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Ok, we’re going to bring it down for a moment.
Ever since I watched “Planet Earth” I’ve been on this big kick about…you know…planet earth. I know that you are going to roll your eyes and think “Oh Brooke” because this doesn’t sound like me at all, but I’m reading this sciencey book called “The World Without Us” and I don’t understand 60% of it but what I do follow is fascinating. I just read this chapter and it sort of deeply affected me and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all day. I don’t ever really think about being green or recycling or anything but I was reading this chapter about plastic, specifically about “nurdle spills” along the coastlines. Nurdles are little balls of plastic that are used to be melted down with other nurdles into whatever needs to be made (containers, packaging etc.) they are like, the embryos or genesis of plastic. Anyway, nurdles are constantly being spilled out from factories and dumped into the oceans where they are mistaken by marine life for small fish. Inside dead puffins and coastal birds they are finding literally POUNDS of nurdles. Not to mention plastic rings, even DOLL PARTS. Plastic has only been used this excessively since world war 2 ended so no one really knows the effects it has on the environment but they are discovering that it really doesn’t breakdown at all. And if the sun is able to break it down it just corrodes it and the chemicals seep out. Therefore, even the tiniest little zooplankton are beginning to die from plastic particle intake. Not to mention whales caught in nylon nets etc. They find entire plastic bags in some animal carcasses. In the ocean between California and Hawaii there is this swirly spot where, due to the wind changing etc everything sort of stands still. Now motorized boats are able to explore there like never before and are discovering that all the trash that blows around blows into this spot in the ocean. While most of it eventually breaks down, a lot doesn’t. Therefore, it’s an ocean spot full of plastic. Bins and wrapping and all kinds of things. The rest of the trash is long gone, and the plastic remains. Not only is it injuring marine and coastal animals both internally and externally, it’s releasing really toxic chemicals into the world once it does breakdown. This is after only 50 years too. They have no idea what’s going to happen. Even if we completely ceased all plastic production, this damage is irreversible. We live in a society that makes it hard to imagine boycotting plastic, it is handed to us multiple times a day in the form of soda bottles, plastic bags, even our office supplies and home supplies are primarily made of plastic. I’m not suggesting we become radicals, and I don’t think we are hypocrites if we care about helping the environment even though we still succumb to the new norms of society. I think it is a matter of being thoughtful in regards to how we are handling things. It’s just something to think about. We can’t all fight for EVERYTHING because we would run ourselves ragged and live a pretty exasperated and angry life I think. But, each person should have their causes. And if you find yourself affected more deeply than usual by things like nurdles I think you should stop and take notice of that. So that’s all I’m doing. We’ll see where it leads.
I just found it really upsetting.
Even though it is kinda funny that they are called nurdles.
Ok, we’re going to bring it down for a moment.
Ever since I watched “Planet Earth” I’ve been on this big kick about…you know…planet earth. I know that you are going to roll your eyes and think “Oh Brooke” because this doesn’t sound like me at all, but I’m reading this sciencey book called “The World Without Us” and I don’t understand 60% of it but what I do follow is fascinating. I just read this chapter and it sort of deeply affected me and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all day. I don’t ever really think about being green or recycling or anything but I was reading this chapter about plastic, specifically about “nurdle spills” along the coastlines. Nurdles are little balls of plastic that are used to be melted down with other nurdles into whatever needs to be made (containers, packaging etc.) they are like, the embryos or genesis of plastic. Anyway, nurdles are constantly being spilled out from factories and dumped into the oceans where they are mistaken by marine life for small fish. Inside dead puffins and coastal birds they are finding literally POUNDS of nurdles. Not to mention plastic rings, even DOLL PARTS. Plastic has only been used this excessively since world war 2 ended so no one really knows the effects it has on the environment but they are discovering that it really doesn’t breakdown at all. And if the sun is able to break it down it just corrodes it and the chemicals seep out. Therefore, even the tiniest little zooplankton are beginning to die from plastic particle intake. Not to mention whales caught in nylon nets etc. They find entire plastic bags in some animal carcasses. In the ocean between California and Hawaii there is this swirly spot where, due to the wind changing etc everything sort of stands still. Now motorized boats are able to explore there like never before and are discovering that all the trash that blows around blows into this spot in the ocean. While most of it eventually breaks down, a lot doesn’t. Therefore, it’s an ocean spot full of plastic. Bins and wrapping and all kinds of things. The rest of the trash is long gone, and the plastic remains. Not only is it injuring marine and coastal animals both internally and externally, it’s releasing really toxic chemicals into the world once it does breakdown. This is after only 50 years too. They have no idea what’s going to happen. Even if we completely ceased all plastic production, this damage is irreversible. We live in a society that makes it hard to imagine boycotting plastic, it is handed to us multiple times a day in the form of soda bottles, plastic bags, even our office supplies and home supplies are primarily made of plastic. I’m not suggesting we become radicals, and I don’t think we are hypocrites if we care about helping the environment even though we still succumb to the new norms of society. I think it is a matter of being thoughtful in regards to how we are handling things. It’s just something to think about. We can’t all fight for EVERYTHING because we would run ourselves ragged and live a pretty exasperated and angry life I think. But, each person should have their causes. And if you find yourself affected more deeply than usual by things like nurdles I think you should stop and take notice of that. So that’s all I’m doing. We’ll see where it leads.
I just found it really upsetting.
Even though it is kinda funny that they are called nurdles.
1 comment:
i remember my "enviormental awareness moment". i was watching "who killed the electric car" and i was crying! that's when i decided that i should pay more attention to the little world that we live in. i mean, i still have my car and i still run the heat and the a.c. but i recycle! ps. i think that nurdles is funny to say!
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