It’s the personal tale of Ivan Macfadyen, a Newcastle
yachtsman who sailed for the second time from Brisbane to Osaka.The first time he did it was a decade ago –
but the Pacific was a very different ocean then, one where flocks of birds
tracked along in his wake scouring the sea for fish. This time, as the title implies, he found an
ocean that had been broken. The birds
and fish and whales that had accompanied him ten years ago, were now replaced
garbage, silence, and wasteful, senseless death.
By no means a happy story,
it was one Macfadyen felt compelled to share.“I wanted to get the word out to everybody I could reach, to tell them,
the ocean is broken,” he said in a follow-up article. “We have to do something and we can’t waste
any more time.”
He’s right.We can’t waste anymore time.The statistics are grim: 3/4 of the world’s
fish stocks are being harvested faster than they can reproduce. Eighty percent
are already fully exploited or in decline. Ninety percent of all large
predatory fish – including tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod and halibut – are gone.
Scientists predict that if current trends continue, world food fisheries could
collapse entirely by 2050.That’s a
terrifying thought when you consider one in five people on this planet depends
on fish as the primary source of protein.
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap. Public Domain, courtesy of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. - See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2013/10/future-ocean-megafauna-world-animal-day/#sthash.iVNNeB4G.dpuf
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap. Public Domain, courtesy of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. - See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2013/10/future-ocean-megafauna-world-animal-day/#sthash.iVNNeB4G.dpuf
Atlantic bluefin tuna
(Thunnus thynnus) ensnared near the mouth of the fish trap.
Biodegradable bags prevent the deleterious effects of plastic on ocean
environments. They break down naturally, and don’t leave harmful chemicals
behind.
As tragic as all of this is,
we need to remember that things that have been deemed “broken” CAN be fixed.We cannot let these statistics paralyze us,
rather let’s use them to motivate us to do even more.
Macfadyen’s words were
potent and sobering enough for his article to immediately go viral via social
as well as mainstream media.It
registered 620,000 unique readers on the Herald site by Tuesday
afternoon, appeared on the front page of Reddit on Monday, was trending in
Melbourne early Monday afternoon, and was even re-tweeted by Jack Dorsey, the
founder and chief executive of Twitter.
He's is hoping he can
harness international public concern about the state of the oceans to help stop
the damage.‘‘I’ve been put in touch
with a lot of people from all over the world who want to help, so it’s a matter
of working out the next step,’’ he said.
Whatever that “next step”
will be could define how we turn this tide.What steps do you suggest? Share your stories with us and join in this "RevelOcean" by following Tide Turners on Facebook and Twitter.
Several years ago, I fell in love with a bird. Now, I know there are people who get really excited about birds. I must admit, I'm not one of them. But this was NOT just any bird -- she was an albatross named Amelia and the indomitable superhero of Carl Safina's book, Eye of the Albatross (2002). As I voraciously read, highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared my way through the pages, I became absolutely smitten with her. Amelia was an explorer, an ultramarathoner, a fabulous mother, and a bad-ass survivor. She was the quintessential embodiment of wildness.
As inspired as I was by her, I was also terrified for her. This extraordinary creature who could literally weather the most wicked of storms could easily be undone by the most seemingly innocuous materials of our every day use: a straw, a bottle cap, a toothbrush. One study of Laysan albatrosses on Midway atoll showed 97.5% of the chicks had plastics in their bellies.
I knew this glimpse into Amelia's life was only the beginning of a deep relationship with this animal. I had to make a film about her and her kind. I immediately contacted Carl Safina and told him that this was a story that HAD to be told visually. Hers was a bird's eye view that had the capacity to reshape how WE look at, and how we act on, our ocean planet. I started working on a treatment, but before I finished, I was hired to work on Our Blue Canoe. My albatross film would have to wait.
In the meantime, another film about the plight of the albatross was made. It's called Midway and it premiered at the Toronto International Film Fest last month. I have not yet seen it, but I am VERY eager to. The images are powerful (watch the trailer below).
I still intend to make a movie about Amelia. I am certainly not one of those filmmakers who believes there is only one way to tell a story about a subject. When it comes to issues that are important, I believe it is vital that we join forces and support each other in order to amplify our message, share our vision, and do what we can in our own individual ways to ignite change.
I had planned to blog about the plastic ocean this week, but in doing my research, I came across this article about the film, Midway and the plastic problem. So in the spirit of amplifying a message, it is my pleasure to repost:
A
forthcoming documentary follows artist Chris Jordan to investigate the
thousands of albatrosses dying from ingestion of plastic from the
Pacific Garbage Patch. The Albatross journey across the sea takes them
over the world’s largest dump: slowly rotating masses of
partially-submerged trash between San Francisco and Hawai’i.
Albatross
scour the ocean surface for sustenance, finding all manner of plastic
debris, bottle caps, lighters, combs, and minuscule photodegradated
(broken down by the sun) pieces of plastic that can be mistaken for
food. Hence, the birds swallow the junk, that perforates their stomach
or blocks their esophagus or gizzard, leading to inability to eat, often
leading to death.
North Pacific Gyre: The Trashing of Midway
Midway
Atoll, also known as Pihemanu, is part of the Hawaiian chain of
volcanic islands, critical habitat in the Pacific Ocean. Three million
seabirds have chosen this circular atoll with three coral islets as
their somnolent rookery, and 250 different marine species populate the
nearby reefs and lagoons. A forthcoming documentary follows
internationally acclaimed artist Chris Jordan to
investigate an environmental tragedy in this remote Pacific paradise:
tens of thousands of albatrosses lie dead on the ground, bodies filled
with plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch.
The documentary “Midway” A film by Chris Jordan.
Chris
Jordan – Director/Producer, Stephanie Levy – Producer, Terry Tempest
Williams – Writer, Jan Vozenilek – Director of photography, Rob Mathes –
Composer, Jim Hurst – Location sound, Joseph Schweers – Camera Manuel
Maqueda – Advisor.
For more information: MidwayFilm.com
One of the Remotest Islands on the Planet
Midway’s
isolation makes it an ideal winter home for most of the world’s
remaining populations of the Laysan, Black-footed, and Short-tailed
albatrosses, as well as fourteen other species of seabirds.
Critically-endangered Hawaiian monk seals raise their pups on the beach,
as well as occasional nesting of green sea turtles. A resident pod of
300 spinner dolphins make the inlets and shore waters home.
Midway’s
isolation makes it an ideal winter home for most of the world’s
remaining populations of the Laysan, Black-footed, and Short-tailed
albatrosses, as well as fourteen other species of seabirds. Photo: Jan
Vozenilek
“The
area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living
Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment
of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world,
and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where
the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and
Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European
settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and
deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and
submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is one of the
largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world.”
An
unincorporated territory of the United States, over 1,000 miles from
Honolulu and almost three thousand from the closest continent, the atoll
has maybe sixty residents, which include biologists, rangers and
support contractors. To understand how this remote atoll became the site
of such an environmental tragedy requires us to look in the mirror and
reconsider our consumption, our waste, and our way of life.
The Plastic Flotsam of Human “Civilization”= Albatross Death Sentence
Of the 500,000 albatross chicks born here each year, about 200,000 die, mostly from dehydration or starvation. A two-year study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that chicks that died from
those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs as those that
died for other reasons. Albatross scour the ocean surface for
sustenance, finding all manner of plastic debris, bottle caps, lighters,
combs, and minuscule photodegradated (broken down by the sun) pieces of
plastic that can be mistaken for food. Hence, the birds swallow the
junk, that perforates their stomach or blocks their esophagus or
gizzard, leading to inability to eat, often leading to death.
On
one of the remotest islands on our planet, tens of thousands of baby
albatrosses lie dead on the ground, their bodies filled with plastic
from the Pacific Garbage Patch. Photo: Chris Jordan
The
pelagic (open ocean) albatross migrates thousands of miles across the
North Pacific Ocean before it arrives to breed at Midway. Seabirds that
scavenge and feed by dipping are valuable biological and ecological
indicators in marine ecosystems, studies of which can illustrate threats to species across the board from climatic and human-related pollution.
The
Albatross journey across the sea takes them over the world’s largest
dump: slowly rotating masses of suspended particles in the upper water
column. This is known as the Eastern Garbage Patch, part of a system of
currents with light winds called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre,
between San Francisco and Hawai’i. Found in varying locations,
scientists have documented these accumulations of submerged debris
can outweigh plankton six to one in sampled seawater. In addition to
plastic, large abandoned fishing (ghost) nets are also a problem, that
beyond seabirds can injure coral reefs and bottom dwelling species and
entangle or drown ocean wildlife.
The most numerous albatross
species on Midway are the Laysans, who have a five foot wingspan
and remain on the atoll for nine months out of the year. They can live
up to 40 years. John Klavitter, a wildlife biologist, estimates that albatross feed through regurgitation to their chicks about 5 tons of plastic a year at Midway.
Chris Jordan, best known for his large-scale art works depicting mass consumption and waste, decided to make the film, MIDWAY: Message from the Gyre, after his photos of the plastic-filled albatross corpses raised an international cry for answers. Jordan is quoted as saying:
The
birds on Midway are like messengers, the canary in the coal mine. When
the canary dies, the miners don’t run over and try to save the canary—
they receive the message that bird just gave its life delivering, and
then act quickly to save themselves. That approach resonates with me
because it doesn’t view the birds as helpless victims that we passively
observe; it places a duty on us to receive their message, and be changed
by it (or not).
Beyond the albatross, studies have
shown up to 1 million seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic nets or
debris every year. About 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins,
other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate. And what
about the humans ingesting seafood nourished by the plastisphere?
Hence,
the impact of plastic on the albatross has a distinct message to us
consumers: our penchant for plastic bottles, wrappers, containers, toys,
fishing floats, do not magically disappear when discarded. They become
deadly.
The Possible Dream: Clean Oceans, Sustainable Humanity
We begin with the encouraging words of MIDWAY’s Director of Photography Jan Vozenilek, “We made this mess, we can clean it up.”
No
one solution will be the answer, but a mix between product stewardship,
plastic reduction legislation, and personal responsibility will make
significant difference.
With regards to cleaning up the gyres, only non-governmental organizations such as 5 Gyres and Algalita Marine Research Institute with their intrepid founder Captain Charles Moore have
studied micro-plastic pollution and its effect on marine ecosystems. It
seems open ocean waters are a difficult place to justify any
one government spending on research and clean up. As
well, trash retrieval from the gyres poses problems because of the
disparate nature of the accumulations and the miles-deep swirling
plastic soup.
Consider the following as potential solutions to the problem:
Waste Reduction (or prevention) is preferred because that which never gets created doesn’t have waste management costs. Zero Waste is an ethical, efficient, economical, and visionary goal guiding
lifestyle changes and practices emulating sustainable natural cycles,
where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for
others to use. Zero Waste means designing
and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and
eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and
recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero
Waste will eliminate the majority of discharges (90%
reuse-recycle-diversion without incineration) to land, water or air that
are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.
Extended Producer Responsibility(EPR)
could make a difference on the production end, placing the legal,
financial, and environmental responsibility for materials entering the
waste stream with the manufacturer, not on the consumer or the local
government at the end of the product’s or packaging’s life cycle. The
end result is a fundamental shift in responsibility and financing so
that manufacturers redesign products to reduce material consumption and
facilitate reuse, recycling and recovery. For more information on Cradle to Cradle Producer Responsibility, see California Product Stewardship Council.
Avoid single-use products such as water bottles, utensils, and plastic bags. Reconsider the use of plastic products. Reusable alternatives could serve the same purpose, designed for durability. Recycle all materials properly. According to the US EPA,
31 million tons of plastic waste were generated in 2010, and only 8
percent of that were recycled. Remember one must also purchase recycled
content products to complete the cycle.
Legislation: (Plastic) Bottle Bill to Reduce Throw-Aways: As
an example, California’s Bottle Bill has increased recycling rates, yet
some argue “loopholes” in the beverage container recycling law exempt
more than 250 million recyclable plastic bottles from the
program. Benefits and costs to this approach are debatable, but more
than 350,000 tons of plastic containers continue to be littered and
landfilled at the same time that plastic processors struggle to get a
sufficient supply of recycled plastic to meet manufacturer demand.
Increasing the use of recycled plastic in manufacturing means both jobs
and reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Legislation: Single-Use Plastic Bag and Polystyrene Ordinances: Plastic
pollution like expanded polystyrene (eps) and single-use bags are among
the most commonly found items during beach and coastal cleanups. These
programs should be expanded worldwide.
Legislation: Safe Chemicals Act: The proposed Safe Chemicals Act, first introduced by Sen. Lautenberg in 2005, would replace the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976 to essentially reverse the burden of proof on chemical safety, and remove endocrine disrupting chemicals from plastics.
Limit your use of disposable plastics, like plastic bags and water bottles.
Carry your own reusable shopping bag and/or water bottle.
Look for products made from recycled materials that have little or no packaging, or packaging that is recyclable.
Try to avoid Styrofoam products—bring your own mug to the coffee shop, and a container for leftovers when you eat out.
Know which plastics can be recycled in your city and recycle!
Make sure all non-recyclable plastics are securely disposed of.
Pick up trash on the street and put it in a trash can.
While
all of these can help reduce plastic pollution, there are many more
solutions out there. Feel free to comment on further ways to reduce our
plastic footprint!
