Plastic Beaches, Part 2

Many people are aware that there is a raft of used plastic materials the size of the state of Texas floating in the North Pacific Ocean. This "North Pacific Gyre" is thought to exist because prevailing ocean currents gather plastic garbage and bring it to this area, where it swirls, several feet thick.

Recently, Mark Ward, a surfing enthusiast, has found that huge amounts of ground up plastic particles have washed ashore onto the beaches of Oregon and Washington. These plastics of varying shapes and sizes mix into the sand, disintegrate, release toxic chemicals, and are then washed back into the sea where they absorb even more toxins. Birds and fish ingest these particles, thereby concentrating the toxic chemicals in their tissues.

On the morning of October 2, 2010, Mark Ward and several volunteers visited Crescent Beach in Ecola State Park, near the popular tourist destination of Cannon Beach, Oregon. The group measured off an area, picked up all plastic they could find in the first inch of the sand's surface, and took it to the biology lab of Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon.

Here is part two of what happened that morning.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• plastic
• polystyrene
• polyethylene
• polyvinyl chloride
• plastic pellets
• toxins
• beaches
• gyre
• pacific ocean
• garbage
• pollution

[Progresshiv]

@smartg159 I wish that were true, but America has a wonderful environmental record compared to some countries. All nations have to wise up or face living in cancer-causing garbage.

[smartg159]

yeah and also only in America do they let corporate greed override environment impacts.

[Progresshiv]

@pkeefe20061 Thanks, Mr. K.

[pkeefe20061]

Great film work Perry!