris?
Mussels growing in the plastic debris. It is known that mussels filter their microscopic food items out of the water. Studies have proven that plastics are ingested as well.
Think about what happens when oystercatchers eat these mussels?
Oh and by the way: plastic particles in the oceans attract toxins, that subsequently enter the food chain. A food chain that we are at the top off.
Dag Karl,
Knappe post, en goed dat deze problematiek de laatste tijd wat meer onder aandacht wordt gebracht. Veel dierlijke slachtoffers van de vervuiling in de actualiteit, die Midway film van Chris Jordan, etc. Het is echt erg gesteld! Wat is die TED presentatie eigenlijk?
Je kan op die link klikken he. TED talk zijn altijd lezingen door mensen die… iets te vertellen hebben.
Aha, had niet gezien dat dat een link was 🙂 klinkt lichtjes geniaal zeg!
No idea about TED’s lecture as I wasn’t there (although the Dutch translation of his name sounds ok) but, after reading this, it’s crystal clear for me that, we as real men, must keep united and associated with our most trusted mussel free from all kinds of plastic! Haha! Sorry for dropping this dumb reaction guys, but I am on the end of a period at school (those kids really are one big a fatigue) and not into an empathic modus related with the current state of the full swing ecocide episode our human planet is goes through these days . With a growing up daughter of six I must confess I do ignore, block and avoid more and more all these kind of doom messages. Instead I do look into the opposite direction and try to offer an alternative with my europesbig5 project. Let’s hope Karlito, when we return from our ultimate Spain departure (leaving from next weekend on), there isn’t any trace of plastic visible on your pictures related with all those top predators (lynx, brown bear, wolf, wild cat, otter, eagles and vultures) you will shoot! Buena fortuna y suerte amigo!
Maybe the mussel and the rubbers we want to prevent entering in it, is a good way to sensitize, Jan.