Plastic pollution in our seas

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Nikki S

"new clothes only twice a year?......the heady days of consumerism a thing of the past?" Are you kidding. I have bought my 13 year old new clothes only twice in his life....and that was probably because i couldn't find a second hand school uniform that fit in time for school to start. my point is not to blow my my own bugel, (I like everyone in my town contribute to the problem because we are powerless to stop buying even our groceries packaged in plastics), but to point out that consumerism is not a thing of the past; That we are billions of people with very differing realities, views about what constitutes a lot of stuff, a lot of waste, and very different circumstances..... wish i had an ingenious solution

The section you quoted was from an article I copied and pasted..
I had to suffer the humiliation off tailored down corduroy Oxford Bags that were my fathers.. this in an age when Elvis was changing fashion with tight trousers and chisel toed Cuban heels..

[HopCar]

One of our local waterfront restaurants has started an organization to get restaurants to stop using styrofoam to go packages. They are also switching to biodegradable soda straws. It’s a start.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by HopCar

One of our local waterfront restaurants has started an organization to get restaurants to stop using styrofoam to go packages. They are also switching to biodegradable soda straws. It’s a start.

It is a start however the problem is not necessarily with the end user. It may have sounded like a quip about recycling glass bottles, be it milk, soda or beer.
Milk in wax coated paper quarts, etc, etc.. it's apparently more cost effective to use oil, pollute the atmosphere to make not degradable plastic. I'm by no means a "tree hugger" but wake up kids. I'm pushing 75 so it's not going the affect me. Using plastic for durable goods is one thing. Using it for disposable items is another story.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Thanx Gordon :-) Seeger was a man ahead of his time in so many respects.

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Marketplace show recently stated that the average Canadian adult buys SEVENTY "fast fashion" garments A MONTH! And that only 1% of ALL discarded textiles are recyclable in the sense Seeger means in the above lyrics. 70%, claims Marketplace, of articles placed in "recycling" receptacles in retail outlets, for what Marketplace calls the purpose of "green-washing", are exported to "third world countries", and that in Kenya, for one such, 40% of all discarded textiles, shipped there by "recyclers" in the employ of these "green-washing" retail organizations, are dumped in landfills because they are surplus to demand!

Actually, the story says 70 new items per year, but you’re absolutely right TP, it is crazy. I can’t even comprehend how people can go through that much clothes in year — heck, in a decade! I get the fact that if you’re working you need a larger wardrobe, but this amount is insane.

I was going to start a thread on this subject. As cruisers, we are quite limited in the amount of clothes we can carry. I don’t even own 70 individual items (I just counted, and got to about 40). And I have too much.

<iframe src="//www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1140999747915" width="960" height="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1140999747915/

It’s no wonder our global environment, including the oceans, are awash in our crap. But of course, this is but one example of the insane consumerism that now drives most Western economies.

[TrentePieds]

You are right Mike, it was 70 per YEAR. But that's better'n five a month, which blew my mind! I still darn socks as MySaintedMother taught me. I have Harris Tweed jackets ("accountant's uniform") that are forty years old, still fit, and still look perfectly respectable. Brogues that are certainly 20 years old, and likewise perfectly respectable. I sometimes wear a sixpenny cap left to me by my father. I recall his wearing it in the mid-50s.

I have a "golden rule": If something is advertised on the telly or in the glossy mags, I will not buy it new. I will not buy glossy mags with one exception: Woodenboat :-) If I really, really need something, I will find it "new-to-me". My "suggested purchase price" is 10% of the new article's sticker price. That goes for everything from kitchen gadgets to cars to boats and their gear. I have a very comprehensive collection of tools acquired over the years by application of that principle. Three years ago I acquired a quite excellent 2HP cabinet saw. For free :-) Consumables, such as batteries, are a different matter, of course. My policy there is to buy new, buy the best, and take good care of them while they last.

"Make it last - Make it do - Use it up!" is as valid a precept now as it was when I was a lad. I was 'radicalized" a very long time ago :-)!

TP

[JPA Cate]

I don't know if it should be in a different thread or just carrying along in this one, but we've had some suggestions of small things we can do in the meantime. Well, some stores offer recycling containers for plastic grocery bags, that's pretty helpful, makes it easy for people who've collected excess on their boat or land home to get them turned into something useful.

Something I find easy, is any time I go for a walk, I bring a small plastic sack with me, and I pick up blown trash, which then gets put in a trash bin. It's only a little, one person's effort, but the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.

For cruisers, you will find some places that burn plastic stuff rather than put it in the earth or sea. Not the greatest solution, perhaps, but if it can't be recycled, what're you going to do? At least the plastic bits don't then go to kill fauna.

Anyhow, I'd be delighted to see a whole thread relative to what can cruisers do to leave a clean wake? It involves a whole lot of different ideas. I really liked the one where the chap is composting his office's coffee grounds, what a good idea! At work and at play, being seen to do something constructive will be consciousness raising for someone, we can hope.

Ann

[Mike OReilly]

I just came across this news item. Seems relevant to the original post: Bahamas To Ban Plastic Bags

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

You are right Mike, it was 70 per YEAR. But that's better'n five a month, which blew my mind! …

Me too! It’s a stat that I just can’t stop thinking about. I am quite sure I haven’t bought 70 new (or even used) clothes items in the last decade, let alone the last year. I realize I’m an outlier on a lot of this stuff, but it still boggles my mind that 70 items per year is the average

The piece makes the point that this is an increase of over 400% compared to the 1980s. It is clearly connected to the explosive growth of so-called “fast fashion."

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

I have a "golden rule": If something is advertised on the telly or in the glossy mags, I will not buy it new. I will not buy glossy mags with one exception: Woodenboat :-) If I really, really need something, I will find it "new-to-me”….

It’s good advice. I avoid ads as much as possible. I don’t watch normal TV, rarely buy glossy publications, and quite purposely block advertising on the Web (including here on CF). People who claim they are immune to advertising are mostly likely deluding themselves (so says the science of persuasion). The best solution is to avoid exposure.

[YPSILANTI]

Seems we should all be going against the soft drink producers, ie ABI / Coca Cola. The bottles cause much pollution and in particular, the red plastic caps. They're a big culprit, Surely we should be extending the cause against numerous plastic item and not just bags. The problem wont go away if just bags are banned, although, of course, it will help. Birds are injecting the caps and it blocks the digestive tract causing a painful death. Very sad to see.

[Robert Tilbury]

Happy Australia day to all in OZ ,
yesterday i was on the shoalhaven river ( about 2 hours south Sydney ) (my home town Nowra ) ,
So as its a long weekend i thought take some friends fishing at the same time check out the mooring lines on tessie , so we are putting up the river and bugga me i see a guy trow a plastic bag into the water ,, i pick it up go over and hand it back ,,, he didn't argue to much as there were 5 big blokes from the Harley club on board so i used the time to ask why he thought it was ok ?
His answer was its ONLY A BAG MATE !
So i grabbed my phone and showed him the pic i posted last week ,
Then i said your shiny boat mate ,,, WHAT if you cooked it if the bag wrapped around the water intake ,,
$10,000 for a cooked power head would be a real bad day on the water !

WELL BUGGA ME >

we saw him at the boat ramp telling off a guy for dropping a bag ,,

I say well done !

We need to keep spreading the word .

[uspatriot]

I went from pattaya to koh larn island a week ago, you could navigat by following the trail of plastic and empty m150 bottles

[Mike OReilly]

Here’s a news item referencing some current research on the impact of plastics on coral:

Plastic ocean litter boosts deadly infections in corals

[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Here’s a news item referencing some current research on the impact of plastics on coral:



Plastic ocean litter boosts deadly infections in corals

There should be bans on plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers. We see too much of both in the water.

Reusable shopping bags is a solution for the first. Congratulations to places that no longer allow stores to use disposable plastic shopping bags.

Biodegradable paper containers is a solution for the second. It means cutting down trees but that is a renewable resource at least.

[sailnautilus]

Every human on the earth should watch this documentary.....The Plastic Ocean.
Of particular interest to those of us plying the seas.....
Free and available on the internet...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6zrn4-FfbXw

You will never look at the ocean in the same way.....

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Originally Posted by krafthaus

There should be bans on plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers. We see too much of both in the water.

Reusable shopping bags is a solution for the first. Congratulations to places that no longer allow stores to use disposable plastic shopping bags.

Biodegradable paper containers is a solution for the second. It means cutting down trees but that is a renewable resource at least.

Amen to that. Thirty years ago when I lived in Germany we took string bags to the market to carry our purchases home. Way back then the Germans were recycling all kinds of things, and in true German fashion, there was one bin for green glass, another bin for clear, and a third for brown, and god help you if you put a green bottle in the clear glass bin.......;-) But for a country the size of Oregon with 60 million people living there it was essential to reduce the waste and maximize re-use & recycling. It ain't that hard.

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by AJ_n_Audrey

Amen to that. Thirty years ago when I lived in Germany we took string bags to the market to carry our purchases home. Way back then the Germans were recycling all kinds of things, and in true German fashion, there was one bin for green glass, another bin for clear, and a third for brown, and god help you if you put a green bottle in the clear glass bin.......;-) But for a country the size of Oregon with 60 million people living there it was essential to reduce the waste and maximize re-use & recycling. It ain't that hard.

Well it certainly seems hard, at least to the majority of people I know.

When bombarded by a 24/7 stream of corporo-capitalistic incentives (demands?) to consume newer/better/more; it's a rare bird indeed who can constantly stave off the pressure not to consume frivolously and unnecessarily.

Would be interesting to see the percentage change of content/advertising in media, listed decadely from the 60's...

My favorite pet peeve are the soft soap dispensers. I have no backup, but I bet water is still cheaper than fat and lye (if that's still what they make soap out of...); taking a shower at a friends house the other day, there were 11 different plastic pump or squeeze bottles around the tub alone.