The dangers of plastic waste

[jd.linklater]

Here are a couple of videos showing the damage and distress caused to sea creatures as a result of plastic waste being dumped in our oceans. Very harrowing to watch especially the second one, not for the squeamish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRiTABRQOjk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wH878t78bw&feature=youtu.be

[littleme61_6]

So awful for these Turtles, they must have been in great pain. Just so pleased those caring men came across them to help as they did. Hopefully many will come across this video, and on the net, to realise just what can happen with discarded items on the beach, eventually to be washed out to sea and cause this type of trouble.

[celticthebhoys585]

Sorry but I looked at the incompetants using a pair of pliers like -what the f are you doing. Leave the creature alone and leave it to people that know what their doing.I got half way and coundn't look anymore at imbeciles. They may have been trying their best,but for **bleep**.Probably did more harm to the poor creature than they intended.

[jd.linklater]

I did say it wasn't easy to watch. If the turtle had been left to its own devices it would have had difficulty breathing and probable suffered a slow agonising death. I don't see the point in criticising people who were giving it their best shot to relieve an animal's suffering. 

[bankhaunter]

There is a patch of about 1,750,000 square miles of floating plastic in the Pacific alone.

It is gradually being broken down into even smaller pieces, seabirds thinking it's food are feeding their young with it and some is so small fish are eating it along with the harmful chemicals that accumulate on it.

[jd.linklater]

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@bankhaunter wrote:

There is a patch of about 1,750,000 square miles of floating plastic in the Pacific alone.

It is gradually being broken down into even smaller pieces, seabirds thinking it's food are feeding their young with it and some is so small fish are eating it along with the harmful chemicals that accumulate on it.

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That patch has been sitting there slowly degrading for 50 years or more and it is still growing, and it's not the only patch in existence. This stuff has entered the food chain of several sea creatures and has already been observed in the digestive systems of humans, how long can it be before microscopic particles enter our bloodstreams or maybe even starts replicating itself within our DNA? When that happens there will be a kind of poetic justice to it all, like a divine retribution for the careless way we've treated the planet and its other inhabitants. We have been destroying things since we first became able to think and ultimately we will reap what we sow.

http://marine-litter.gpa.unep.org/documents/World's_largest_landfill.pdf

[aand2136-voqfz8yx]

That's awful

When I lived in Shetland we got involved in "Da Voar Redd Up"; basically spending time clearing the beaches etc of such rubbish. It's done annually. We only did one small cove and the amount of junk was astonishing; we must have had 7/8 black bin liners and I bet we only picked up half of it.

[mikes*corvettes]

I think I read somewhere that the beached whale off the coast of Norway early part of February,which had to be euthanized.,during the autopsy they found thirty carrier bags blocking it's intestine so it was unable to feed.