Hello everybody and welcome back to Endless Ocean. Today’s post is going to be a little different from the rest because I am actually going to talk about a BBC show called Blue Planet II. It is part of a series called blue planet where the world famous English broadcaster and natural historian David Attenbourah talks about the world’s oceans and the animals that fill them. Most of the series is talking about the animals however in episode 4 and 7 he talks about plastics and how we as humans are affecting our planet. David talks about many different issues that plastic has in the oceans. For instance he states that, “The oceans are under threat now as never before in human history,” and “Surely, we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet?” he added. “The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.”.

What David is saying is that we have enough information on plastic to be able to change the direction our earth is heading in. The “Blue Planet II ” series has mainly focused on the changing of seas and oceans, and more importantly the impact that humans are having, including through plastic pollution, overfishing, hunting, and damaging tourist practices. However, despite David taking a very serious approach to the topic he leaves people on a positive note by saying, “We are at a unique stage in our history,” and,  “Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about it.”

I really do recommend going to watch this series because it does give you a very good insight to what we have been doing to the oceans and more importantly what will happen if these actions continue.  

Hello everyone! Today’s post about the age old question of what is plastic? The definition of plastic is any synthetic or semisynthetic organic polymer. I know confusing, but in simple terms it means while other elements might be present, plastics always include hydrogen and carbon. Most industrial plastic is made from petrochemicals however plastics also may be made from just about any organic polymer. Furthermore, the name “plastic” comes from plastics ability to deform without breaking. 

According to ThoughtCo some different properties of plastic are:

• Plastics are usually solids. They may be amorphous solids, crystalline solids, or semi crystalline solids (crystallites).
• Plastics are usually poor conductors of heat and electricity. Most are insulators with a high dielectric strength.
• Glassy polymers tend to be stiff (e.g., polystyrene). However, thin sheets of these polymers can be used as films (e.g., polyethylene).
• Nearly all plastics display elongation when they are stressed that is not recovered after the stress is removed. This is called “creep.” 
• Plastics tend to be durable, with a slow rate of degradation.

Also another interesting fact about plastic is that they take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. Moreover, even plastic bags can take from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose. 

Hello everybody and welcome back to Endless Ocean. Today I will be talking about single use plastic; what it is? How do we use it? And how we can reduce our single plastic use. 

Single-use plastics are used only once before they are thrown away. For example, things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging are all single use plastic. In my research it shows that we produce roughly 300 million tons of plastic each year and half of it is disposable! World-wide only 10-13% of plastic items are recycled. Although plastic will not breakdown into natural substances it will break down into small particles over the course of many years. During this process of breaking down, the plastic releases toxic chemicals which make their way into our food and water supply.

According to the Green Education Foundation 10 ways to reduce single use plastic are:

1. Stop using plastic straws, even in restaurants. If a straw is a must, purchase a reusable stainless steel or glass straw
2. Use a reusable produce bag. A single plastic bag can take 1,000 years to degrade. Purchase or make your own reusable produce bag and be sure to wash them often! 
3. Give up gum. Gum is made of synthetic rubber, aka plastic. 
4. Buy boxes instead of bottles. Often, products like laundry detergent come in cardboard which is more easily recycled than plastic.
5. Purchase food, like cereal, pasta, and rice from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container. You save money and unnecessary packaging. 
6. Reuse containers for storing leftovers or shopping in bulk.
7. Use a reusable bottle or mug for your beverages, even when ordering from a to-go shop
8. Bring your own container for take-out or your restaurant doggy-bag since many restaurants use styrofoam. 
9. Use matches instead of disposable plastic lighters or invests in a refillable metal lighter. 
10. Avoid buying frozen foods because their packaging is mostly plastic. Even those that appear to be cardboard are coated in a thin layer of plastic. Plus you’ll be eating fewer processed foods! 

For more information go to:

http://www.plasticfreechallenge.org/what-is-single-use-plastic

http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/nationalgreenweeksub/waste-reduction-tips/tips-to-use-less-plastic.html

This weekend I had the chance to help our environment. I went to a beach in Kuwait with a club from school called Roots & Shoots. We spent an hour and a half just picking up garbage and trying to clean up the beach. If more people around the world took just an hour out of there day to group together and go to a beach, forest or even the street and pick of plastic/garbage it would make a huge difference to the amount of garbage being put into the oceans. 

Not only is it good for the environment oceans it can also be a social gathering and a way to meet new people. Most people never realize that they do not have to make a huge difference in their life to improve the amount of plastic polluting our ocean a few minor changes could go a long way in the world. 

The packaging is key when it comes to protecting food, also to ensure high standards of quality and avoiding waste. However, one-third of waste from houses is made up of food packaging. This means about 80% of the packaging is wasted after being used only one time. It is believed that there are around 100 million tons of garbage drifting in the oceans. Most of which are plastic food packaging containers and plastic bags. 

Many places around the world especially ones that are farther away from central hubs have increased use of plastic ad that is because it takes a long time for shipments of food to get to them. That is something that we as people can not change, but some things that we can do to reduce the amount of packaging used in our daily lives are:

• Use more fresh produce
• By in bulk not in individual packaging
• Use reusable zip lock bags for storing food

https://www.packagingstrategies.com/blogs/14-packaging-strategies-blog/post/89981-the-use-of-plastic-on-food-packaging-problems-and-solutions

In 2014, it was estimated that 15 to 51 trillion microplastic particles were floating in the oceans. The plastic weighing between 93,000 and 236,000 tonnes. As one of the most common types of single-use plastic, straws usually are used only one time and then thrown away. However, straws are only one of the issues of unnecessary plastic pollution.

Plastic straws are very widely used, and many types of straws cannot be recycled because of the chemicals they are made from. Most plastic straws are also not biodegradable, therefore they cannot be broken down by bacteria into materials that are not harmful to our bodies.

Straws are prone to ending up in our water, and in the end the oceans, because of littering.

To help:

• Simply replacing cheap and disposable plastic straws with reusable stainless steel, glass, or biodegradable paper alternatives is an easy way to cut down on plastic pollution

https://www.aza.org/from-the-desk-of-dan-ashe/posts/how-do-straws-hurt-the-environment

The litter caused by the use of plastic bags is not only on land but also predominantly in the ocean. Plastic bags impart heavily to the formation of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean. It is estimated to be twice as big as Hawaii and according to the program director of Wild Studies Institute, since all drains lead to the ocean, 80% of all the debris found in the ocean starts from a source on land. 

Some of the main negative impacts of plastic bags are:

• They are bad for wildlife
• They cost a lot of money to clear up
• They use limited natural resources
• They take years to decompose (around 1,000 years)

Ways to prevent using plastic bags:

• The decline of plastic bags when offered.
• Bring reusable bags instead
• Recycle plastic bags
• Re-use the plastic bags

To lean more about how reusable bags are could for oun enviroment check out this link:

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-so-bad-about-plastic-bags/

In reality, more than 800 marine species are affected by debris plastic. For example, 44% of seabirds and 40% of aquatic mammals suffer from ingesting discarded polymer items that have made their way into the ocean. Sea turtles, whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions are only some of the living beings that suffer due to this widespread type of pollution.

Furthermore, another main issue with the use of plastic water bottles is that it takes a very long time for the plastic in water bottles to biodegraded. Moreover, only 10% of recycled plastic has been recycled more than once up to this date. However,  newer polymer materials can be processed back to their raw states, then reshaped into virgin plastic products. This means we have the ability to achieve progress, and it is up to us to do something about it.

Now enough about the negative stuff lets try and think about solutions and what we can do to help. We can:

• Cut down on the single-use plastic products you use
• Travel with a reusable water bottle when you’re on the go
• If you do use plastic products, recycle appropriately

https://www.korwater.com/blogs/the-well/how-reusable-water-bottles-help-the-environment

https://waterisaright.com/bottled-water-effect-environment/