Our Plasticized Oceans: Cleaning Them Up One Pound at a Time

By Frosty Wooldridge

The magic of www.4ocean.com cleaning plastic out of our oceans.

Back in 1963, my brother and I hoisted scuba tanks over our shoulders to dive in John Penne Kamp National Park on the south coast of Florida. We enjoyed stunning beauty, pristine reefs and a world of underwater wonders.

By 1967, Dustin Hoffman starred in the movie “The Graduate” where a mentor told him, “You got to get into plastics man…plastics are the future.”

Unfortunately, in 2018, the future landed on all of us with plastics to the tune of 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris torturing the world’s oceans. (Source: Julie Whitty, OnEarth Magazine, Ocean Plastics) That horrific number of plastic pieces floats on the surface or descends to the bottom of every ocean, sea, lake, river and pond in the world. Oceanographer Julia Whitty tabulated that 46,000 pieces of plastic float on every square mile of oceans around the world.

Plastics today reside in the tissue of fish, birds, whales, dolphins and turtles. It’s permeating the entire food chain as it disintegrates into tiny pieces ingested by sea life.

Before 1978, American cruise ships jettisoned it, military fleets tossed it overboard and regular humans around the planet still toss 3.5 million pieces of plastic into the oceans 24/7. Scientists calculated that 16 billion pounds of plastics land in the oceans annually. (Source: www.4ocean.com)

In 2018, 1,000 miles off the coast of San Francisco, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” floats 100,000,000 (million) tons of plastic between two gyres. (ocean currents) It expands to the size of Texas and reaches 30 to 60 feet deep in places. It represents humanity’s disregard, disrespect and outright savagery toward the planet and all living marine life.

Marine and avian life eat plastic bottle caps that look like food. It chokes their digestive systems for an agonizing death. It kills millions of seals, turtles, sharks, whales, dolphins, seagulls, pelicans and countless other species living in our oceans.

How plastics kill ocean life:

https://vimeo.com/296933090?from=outro-embed

When Oprah Winfrey exposed the 60-million-ton Great Pacific Garbage Patch 20 years ago, I felt the world’s leaders might gather in a conference to create a financial incentive of 25 cents on every piece of plastic sold in mercantile stores worldwide. That price would command everyone’s attention for 99 percent returns of all plastic pieces. Instead, every country in the world ignored the “Patch” so that today, it houses 100,000,000 (million) tons of plastic and kills even more marine life.

In the last decade, two surfers, Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper saw the beaches and oceans flooded with plastic. They decided to act. Please examine this short video to get an idea of their quest: Removing plastics from our oceans:

https://vimeo.com/293234389

If the video doesn’t distress you, or it doesn’t disturb you, or it doesn’t make you angry at how humans continue destroying our planet home—then, continue to do nothing.

However, if these videos make you sick to your stomach, how about putting your anger, frustration and distress to work like those two surfer boys? How about taking action in your own community or state to create a 25-cent deposit recycling law for all plastic containers? Or, how about speaking to your two U.S. senators to create a federal 25 cent deposit-return law for the United States?

If you’re too busy for those actions, how about donating $20.00 or $100.00 to buy bracelets, a symbol of your concern, from www.4Ocean.com . They will pick up one pound of junk out of our oceans with that donation. They will pick it up in 27 different countries with people who WILL take action because you bought bags, equipment and machinery to do the job.

If you feel called, pass this commentary around to your friends. They may become outraged enough to donate $1,000.00, $50,000.00 or more. We MUST change our deliberate destruction of our planet.

20. worst choice you can make: feel that you can do so little that you do nothing at all. You will never miss the $20.00; and you can do so much good to bring about positive change on your planet’s oceans for yourself and your kids.

I bought my bracelet with a seabird theme. You can donate for sea turtles, whales, sharks and more with color themes that fit your style. Once you join, share this with your friends. Let’s create a national movement to make our world a thriving environment for all life.

Contact them and buy that bracelet: www.4ocean.com

Vaya con Dios!

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