THE KYOTO PROTOCOL AND THE INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS ARE NOT THE STEPS WE ALL NEED TO TACKLE THE PLASTIC DEBRIS IN WORLD OCEANS AND IN OUR DAILY FOOD TODAY.
POLLUTED WATER HAS A LOT OF SIDE EFFECTS. HERE ARE SOME.
1.” “A POD OF MORE THAN 150 SHORT-FINNED PILOT WHALES BEACHED AT HAMELIN BAY, ABOUT 300 KM (180 MILES) SOUTH OF PERTH IN AUSTRALIA ON FRIDAY. MOST OF THEM HAVE DIED AFTER LYING ON THE BEACH OVERNIGHT”. MARINE SCIENTISTS THINK SOME THEORIES WHY WHALES BECOME STRANDED IN SHORE ARE THEY MAY BE INJURED OR SICK AND ARE PUSHED BY CURRENTS OR ARE TOO ILL TO SWIM. SOME SHIPS USE SONARS AND THEY BECOME CONFUSED OR INJURED. THE CHANGES IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT (LOW- HIGH TEMPERATURES AND POLLUTED WATER) COULD CAUSE THEM TO BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY…” ( BBC NEWS. WHY DO WHALES GET BEACHED? MARCH 23, 2018).
2. PLASTIC STRAWS FROM DISNEY CRUISE LINE ARE POLLUTING OUR OCEANS (CARE 2 PETITION. DISNEY CRUISE LINE, PLASTIC STRAWS POLLUTE OUR OCEANS)
THE FOLLOWING QUOTES ARE ALL FROM YOUTUBE: OCEANS, THE MYSTERY OF PLASTIC.
3.” THERE ARE PLASTIC BOTTLES FROM THE 60´S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEANS, AND ACCORDING TO JENA JAMBLE, WHO HAS BEEN DOING RESEARCH ON PLASTIC IN THE OCEANS, BY 2025 THERE COULD BE TEN TIMES AS MUCH PLASTIC AS THERE IS TODAY. SHE ALSO STATES PLASTIC ONCE IN THE OCEANS NOTHING CAN BE DONE SINCE IT´S NOT POSSIBLE TO TRACE IT OUT. FRANCOIS GALGANI SAID WHEN OCEANS HAVE NO CURRENTS PLASTIC BOTTLES GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEANS.”
4. “WITH THE PASSING OF TIME PLASTIC BOTTLES,PLASTIC BAGS AND ANY OTHER OBJECT MADE OF PLASTIC GOING TO THE OCEANS END UP BECOMING MICRO PLASTIC UNITS.”
5. “MICRO PLASTIC UNITS ARE MADE UP OF:
5.1. POLYETHYLENE, WHICH IS USED TO MAKE PLASTIC BAGS.
5.2. AND POLYPROPYLENE, WHICH IS USED TO MAKE BOTTLES CAPS AND MILK BOTTLES AMONG MANY OTHERS.”
6. “MICRO PLASTIC UNITS ARE MOVING ALL THE TIME IN THE OCEANS ACCORDING TO AMERICAN SCIENTIST RACHEL OVART, SPECIALLY WHEN THEY GET INTO THE OCEANIC TURNS. BIOLOGIST LUCY WOODALL CONTACTED RICHARD THOMPSON AND TOLD HIM SHE HAD FOUND SMALL REALLY COLOURFUL PLASTIC PIECES. SHE ALSO TOLD HIM IN 2015 560 SPECIES EITHER ATE PLASTIC OR GOT CAUGHT UP IN IT.THIS FIGURE MULTIPLIED BY 2 IN 2 YEARS. EVERYONE IS A VICTIM HERE: BOTH PREY AND PREDATOR, WHALES AS WELL AS PLANKTOM ( THE BASE OF THE FOOD CHAIN) ARE SUFFERING.”
7. “IN 2014 MARIA LUIZA PEDROTTI AND GABY GORSKY DID A 7-MONTH RESEARCH AND FOUND PLASTIC IN THE NETS THEY THREW TO THE OCEANS. THEY SAID PLASTIC IS PART ALREADY OF THE MARINE ECOSYSTEM.”
8. “ECOTOXICOLOGIST CHELSEA ROCHMAN ( TORONTO, CANADA) SAYS PLASTIC IS A CHEMICAL COCKTAIL, AND ONCE IN THE WATER IT ATTRACTS OTHER CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES. IF AN ANIMAL EATS ANY OF THOSE IT CAN TRANSFER TO ITS ORGANISM. FIRE RETARDANT IS PART OF PLASTIC AND THAT IS WHAT IS FOUND INSIDE ANIMALS WHO EAT IT. ANY 8-9 MONTH FISH KIDNEY HAS TUMORS AND THIS IS NOT NORMAL. THE REASON BEHING THAT IS PLASTIC COMBINED WITH OTHER CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES.”
9. “FOR SOME SCIENTISTS THE IMPACT OF PLASTIC ON OUR BODIES IS NOT IMPORTANT BUT ACCORDING TO OTHER SCIENTISTS SUCH IMPACT IS REALLY IMPORTANT. HOWEVER, EVERYBODY AGREES THERE ARE REASONS TO GET ALARMED SINCE SUCH MICRO PLASTIC UNITS ARE IN OUR AFOOD.”
10. “IN A STUDY OF FISH IN CALIFORNIA AND INDONESIA THEY FOUND PLASTIC IN 25% OF THE FISH, AND IN 1/3 OF THE OYSTERS. IN ¼ OF THE FISH MICRO PLASTIC UNITS WERE FOUND.”
11. “COLIN JANSSEN WORKS IN GANTE ENVIRONMENTAL TOXOLOGY DEPARTMENT AND IN ONE OF HER STUDIES ON MUSSELS SHE FOUND PLASTIC IN ALL OF THEM. ACCORDING TO THAT STUDY ANY PERSON EATING MUSSELS WOULD EAT ABOUT 11.000 MICRO PLASTIC UNITS A YEAR. THAT STUDY FOCUSED ON THE PCB CONCENTRATIONS TO INVESTIGATE THEIR DAMAGING POTENTIAL. SHE SAYS THOSE MICRO PLASTIC UNITS ONCE IN THE STOMACH FROM THE INTESTINAL WALLS CAN MIGRATE TO THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM FOR EXAMPLE, BEING ABSORBED BY TISSUES, AND WE DO NOT KNOW THE REAL EFFECTS ON HUMAN BEINGS.“
12. MARIA LUISA PEDROTTI WHO WORKS IN AN OCEANOGRAPHIC LABORATORY SAYS “THERE ARE MANY CRUSTACEANS AND ALGAE STUCK ON MICRO PLASTIC UNITS ALL OVER THE MEDITERRANEAN”. “ ACCORDING TO MARIA LUISA PEDROTTI THE AMOUNT OF MICRO PLASTIC UNITS HAS A HUGE IMPACT ON THE BIODIVERSITY AND THE TRANSFERENCE OF PATHOGENIC AGENTS.”
13. MICROBIOLOGIST LINDA AMARAL-ZETTLER (MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION) DID A RESEARCH ON MICRO PLASTIC UNITS. SHE TOOK A LITER OF SEA WATER AND FOUND “1000 MILLION BACTERIA AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SMALLER ORGANISMS AND MICROBES, AND SHE ADDED A MICRO PLASTIC UNIT TO IT. SHE FOUND THAT BY ADDING THAT MICRO PLASTIC UNIT THE WHOLE PATHOGENIC COMMUNITY WAS BEING TRANSFORMED. ERIK ZETTLER HAS A SAMPLE OF THAT INCUBATION AND THE FOLLOWING THINGS CAN BE SEEN THERE :
1. A POLYP PACKED WITH DIATOMS
2. A PROTOZOAN COVERED WITH LOTS OF BACTERIA WHICH END UP SPLITTING UP INTO MORE AND MORE.3.
3. MANY ORGANISMS STUCK TO THE MICRO PLASTIC UNIT. ONE OF THEM REALLY CAUGHT LINDA AND ERIK´S ATTENTION: VIBRIONS. THEY ARE INTERESTING BACTERIA SINCE SOME OF THEM CAUSE DISEASES IN HUMAN BEINGS AND ANIMALS. VIDRIONS ARE SOMETIMES 25% OF THE MICROBIAL LAYER OF A MICRO PLASTIC UNIT. SOME OF THOSE BACTERIA ARE CARRIERS OF CHOLERA. TRACY MINCER, A COLLEAGE OF LINDA AND ERIK, STATES VIBRIONS HAVE DEFECATION MECHANISMS WHICH ALLOW THEM TO STICK TO MICRO PLASTIC UNITS REALLY FAST AND REALLY FIRMLY. THOSE BACTERIA HAVE SUCH GENETIC CHARACTERISTICS THAT THEY MANAGE TO STICK TO THE INTESTINAL WALLS OF FISH, THREATENING MARINE SPECIES.”
THE PARIS AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO FORCE IN 2016 AND THEY AGREED ON LOWERING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND LIMITING THE TEMPERATURE INCREASE. WHEN TALKING ABOUT “AMBITIOUS” GOALS WE EXPECT TO SEE TRANSPARENCY IN THE WAY SUCH GOALS ARE ESPRESSED. WE EXPECT TO SEE ONE REAL AMBITION GOAL WHICH IS THE FOLLOWING: ALL COUNTRIES SHOULD AGREE ON ELIMINATING PLASTIC BAGS DEVELOPING A NEW TECHNOLOGY FRAMEWORK, LIKE FOR EXAMPLE BIODEGRADABLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BAGS. “PLASTIC BAGS CAN BE MADE “OXO-BIODEGRADABLE” BY BEING MANUFACTURED FROM A NORMAL PLASTIC POLYMER (I.E. POLYETHYLENE) OR POLYPROPYLENE INCORPORATING AN ADDITIVE WHICH CAUSES DEGRADATION AND THEN BIODEGRADATION OF THE POLYMER (POLYETHYLENE) DUE TO OXIDATION. BIODEGRADABLE IS THE MOST USED AND ABUSED AND MISUSED WORD IN OUR DICTIONARY RIGHT NOW. IN THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH, BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS BREAK UP INTO SMALL PIECES THAT CAN MORE EASILY ENTER THE FOOD CHAIN BY BEING CONSUMED“, ACCORDING TO RAMANI NARAYAN, A CHEMICAL ENGINEER AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY IN EAST LANSING, AND SCIENCE CONSULTANT TO THE BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS INSTITUTE. WHILE OXO-BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC MANUFACTURERS CLAIM THAT THEIR BAGS ARE RECYCLABLE, MANY PLASTIC FILM RECYCLERS WILL NOT ACCEPT THEM, AS THERE HAVE BEEN NO LONG-TERM STUDIES ON THE VIABILITY OF RECYCLED-CONTENT PRODUCTS WITH THESE ADDITIVES. FURTHER, THE BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS INSTITUTE (BPI) SAYS THAT THE FORMULATION OF ADDITIVES IN OXO FILMS VARIES GREATLY, WHICH INTRODUCES EVEN MORE VARIABILITY IN TH RECYCLING PROCESS. SPI RESIN IDENTIFICATION CODE 7 IS APPLICABLE. SINCE MANY OF THESE PLASTICS REQUIRE ACCESS TO SUNLIGHT, OXYGEN OR LENGTHY PERIODS OF TIME TO ACHIEVE DEGRADATION OF BIODEGRADATION, THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION´S GUIDE FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS, COMMONLY CALLED THE “GREEN GUIDE”, REQUIRE PROPER MARKING OF THESE PRODUCTS TO SHOW THEIR PERFORMANCE LIMITS. THE FTC PROVIDES AN EXAMPLE: ” A TRASH BAG IS MARKETED AS “DEGRADABLE”, WITH NO QUALIFICATION OR OTHER DISCLOSURE. THE MARKETER RELIES ON SOIL BURIAL TESTS TO SHOW THAT THE PRODUCT WILL DECOMPOSE IN THE PRESENCE OF WATER AND OXYGEN. DEGRADATION WILL BE IRRELEVANT FOR THOSE TRASH BAGS THAT ARE INCINERATED AND, FOR THOSE DISPOSED OF IN LANDFILLS, THE MARKETER DOES NOT POSSESS ADEQUATED SUBSTANTIATION THAT THE BAGS WILL DEGRADE IN A REASONABLY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME IN A LANDFILL. THE CLAIM IS THEREFORE DECEPTIVE“ (WIKIPEDIA-BIODEGRADABLE BAG).
ALL THOSE MANY PAGES ON EFFORTS, GOALS AND THE PROGRESS WE ALL WANT AND NEED MEAN NOT MUCH UNLESS THEY ARE SPECIFIED IN CLEAR, WELL EXPLAINED ACTIONS THAT WE CAN SEE SOON AND PARTICIPATE WITHIN THEM AS WELL.
WE URGE WORLD LEADERS, GOVERNMENTS, THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) AND THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL SCIENCE-POLICY PLATFORM ON BIODIVERSITY ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (IPBES), TO PROVIDE US WITH THE BIOPLASTICS WE REQUEST BECAUSE WE ALL NEED THEM SINCE OCEANS DO NOT DESERVE THAT MUCH FILTH, AND SHOULD NOT COPE WITH SO MUCH MORE AS UNFORTUNATELY THEY STILL DO TODAY. GOVERNMENTS, WORLD LEADERS AND SUCH PLATFORMS SHOULD PROVIDE US ALL WITH BIOBASED BAGS MADE UP OF VEGETABLE WASTE LIKE CORN, CAULIFLOWER, CARROT, PARSLEY, RADICCHIO AND OTHER VEGETABLES THE SOONER THE BETTER SINCE WE ARE REQUESTING SUCH TO THEM. THE CONSEQUENCES OF SO MUCH PLASTIC ALL OVER THE OCEANS ARE ALREADY AFFECTING US SINCE SOME OF THE FISH WE EAT ARE POLLUTED BY THE MICRO PLASTIC UNITS AND THE VIBRIONS THEY UNCONSCIOUSLY EAT. THEREFORE AS SOME FISH´S INTESTINES ARE POLLUTED SOME PEOPLE WHO EAT THOSE MAY BE AFFECTED IN SOME WAY BY SUCH TOXINS. SUCH TOXICOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL RISKS SHOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE SINCE PEOPLE´S HEALTH IS AT RISK. OCEANS BALANCE IS ALREADY AT RISK AND ALL BECAUSE OF LOBBIES INTERESTS AND WORLD LEADERS AND GOVERNMENTS INABILITY TO ADAPT TO NATURE AND SEE WE ARE ALL TO RESPECT NATURE, OCEANS AND FISH SINCE WE DO NOT OWN ANY OF THOSE, AND WE ARE TO MANAGE THE BEST WAYS TO RECYCLE TOXIC WASTE LIKE PLASTIC, INSTEAD OF DESTROYING WHAT WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR.