Our Plastic Period--Charles Moore and the Alguita
Charles Moore...ferried three researchers, his first mate and a journalist here this summer in his 10th scientific trip to the site. Photo: Lindsey Hoshaw for The New Times
The issue of plastic in the oceans seems to be growing in the public awareness, although can any of us say that something has really changed? When one thinks about the enormous usage of plastic, not only here, but throughout the developing world, it is difficult to see a solution to what may be an insurmountable problem. The plastic doesn't just float and somewhat degrade into smaller and smaller bits, it is ingested by sea creatures and travels up the foodchain. It is also becoming evident that our casual and regular use of plastic in water bottles and food packaging may be having an insidious effect on us as chemicals leach into our bodies. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times says tellingly that he has confronted extreme African poverty and disease, as well as dangerous warlords but is frankly terrified of the growing amount of bisphenol A or BPA accumulating in his tissues.
One day we may look back on our Plastic Period like boomers on the days of thalidomide babies. While I am not advocating that we all go the way of "No Impact Man" , I am heartened that there is some serious research being done to study the causes and effects of what may become known as our "Plastic Period."
posted by Bonnie @ 7:41 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Bones,
Great writing and research. I love using glass . . . deep blue, yellow. And I constantly use the stainless steel container you gave me, though I've lost the stopper.
love,
mickey (always the first)
me again:
Cinti. tap water boiled for 5 seconds is delicious . . . burns off chlorine, some impurities.
Also, a glass of cool tap water set in the sun for minimum of 2 hours is lovely (also loses chlorine.
Somebody else's turn . . . !
peace,
mickey
Yeah Bonnie, I understand this is becoming all the rage. Yesterday our local rag treated us to an above the fold picture of dead bird whose stomach included, among other wonderful things, a bic lighter. Unfortunately, there seems little we can do short of trailing ships and ticketing them.
Wow, good to hear that this is getting all the front page news. Was the picture something like this?
Really, there is an amazing backstory here. And it’s not about plastics but journalism. The NYT article was written with a grant from a community funded reporting group: people/writers/journalists make a story pitch and people and/or foundations and corporations donate to support it. That’s how Lindsey Hoshaw, the author, wrote the story. She was funded by the group www.spot.us with a $10,000 grant to take a trip with Charles Moore and write a story and take pictures. And the NYT bought it! (I presume that means some of the money went back—I have no idea how that works.)
So, a very cool thing happening. The problem is that, with all of the NYT editing, the article was really not much different than anything else out there, it was basically a recap (as you know, I’ve followed every nugget about this for some time!) The good news, of course, is that it made a bit of a splash being on NYT and the traffic spike on Living Like It Matters proves it!
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