Reduce plastic consumption!

I wanted to use a much more creative title, such as "Plastic: NOT fantastic!" or "The Garbage...er...Cabbage Patch Kids" or “Stuck in the Plastic Doldrums.” But I didn’t want to obscure the actual message behind the post, because it’s such an important one.

Perhaps you’ve heard of this horrendous thing mankind has accidentally created called The North Pacific Ocean Gyre. It's also called "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch," and the name that to me sounds the most shocking: "The Pacific Trash Vortex." The name alone conjures up an image of some huge swirling mass of plastic and waste that could swallow up any creature that ventures nearby! Although the North Pacific Ocean Gyre isn’t exactly a whirlpool threatening to consume any object that nears it, it does have its share of threats to be taken seriously.

This huge gyre is where all the plastic that’s been swept out to sea is broken down into tiny plastic fragments, often too small to be noticed by unaware sailors, or worse, by unaware marine creatures. These minute plastic particles, caught in the doldrums of the sea, basically just get stuck there until they get eaten. Since plastic was made to be durable and stay forever, it never decomposes like other materials; it just keeps breaking down smaller while retaining the same durable properties. This means that small fish and jellyfish end up eating the plastic bits along with plankton, and these harmful bits work their way all the way up the food chain to us! While we sit around and worry about BPA in our water bottles, we could end up eating it in the fish we cook for dinner.

The toxic stew that they call the North Pacific Ocean Gyre could just as well be called the “seafood soup” that we dine on tomorrow! This is an issue that all of us need to start resolving—yes, even those of us in the Midwest! Check back soon for some handy tips on how to use less plastic, and visit us at therecyclingrevolution.com for more information on how to start recycling in Oklahoma.

For a recent news article on the Pacific Gyre, read this Reuters article.