| Picture this -- You get up in the morning, brush your | | | | more disposable minded all of those items are built to |
| teeth and get ready to go to work. Grabbing your | | | | wear out quicker, causing a need to repurchase and |
| travel mug you head out the door to the office. The | | | | toss the old item. Many times this garbage will fall off |
| day is long so you order lunch from that place down | | | | a ship but more than not it comes directly from the |
| the street. You finish up the day and head home, | | | | land. This is possible even when we do not realize it is |
| picking up some take out because your effort to | | | | happening -- next time you see a plastic bag floating |
| cook, after such a long day, is really low. You get | | | | in the breeze think about how far the wind might |
| home, sit down to watch some television with dinner | | | | blow it before it stops, when a bottle whooshes into |
| and finally wash your face and go to bed. | | | | a storm drain after a particularly heavy rain think |
| This day sounds innocent enough, typical of many | | | | about where that waterway ends. |
| people out there in the working world. How could a | | | | One of the quotes from the video series was |
| day like this contribute to what is known as Garbage | | | | particularly striking: |
| Island? Or, more importantly, what is Garbage Island? | | | | "Persistent Organic Pollutants are chemical substances |
| The crew from VBS.tv wanted to find out and share | | | | that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate |
| their discovery with the world. | | | | through the food web, and pose a risk of causing |
| Garbage Island is a swirling current (called the North | | | | adverse effects to human health and the |
| Pacific Gyre) approximately 1,000 miles off the | | | | environment." |
| shoreline of California where accumulated plastics of | | | | - United Nations Environmental Program |
| all shapes and sizes have floated to stay. Since plastic | | | | Bioaccumulation is when substances like harmful |
| does not biodegrade but instead disintegrates into | | | | compounds (toxins) amass, in diverse tissues of living |
| smaller particles, the ocean is the perfect catch basin | | | | creatures. In this example the obvious organism |
| for much of this debris. The crew on this mission | | | | would be marine life but the chain of ingesting toxic |
| discovered everything from birthday balloons to | | | | chemicals grows as birds eat the fish, other fish eat |
| helmets to tires but the most frightening thing of all | | | | the fish and humans eat the fish. Contaminates are |
| was the volume; the ratio of plastic to marine life in | | | | introduced into our daily food supply and are seriously |
| some areas was upwards of 1000:1. Yikes. So where | | | | impacting sustained life of entire species on this |
| did it all come from and how did it end up in the | | | | planet (an example is when a bird goes out to eat |
| Pacific? | | | | and returns to feed their young, the young end up |
| Go back to the day of the average person again and | | | | with stomachs full of plastic as opposed to the |
| instead of being so vague let's detail some of the | | | | essential nutrients they need to survive and they |
| places in this story where plastics could have been | | | | perish as a result). |
| used. | | | | So what can we do? Can we physically clean up all |
| You get up in the morning and hit the off button of | | | | the pieces that are already there? Unlikely. Can we |
| the plastic alarm clock beside your bed. Brush your | | | | make an attempt to stop putting more into the |
| teeth with a plastic toothbrush. Women apply | | | | ocean? Absolutely! |
| makeup (housed in plastic containers, using brushes | | | | The most important thing we can do with all |
| with plastic handles); men shave their face (using | | | | non-biodegradable plastics currently available is extend |
| either an electric razor encased in plastic or a | | | | their life span. When we act as consumers we need |
| disposable plastic razor). You grab your insulated | | | | to think of the total life cycle of the item in question |
| travel mug with the plastic lid, jump into the car (I | | | | -- how long do we intend to use the item, what do |
| can not even fathom how many plastic pieces are | | | | we do with the item at the end of its life? If we are |
| utilized in a car) and head into the office. Using your | | | | throwing it away we should be conscientious as to |
| plastic badge you enter the building, sit down in your | | | | how we do so -- do we recycle our plastic or throw |
| plastic based office chair, turn on the plastic based | | | | it in the trash, is there a way to reuse it, can we |
| computer and work until lunch. At lunch you order | | | | upcycle the item into something functional that may |
| soup and a salad from the deli down the street; each | | | | last long beyond the initial intended life span? |
| are stored in a plastic container. You head home and | | | | Opening our eyes to the issue and reducing our |
| stop for take out (in a Styrofoam [plastic] container | | | | dependence on disposable plastic products is the first |
| of course) and turn on the plastic based television | | | | step in fixing the problem and the video that VBS.tv |
| while eating. After an evening of scrolling through the | | | | shared is a fantastic eye opener. To learn more |
| channels using the plastic based remote you wash | | | | please visit the link below. Be aware that the twelve |
| your face with that stuff you love that comes in the | | | | parts (plus the five minute extra) are an approximate |
| plastic tube and finally, go to bed. | | | | run time of a little over an hour and some very |
| On the lowest level this person used fifteen plastic | | | | colorful language is used throughout. It is well worth |
| based items in one day. As our society has become | | | | putting that aside to watch and learn. |