The presentation by Capt. Charles Moore at Town Hall Jan 25 was very interesting and at the same time profoundly unsettling. To hear him talk about his book, Plastic Ocean, and his discovery of the North Pacific garbage patch and the profound changes that are occurring out of sight of our terrestrial world brought the reality of our situation home. We are at a critical tipping point and to save ourselves we must change the way we look at and participate with the ever shrinking planet.
Everyone understands the analogy of the canary in the mine.
Charles Moore talked about how during his night trawls they were finding small fish (Myctophids) filled with plastic shards in their gut. The Myctophids have a large mouth that allows them to eat the plastic, but the plastic doesn’t break down and so can’t be passed out of the gut. This one fish spices comprises nearly 55% of the weight of all fish in the oceans. Myctophids are a critical base for the food web that all other creatures including ourselves rely on for a healthy and plentiful ocean ecosystem. I believe the Myctophids are the Canary and we are ignoring a very serious problem. We should not be surprised if we find one day soon the roof has started to cave in on us.
I was glad to hear the talk because it highlighted the fact that Metamorphic Gear is working on a very important issue. The venue was sold out and there were people out the door waiting to get in. It is great to know that the issue of plastic pollution is getting such a high level of attention and interest. The money that we are donating from the purchase of the bags will go to necessary work in our world.
We do have the ability to change course, but the time to act is now! As we all are part of the problem we all need to be part of the solution. It is not enough anymore to just not use the plastic shopping bags at the store, but it’s a good place to start. There needs to be a reworking of how we use and make plastics. We need to remove plastics from our day to day life. Start working with your local legislators to create plastic bag bands in your city. I had a chance to chat with Mike O’Brien at the presentation; he has been working hard to bring about the plastic bag ban in Seattle. Are plastic bags banned in your area?
Try opening up Capt. Charles Moore’s book and get some perspective, it’s a good primer for taking action.