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This image shows the damage we cause to the living in the ocean.

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En esta página podemos encontrar los daños que hacemos al océano y que podemos hacer para evitarlo

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La vida en la Tierra depende directamente de los mares y océanos. Pero están cada vez más amenazados por los impactos de la actividad humana y el cambio climático.

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Este video trata de las islas de pastico en los oceanos

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En el pacifico norte existe una isla de residuos plásticos que alcanza ya tres veces la extension de españa, denominada la isla basura (isla de plástico).

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A link with some information about the contamination in the ocean

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The entire Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. An ocean gyre is a system of circular ocean currents formed by the Earth's wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is created by the interaction of the California, North Equatorial, Kuroshiro, and North Pacific currents. These four currents move in a clockwise direction around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles).

For many people, the idea of a "garbage patch" conjures up images of an island of trash floating on the ocean. In reality, these patches are almost entirely made up of tiny bits of plastic, called microplastics. Microplastics can't always be seen by the naked eye. Even satellite imagery doesn't show a giant patch of garbage. The microplastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup. This soup is intermixed with larger items, such as fishing gear and shoes.

About 80% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia. Trash from the coast of North America takes about six years to reach the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, while trash from Japan and other Asian countries takes about a year.

The remaining 20% of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from boaters, offshore oil rigs, and large cargo ships that dump or lose debris directly into the water. The majority of this debris-about 705,000 tons-is fishing nets. More unusual items, such as computer monitors and LEGOs, come from dropped shipping containers.

While many different types of trash enter the ocean, plastics make up the majority of marine debris for two reasons. First, plastic's durability, low cost, and malleability mean that it's being used in more and more consumer and industrial products. Second, plastic goods do not biodegrade but instead break down into smaller pieces.

In the ocean, the sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known as photodegradation. Scientists have collected up to 750,000 bits of microplastic in a single square kilometer of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch-that's about 1.9 million bits per square mile. Most of this debris comes from plastic bags, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.

Marine debris can be very harmful to marine life in the gyre. For instance, loggerhead sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake plastic resin pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organ s.

Seals and other marine mammals are especially at risk. They can get entangled in abandoned plastic fishing nets, which are being discarded more often because of their low cost. Seals and other mammals often drown in these forgotten nets-a phenomenon known as " ghost fishing."

Marine debris can also disturb marine food webs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As microplastics and other trash collect on or near the surface of the ocean, they block sunlight from reaching plankton and algae below. Algae and plankton are the most common autotrophs, or producers, in the marine food web. Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own nutrient s from oxygen, carbon, and sunlight.

If algae and plankton communities are threatened, the entire food web may change. Animals that feed on algae and plankton, such as fish and turtles, will have less food. If populations of those animals decrease, there will be less food for apex predators such as tuna, sharks, and whales. Eventually, seafood becomes less available and more expensive for people.

These dangers are compounded by the fact that plastics both leach out and absorb harmful pollutants. As plastics break down through photodegradation, they leach out colorants and chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to environmental and health problems. Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consume d by marine life.

Cleaning up marine debris is not as easy as it sounds. Many microplastics are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans makes this job far too time-consuming to consider. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program has estimated that it would take 67 ships one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean.

Many expeditions have traveled through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Charles Moore, who discovered the patch in 1997, continues to raise awareness through his own environmental organization, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. During a 2014 expedition, Moore and his team used aerial drones, to assess from above the extent of the trash below. The drones determined that there is 100 times more plastic by weight than previous ly measured. The team also discovered more permanent plastic features, or islands, some over 15 meters (50 feet) in length.

All the floating plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch inspired National Geographic Emerging Explorer David de Rothschild and his team at Adventure Ecology to create a large catamaran made of plastic bottles: the Plastiki . The sturdiness of the Plastiki displayed the strength and durability of plastics, the creative ways that they can be repurposed, and the threat they pose to the environment when they don't decompose. In 2010, the crew successfully navigate d the Plastiki from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia.

Scientists and explorers agree that limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of biodegradable resources will be the best way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Organizations such as the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Plastic Oceans Foundation are using social media and direct action campaigns to support individuals, manufacturers, and businesses in their transition from toxic, disposable plastics to biodegradable or reusable materials.

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The entire Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. An ocean gyre is a system of circular ocean currents formed by the Earth's wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is created by the interaction of the California, North Equatorial, Kuroshiro, and North Pacific currents.

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This video makes me thing about the things that we can do....

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Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Ocean Pollution Awareness

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En este link podemos encontrar la contaminación del plástico el los mares y océanos, concretamente en el Océano Pacífico

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La Isla de la Basura en el Oceáno Pacífico.mp4

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El mayor basurero del mundo se encuentras en una "isla" con una extensión de casi 700 mil km/2 ubicada entre Estados Unidos y Hawai. Más info: http://www.ecoosfera.com/2010/08/la-isla-de-la-basura-en-el-oceano-pacifico/

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El plástico es un material fundamental en nuestras vidas,sin embargo también tiene sus inconvenientes.

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DIRECTORA GENERAL: CARMEN LIRA SAADE DIRECTOR FUNDADOR: CARLOS PAYAN VELVER SUPLEMENTO MENSUAL DIRECTOR: IVAN RESTREPO EDICIÓN: LAURA ANGULO 27 DE MAYO DE 2013 NUMERO ESPECIAL

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In this link we can see a notice about the plastic in the Paciific Ocean. Here we can find the problems in the oceans

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There is a huge plastic waste dump site in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of the continental United States.

It is estimated that 10 percent of the world's plastic waste finds its way into the sea and slowly but surely most of it ends up in the Pacific Ocean.

Sea currents transport the waste into ocean dead zones, large areas of water that are slow moving circular currents which trap debris into one large constantly moving mass of plastic.

This mass of plastic is slowly being broken down into a plastic dust that marine wildlife mistake for food. Small fish consume tiny bits of plastic as if they were normal plankton. Those fish are then consumed by larger species and the plastic contamination moves up the food chain.

The UN Environmental Program estimates that over a million seabirds, as well as more than 100 thousand marine mammals, die every year from ingesting plastic debris.

Dead seabirds having mistaken plastics for food, have been found with discarded plastic lighters, water bottle caps and scraps of plastic bags in their stomachs.

Scientifically the area is known as the Northern Pacific Gyre, one of five gyres in the world's oceans.

They are an area of sea where water circulates clockwise in a very slow spiral. Winds are light and the currents tend to force any floating material into the low energy center of the gyre everything afloat becomes trapped.

These "dead zones" have been well known to sailors for centuries and they have traditonally avoided them at all costs. Low wind conditions means slow sailing.

Recently some sailors have been taking power assisted short cuts to their destinations and discovering vast areas of plastic garbage in their wake.

Some researchers estimate that there are over six kilos of plastic for every kilo of naturally occurring plankton in the Pacific plastic waste dump.

Besides being a danger in themselves these vast areas of plastic pollution act as chemical sponge attracting other damaging pollutants, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), hydrocarbons and DDT that have been dumped in the oceans, creating even more highly damaging toxins for marine wildlife to mistake for food.

The northern Pacific plastic dump is deceptive to the eye. While it contains huge amounts of plastic waste it is not all floating on the surface. Wave action and the heat of the sun degrades the plastic into smaller and smaller particles which can formÂ a sinking toxic soup that extends down to 6 meters below the oceans surface.

But there is still enough plastic floating on the surface to create a false habitat for plant and animal organisms to live on. Once attached to the floating surface these species are transported far beyond their normal ecosystems.

These ocean hitchhikers can then invade new habitats to become possible nuisance species in environments that nature didn't originally intend them to inhabit.

Not all plastic floats. As it breaks down it can begin to sink towards the oceans bottom. Dutch scientists have discovered that over 70 percent of discarded plastic eventually sinks to the sea bed.

The Dutch researchers have counted an astounding 600 thousand tonnes of plastic sitting on the North Sea floor. As that ocean floor becomes increasingly smothered by descending bits of plastic sea bed organisms struggle for survival.

Dr. Marcus Eriksen, research Director of the Algalita Institute in Atlanta says, Whatever goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate.

There has been little concern voiced by governments as the Pacific Ocean toxic garbage patch largely lay outside of international waters, outside their normal legislative considerations.

The problem is being intensified as modern plastics become more durable and increasingly more disposable.

As the Pacific plastic dump grows, and it could double in size by 2015, the effect on the human food chain becomes more toxic and problematic.

You might also like:

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Pacific Ocean Plastic Waste Dump | Ecology Global Network

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There is a huge plastic waste dump site in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of the continental United States. It is estimated that 10 percent of the world's plastic waste finds its way into the sea and slowly but surely most of it ends up in the Pacific Ocean.

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In this web we can see the

Ocean Plastic & Sea Turtles.

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Learn how plastic in the ocean affects sea turtles and other wild animals.

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Este link te llevara a una pagina donde te explica la contaminación en los mares por el plástico industrial.

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Denominada basura marina, constituye uno de los más graves problemas de contaminación de nuestros océanos y lo peor de todo es que es imparable. Más del 60% de la basura que llega son plásticos.

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Here there is a video.

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Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastic (Part 1/3)

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Vice sails to the North Pacific Gyre, collecting point for all of the ocean's flotsam and home of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: a mythical, Texas-sized island made entirely of our trash.

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Las islas de basura.

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Las islas de basura búsqueda del avión de Malasya Airlines reveló que el océano Índico está cubierto de basura La imponente operación de rastreo del vuelo MH370 perdido en el océano Índico todavía no ha rendido sus frutos. Por lo menos no los...

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How India's cities came to drown in sewage and waste.

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How India's cities came to drown in sewage and waste

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IPS: Sewage and waste infrastructure has failed to keep up with urban expansion, leaving India to 'drown in its excreta'

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Here there is a web that I found a we can see the problems that the plastics gives to us.

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Have you ever walked along a beautiful beach and been surprised to find a piece of plastic at your feet? You might be even more surprised to learn that together with volunteers like you, we've picked up more than 220 million pounds of trash in the last 30 years.

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Here there is a link of a video that describe all the plastics that the animals eat all the days in the ocean and the animals who lives on the beach.

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In the Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who was cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity.

A beach cleanup on Midway Atoll made us feel just like Sisyphus.

There are millions of tons of plastics present in our oceans, and these are constantly fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces which are scattered throughout the water column and present, in different densities, throughout all the worlds oceans.

Contrary to what many people believe, there are no visible islands of trash anywhere --even if some areas, the gyres, accumulate higher densities of plastic pollution. In actuality, what is happening is much more complex and scary: our oceans are becoming a planetary soup laced with plastic.

To make thing worse, these tiny pieces of plastic are extremely powerful chemical accumulators for organic persistent pollutants present in ambient sea water such as DDE's and PCB's. The whole food chain, from filtering invertebrates to marine mammals are eating plastic and /or other animals who have plastic in them. This means that we are. Like the albatrosses on Midway, we carry the garbage patch inside of us.

Cleaning up this mess is not feasible, technically or economically. Even if all the boats in the world were put to the task somehow, the cleanup would not only remove the plastics but also the plankton, which is the base of the food chain, and is responsible for capturing half of the CO2 of our atmosphere and generating half of the oxygen we need to breathe.

But even if this problem was solved too somehow, the amount of plastic that we could capture, at an immense cost, would be a drop in the bucket as compared to the amount that flows into the ocean every day.

No matter how hard we push, in terms of technology or money, the boulder will be rolling back down the hill, throughout eternity, unless we stop putting more plastics into our environment.

The good news is that we can do this. We can do this now. We need to start a social movement that spreads virally and creates a critical mass of concerned citizens who pledge to move away from our disposable habits, and who raise their voice to reject and reverse a throwaway culture that might be profitable, but whose consequences are intolerable.

Video by: Jan Vozenilek

Written and narrated by: Manuel Maqueda

Music by Christen Lien www.itsnotaviolin.com 

www.MidwayFilm.com

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He encontrado esta página en la que creo que se describe muy bien esta terrible situación que está ocurriendo en todo el mundo.

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In this interesting web, we can find plastic damage in animals. It´s horrible...

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El plástico mata, hagamos ecoladrillos!

Publicado el 17/04/2014

No sólo el testeo mata animales, sino que también la basura que producimos de todo lo que consumimos. En esta entrada aprenderemos a reutilizar plástico a partir de los ecoladrillos.

Debo reconocer que hay muchas cosas que me indignan, pero hay una cosa que intento día a día tratar de mejorar : reducir la cantidad de plástico que produzco. Es probable que muchos de ustedes se pregunten "¿Qué tanto de esto tiene relación con los productos que consumo, con el cuidado del entorno y seres vivos ... con Te Protejo?" A mi juicio absolutamente todo. Siempre cuando pienso en las toneladas de plástico que produzco yo, que produce la ciudad (en mi caso, Valpo) y muchas veces de manera descontrolada en cosas tan pequeñas, a veces estúpida, que se me vienen este tipo de imágenes a la cabeza:

A mí esto me parece una situación igual de chocante que ver imágenes de animales en laboratorios, ¿Por qué? Porque ambas son situaciones conocidas mayormente por la población, por las personas, y este conocimiento en parte permite que estas situaciones sean aceptadas, como algo que ocurre, que se sale del plano individual, que al respecto no mucho se puede hacer. Sin embargo, tanto ustedes como yo saben que esto último es completamente falso.

Y es como así como de este contexto me agarro, me justifico, para contarles en esta entrada lo fácil, útil y necesario que son los ecoladrillos. Para [email protected] que no los conocen, los ecoladrillos son la reutilización de material a partir del almacenamiento compacto de deshechos plásticos en una botella PET (las típicas botellas deshechables).

Es importante que el material a introducir este limpio y seco, así como también es indispensable ir periódicamente compactando con algo el interior de la botella, ya que estas tienen que quedar lo más duras posibles. ¿Y para qué sirven los ecoladrillos? Por sus buenas propiedades de aislación para todo tipo de construcción a diferentes escalas, desde baños exteriores, pasando por centros comunitarios y casas.

Espero que con este dato se animen y puedan construir sus propios ecoladrillos. Puede tardar varias semanas o meses llenar las botellas de plástico y en ellas yo reutilizo hasta los cepillos de dientes antiguos y las varitas plásticas de cotonitos. En cuanto al acopio de este material sé que en Santiago, en el Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, los reciben y en Valpo Geociclos Ecología urbana los recibe, si tienes muchos te los vienen a buscar a la casa!

El plástico mata animales!

"El plástico mata animales en todo el mundo por ingesta, toxicidad, asfixia y atrapamiento

Millones de animales de más de 370 especies de todo el mundo comen plástico, desde el placton microscópico, pasando por cóndores, albatros, camellos, tortugas marinas, ballenas y peces. Muchos de estos animales sufren una muerte cruel y agónica.

Se calcula que el plástico mata un millón de aves marinas y más de cien mil mamíferos marinos y tortugas cada año"( Fuente)

Constanza @_ConstanzaSilva

Valparaíso.

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El plástico mata, hagamos ecoladrillos! | Vive cruelty free

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El plástico mata, hagamos ecoladrillos! Publicado el 17/04/2014 No sólo el testeo mata animales, sino que también la basura que producimos de todo lo que consumimos. En esta entrada aprenderemos a reutilizar plástico a partir de los ecoladrillos.

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En esta imagen podemos ver los destrozos que puede llegar a causar el plástico en la naturaleza.

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Otro reportaje sobre las Islas de Plástico.

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Por desgracia ni nuestros nietos podrán ver el mar sin las contaminantes y dañinas islas de plástico. La contaminación es tan grave que no tiene fecha de vencimiento.

Millones de aves, peces y otras especies que habitan los océanos mueren diariamente por culpa de la irresponsabilidad humana. La cantidad de plástico que circula en el mar es incalculable y hay al menos 5 islas de puro plástico flotante que se acumula en las corrientes y que son verdaderas trampas mortales para el reino animal.

Hace quince años se descubrió una horrorosa isla de plástico en pleno Pacífico Norte, desde ese momento las personas comenzaron a tomar conciencia de lo irresponsable que es botar el plástico o de utilizarlo a destajo sin ningún tipo de empatía con el planeta. Lamentablemente la contaminación de las aguas no ha disminuido, al contrario, ya se han descubierto 4 mega manchas de basura flotante y según los científicos estas se expanden cada día más y no desaparecerán hasta por lo menos 500 años y eso si es que el hombre deja de botar plásticos al mar.

Científicos australianos del Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate System Sciencie, han calculado cuanto demora una isla de plástico en formarse y cuanto tarda en desaparecer o desintegrarse. Los resultados no fueron muy alentadores ya que los humanos generan cada vez más plástico, el cual es arrojado al mar sin piedad y este tarda medio milenio en desaparecer. Según los investigadores la única solución simple, pero también difícil: No seguir contaminando los océanos.
Link: Isla Basura: Un documental indispensable para entender el problema del plástico
De todos modos, una de las cabezas de la investigación Erik Van Sebelle. Asegura que si dejáramos de contaminar el mar desde hoy, las islas de plástico seguirían aumentando hasta por 500 años, ya que aun hay mucho plástico que flota por separado y no se adherido a estas vergonzosas islas. Lo más terrible es que los plásticos que no lleguen, terminaran en el estomago de algún pez o ave que los confunda con comida.

Fuente: La islas de plástico de los océanos seguirán aumentando de tamaño otros 500 años (Ecología Verde)

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Horrorosas islas de plástico en el océano se expanden sin parar

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Millones de aves, peces y otras especies que habitan los océanos mueren diariamente por culpa de la irresponsabilidad humana. La cantidad de plástico que circula en el mar es incalculable y hay al menos 5 islas de puro plástico flotante que se acumula en las corrientes y que son verdaderas trampas mortales para el reino animal.

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Here, we can see a notice about

Plastic 'Trash Islands', a horrible phenomenon, unfortenatily, created by the men in our world.

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About 15 years after first discovering the great Pacific garbage patch, Capt. Charles Moore returned in 2014 and discovered that semi-permanent islands made of ropes, buoys and other detritus were forming in the region.

Credit: Algalita

After returning from the Transpacific Yacht Race - an annual sailboat race from Los Angeles to Honolulu - in 1997, Capt. Charles Moore was guiding his boat through the doldrums when he noticed some plastic debris floating in the water.

Though it didn't seem like an overwhelming amount of trash, he recorded log entries every hour, noting the bits of debris in the water. Toothbrushes. Bottle caps. Eel traps. Floating nets. Soap bottles. On and on it went.

Given that he was in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between California and Hawaii, with nothing nearby, it was odd to find such a long stretch of trash, Moore said.

"It's the most remote part of our world," Moore told Live Science.

When he reached solid land, Moore told scientists about what he found, then returned two years later to assess the extent of the garbage patch using more scientific sampling methods.

And thus began the story of the great Pacific garbage patch, a swath of plastic debris, chemical sludge and other trash the size of Texas that is trapped in a vortex between ocean currents. [ See Images of the Pacific's Trash Island]

More trash

Now, 15 years later Moore has returned to the garbage patch, along with five other people, to track its extent once again and study its impact on marine life. The expedition is part of Moore's organization, Algalita Marine Research Institute, a nonprofit focused on reducing marine plastic pollution. People can learn more about Moore's voyage at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, California, on Sunday (July 20), where he will be answering questions from his boat via a live satellite webcast.

One thing they've discovered so far is that there may be more trash on the ocean surface than previously thought. A 2014 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the ocean's plastic may be mysteriously disappearing, with much less debris in the water than had been predicted, based on the global rates of plastic production and disposal.

But that estimate relied on trawling for trash with nets. On his current trip, Moore did a similar 4.5-mile (7.2 kilometer) trawl of the ocean, but also used drones to assess the extent of trash from above.

"We found 100 times more plastic by weight with the drone, than we estimated from the trawl," Moore said.

The team is also studying the impact of the plastic on marine life. So far, they have found that about 35 percent of the fish they sampled have swallowed some plastic, Moore said.

Plastic island

The team has also found more permanent fixtures in the garbage patch's landscape. For instance, the team has discovered a "trash island" more than 50 feet (15 meters) long, with "beaches," a "rocky coastline," and "underwater mountains" and reefs made up of ropes, buoys and other plastic debris, Moore said.

Mussels, clams, sea anemones and seaweed were found sheltering on this artificial island, Moore said.

Moore speculates that the island formed after the tsunami that battered Japan in 2011 swept a tremendous amount of ropes, buoys, mooring lines and anchors out to sea from Asian aquaculture farms that were harvesting mussels and oysters.

"It's showing signs of permanence," Moore said. "There will be a new floating world in our oceans if we don't stop polluting with plastics."

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Plastic 'Trash Islands' Forming In Ocean Garbage Patch

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After returning from the Transpacific Yacht Race - an annual sailboat race from Los Angeles to Honolulu - in 1997, Capt. Charles Moore was guiding his boat through the doldrums when he noticed some plastic debris floating in the water.

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i found this curious image that made me think that the pollution and contamination are encroaching us.

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In the next link we can see several things about the plastic contamination like its origin, its impact and what can you do against it ...

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While soaking up the relaxing cadence of crashing waves on the beach, no one wants to think about how the ocean has basically become garbage soup. But here's the buzz-killing reality: There are millions of tons of debris floating around in that water-and most of it is plastic.

This constant barrage (the equivalent of 136 billion milk jugs each year, estimates a study published in the journal Science) poses a serious danger to marine life. Animals can get tangled up in this trash or ingest it-either because they mistake it as prey or because the plastic has been broken down into tiny particles by seawater.

Plastic, of course, is uniquely problematic because it's nonbiodegradable and therefore sticks around for a lot longer (like up to 1,000 years longer) than other forms of trash. And we're not just talking about people dumping their garbage overboard. Around 80 percent of marine litter actually originates on land-either swept in from the coastline or carried to rivers from the streets during heavy rain via storm drains and sewer overflows.

So the best thing we can do to protect our waterways is try to keep as much plastic as possible out of the waste stream in the first place. The good news? There are many small ways you can have a big impact.

1. Wean yourself off disposable plastics.

Ninety percent of the plastic items in our daily lives are used once and then chucked: grocery bags, plastic wrap, disposable cutlery, straws, coffee-cup lids. Take note of how often you rely on these products and replace them with reusable versions. It only takes a few times of bringing your own bags to the store, silverware to the office, or travel mug to Starbucks before it becomes habit.

2. Stop buying water.

Each year, close to 20 billion plastic bottles are tossed in the trash. Carry a reusable bottle in your bag, and you'll never be caught having to resort to a Poland Spring or Evian again. If you're nervous about the quality of your local tap water, look for a model with a built-in filter.

3. Boycott microbeads.

Those little plastic scrubbers found in so many beauty products-facial scrubs, toothpaste, body washes-might look harmless, but their tiny size allows them to slip through water-treatment plants. Unfortunately, they also look just like food to some marine animals. Opt for products with natural exfoliants, like oatmeal or salt, instead.

4. Cook more.

Not only is it healthier, but making your own meals doesn't involve takeout containers or doggy bags. For those times when you do order in or eat out, tell the establishment you don't need any plastic cutlery or, for some serious extra credit, bring your own food-storage containers to restaurants for leftovers.

5. Purchase items secondhand.

New toys and electronic gadgets, especially, come with all kinds of plastic packaging-from those frustrating hard-to-crack shells to twisty ties. Search the shelves of thrift stores, neighborhood garage sales, or online postings for items that are just as good when previously used. You'll save yourself a few bucks, too.

It seems obvious, but we're not doing a great job of it. For example, less than 14 percent of plastic packaging is recycled. Confused about what can and can't go in the bin? Check out the number on the bottom of the container. Most beverage and liquid cleaner bottles will be #1 (PET), which is commonly accepted by most curbside recycling companies. Containers marked #2 (HDPE; typically slightly heavier-duty bottles for milk, juice, and laundry detergent) and #5 (PP; plastic cutlery, yogurt and margarine tubs, ketchup bottles) are also recyclable in some areas. For the specifics on your area, check out Earth911.org's recycling directory.

7. Support a bag tax or ban.

Urge your elected officials to follow the lead of those in San Francisco, Chicago, and close to 150 other cities and counties by introducing or supporting legislation that would make plastic-bag use less desirable.

8. Buy in bulk.

Single-serving yogurts, travel-size toiletries, tiny packages of nuts-consider the product-to-packaging ratio of items you tend to buy often and select the bigger container instead of buying several smaller ones over time.

9. Bring your own garment bag to the dry cleaner.

Invest in a zippered fabric bag and request that your cleaned items be returned in it instead of sheathed in plastic. (And while you're at it, make sure you're frequenting a dry cleaner that skips the perc, a toxic chemical found in some cleaning solvents.)

10. Put pressure on manufacturers.

Though we can make a difference through our own habits, corporations obviously have a much bigger footprint. If you believe a company could be smarter about its packaging, make your voice heard. Write a letter, send a tweet, or hit them where it really hurts: Give your money to a more sustainable competitor.

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While soaking up the relaxing cadence of crashing waves on the beach, no one wants to think about how the ocean has basically become garbage soup. But here's the buzz-killing reality: There are millions of tons of debris floating around in that water-and most of it is plastic.

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En este artículo podemos ver la explicación que nos dan sobre el nivel de contaminación que contienen los mares u océanos.

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In this video we can watch in an easy way of how we pollute the sea and as Boyan had an idea of how clean the sea.

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En esta web podemos ver hasta donde puede llegar la contaminación del plástico en el medio ambiente, sobretodo en costas y océanos.

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ecointeligencia - cambia a un estilo de vida sostenible!

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Íbamos a titular este artículo el plástico mata para hacer justa mención a un proyecto que nos ha impactado y que hemos conocido por medio de los dos episodios titulados Sopa de plástico del programa ecointeligente El Escarabajo Verde.

Finalmente nos hemos decantado por dejar de manifiesto que el problema de la contaminación por plásticos, en especial en mares y océanos, es un problema de ida y vuelta: lo que tu tiras le llega a otros, y lo que te llega a ti lo han tirado en otro sitio.

Son miles las toneladas de plástico de diversos tamaños lo que contaminan nuestros océanos y que tienen un efecto devastador sobre la fauna marina y las aves. El ser humano, al estar en la cúspide de la pirámide trófica, no está exento de los peligros que comporta esta grave contaminación. Si no te has dado cuenta todavía, te afecta y mucho.

¿Estás listo para conocer las verdades incómodas del plástico?

La Organización Mundial de la Salud y PNUMA han declarado conjuntamente que la disrupción endocrina (uno de los efectos del plástico) es una crisis global. Un grupo internacional de 10 científicos ha solicitado que los gobiernos declaren el plástico como residuo peligroso

El plástico es un material que el planeta no puede digerir

El plástico tarda cientos de años en descomponerse en el medio ambiente, hasta 1.000 años según el tipo de plástico. Utilizar masivamente un material tan duradero para objetos desechables es un error de consecuencias catastróficas a nivel global.

Los plásticos que entran en contacto con los alimentos envenenan a los seres humanos

Algunos de los aditivos tóxicos del plástico, como el potente disruptor endocrino bisfenol A, contaminan la sangre de más del 90% de la población, incluidos los niños recién nacidos.

El plástico en el medio ambiente se va fragmentando en trocitos cada vez más diminutos que atraen y acumulan sustancias tóxicas

Estos fragmentos contaminan ya todos los mares y costas del planeta y están presentes en prácticamente todos los ecosistemas. Los fragmentos de plástico son ingeridos por animales, incluso por seres microscópicos como el plancton, contaminando la cadena alimentaria de la que dependemos.

El reciclaje de los plásticos no es una solución sostenible

La gran mayoría de los desechos plásticos recogidos para reciclar en realidad son exportados a países pobres, incinerados, convertidos en objetos no reciclables, o arrojados directamente al vertedero.

La verdadera solución es rechazar el plástico de usar y tirar

La contaminación por plásticos no es un problema solo de gestión de residuos, sino de mal diseño. La solución es ponerle fin a nuestra adición a los plásticos de usar y tirar. El mal llamado reciclaje de plásticos no funciona, y los mal llamados plásticos ecológicos crean tantos problemas como los que resuelven.

Ante este problema, ¿qué podemos hacer?

Reducir el consumo de plástico

Mejorar la gestión del reciclaje, tanto a nivel industrial como individual

Gestionar el uso que hacemos a diario del plástico

Unirte a iniciativas como Agüita con el plástico ó Clean Ocean Project

Te invitamos a que inviertas una hora de tu tiempo en ver este episodio de El Escarabajo Verde:
Ahora dinos, ¿eras realmente consciente de este problema medioambiental? Nosotros, no.

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La contaminación del plástico no entiende de fronteras

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Íbamos a titular este artículo el plástico mata para hacer justa mención a un proyecto que nos ha impactado y que hemos conocido por medio de los dos episodios titulados Sopa de plástico del programa ecointeligente El Escarabajo Verde .

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En esta noticia podemos ver el daño que esta causando el plástico en el medio ambiente en especial en los mares u océanos

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In this link we can see a fuuny video about the plastic in the ocean

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Stop Marine Plastic Pollution -- Ask Producers to Help Save our Seas and $8 billion per year!