Comments for Ocean Aid

Comment on Fish Eat Ocean Gyre Plastic. That Means We’re Eating Plastic, Too by Lupus Is

Lupus Is — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:22:28 +0000

Lupus Is…

[...]Fish Eat Ocean Gyre Plastic. That Means We’re Eating Plastic, Too[...]…

Comment on To Make Sustainability Truly Achievable, We Must Include An Economic Component by Sarah Sertic

Sarah Sertic — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:48:01 +0000

I completely understand, I am an owner of a small business that runs on green principals, and for me yes up front there was a bit of a cost- as with any upstart business there are costs. Yet, in the long run I am finding that I am saving a lot of money; I have a paperless office so paper savings alone has cut down spending drastically. I believe that there is money to be made in helping the environment. I fully support having benefits to both small and big business. Thanks for putting this up it really highlights the need for sustainable for big business very well. I’d really love to see an article done for small business as well. None the less again thank you for this informative article.

Comment on So Just What is World Oceans Day Anyway, and Why Should it be the Equal of Earth Day? by регулярный доход

регулярный доход — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:26:19 +0000

регулярный доход…

So Just What is World Oceans Day Anyway, and Why Should it be the Equal of Earth Day?…

Comment on Fishermen Paid to Fish for Plastic, Not Fish. by austen b. hinton

austen b. hinton — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:40:50 +0000

that is going to be the next great thing in helping our planet earth grow towards being alot healthier just like recycling plastic and cans ty for your help but now they just need to get a recycleing bin on the computer instead of a trash can lol and thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment on Hard to Swallow: Images of Plastic Found Inside Marine Animals by karyn pyle

karyn pyle — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:57:35 +0000

Can you imagine the physical pain these animals felt as they died? Blockages in the stomach are extremely painful and this would have been an excruciating way to die. Shame on humanity for allowing this – for causing this. The simple task of having an extra trash can for recycling can save all these animals, but many of us are quite frankly, too self absorbed to take the time to do it. This is the outcome of our greed and selfishness.

Comment on Hard to Swallow: Images of Plastic Found Inside Marine Animals by Llermo

Llermo — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:22:03 +0000

That’s a disturbing site to see wildlife’s diet of what mankind has left or will leave behind. It’s something to think about and hopefully find a better way for what we leave behind a more biodegradable form for any wildlife to swallow…it’s not a pretty site when you see a dead wildlife carcass of what it has eaten while it was still alive. Truly sad of what’s going on.

Comment on The Discovery Channel Sinks to New Depths in Extolling the Extermination of the Swordfish by Anthony Zolezzi

Anthony Zolezzi — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:42:50 +0000

Fair enough, John! Thanks for your kinds words.

Comment on The Discovery Channel Sinks to New Depths in Extolling the Extermination of the Swordfish by john bagdasarian

john bagdasarian — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:23:56 +0000

I think that’s two changes Anthony… sorry, i had to go there. Thanks for the passion and info about this issue.

Comment on The Widening Gyre Of Plastic: Made To Last Forever, Designed To Be Thrown Away by Harold Johnson

Harold Johnson — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:48:49 +0000

I wish recycling was the answer for plastic pollution. Sadly, I’ve picked up far too much stuff washed in off my beach that was already recycled. Recycled stuff is littered or blows out of people’s hands just like virgin stuff. It gets dumped out of recycling bins as much as out of trash cans. It blows off of a recycling truck as much as off a trash truck. It blows out the door of a recycling center just as much as off a landfill. In fact, the best way to keep a piece of plastic out of the ocean is to landfill it so it’s buried or incinerated and taken out of the world. Anything else that’s done to keep that plastic in the world for another lifecycle gives it another dozen chances to escape into the environment.

And as you know, being in the industry, most of what’s recycled is simply down-cycled. A recycled bottle very rarely becomes another bottle. So a bottler has to make a new bottle to replace the stock on the shelf, and a recycler has to make that lump of plastic into something else. Two pieces of plastic created for every one recycled.

Plus, the majority is now sold to China because we already recycle far more than we can actually process here in the U.S. If we increase our recycling rate, that trend will only continue. In China, it’s turned into more extremely cheap plastic junk dumped on our big box stores, where we buy ever more of what we don’t need, because it’s just a buck.

Until bottle-2-bottle becomes fact rather than fantasy (see Coke’s Spartanburg fiasco), and until the world recognizes that our plastic use is going up, up, up instead of down, there will be no end to the amount of plastic entering the ocean. For now, increased recycling will have no positive effect on the debris in the ocean whatsoever.