Scientists alarmed at the state of the oceans

[Daria Morgandorffer]

This is terrifying. It's also the reason that I don't eat much seafood anymore, I read an article that almost all seafood coming out of the oceans is polluted to some degree, and that's all I can think of now when I try to eat it.

[marie427]

Jun 19, 2012 10:59:25 GMT -5 Daria Morgandorffer said:

This is terrifying. It's also the reason that I don't eat much seafood anymore, I read an article that almost all seafood coming out of the oceans is polluted to some degree, and that's all I can think of now when I try to eat it.

Dammit.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 19, 2012 10:33:05 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

1) It can't make a difference if 90% of the population thinks it won't make a difference and therefore don't bother

2) Making the changes for a month won't make a difference--it's taken decades and decades to fuck up the environment and it will take a very long time--if people would actually bother--to turn it around

Bingo. People have to realize that small actions do have an impact.

I approached our college kid neighbors and invited them to put all their recycling in our big recycling bin. Every pick-up day that thing is full to the brim now. Every little bit helps.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 19, 2012 10:56:55 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Since it's on topic, I'm a judgy mcjudgerson about people who eat things like orange roughy and Chilean sea bass.

You haven't lived until you've attended a soil biodiversity workshop where all the marine scientists en masse protest the orange roughy on the menu for that night. I was scared there were going to be tables toppled over. :-|

[zelda25]

Jun 19, 2012 11:09:24 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Bingo. People have to realize that small actions do have an impact.

I approached our college kid neighbors and invited them to put all their recycling in our big recycling bin. Every pick-up day that thing is full to the brim now. Every little bit helps.

I should point out here that I agree with those who said that making the changes on a large scale likely will require government intervention--even if it's just at the local level to start with. I live in a green bubble where the city mandates recycling and composting (sort of) while banning plastic grocery bags, so it's easy to forget that there are LOTS of places around the country were people don't do anything "green," either because there are no such programs where they live or because they don't care, or both. When I visit my father in TX, I always forget that they don't recycle where he is and I'm all, "where do you put your recycleables?" and they look at me like I have boogers hanging all over my face.

Fun fact: Portland recently reduced residential trash by over 40%. The city has had a robust curbside recycling program for as long as I can remember, but it just implemented curbside composting last fall. Everybody gets a rollcart for trash, one for recycling (everything but glass goes there), and one for yard debris. We also get smaller buckets for glass. Anyway, before last fall, trash and recycling were picked up every week and yard debris every other week. With the new composting program, all food scraps are to go in the yard debris bin, which is now picked up every week while trash switched to every other week.

Do people grumble? You bet. But they adjust, and the trash footprint has been reduced enormously.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 19, 2012 10:56:55 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jun 19, 2012 7:29:51 GMT -5 @mjmksb04 said:

That is amazing. This is a dumb question, but how does all that garbage end up in the ocean? Is that just where it is getting dumped? (I told you it was a stupid question.)

In LA, the storm drains lead to the ocean. There are little warnings that say "No Dumping, Drains to Ocean" with pictures of dolphins.

Here too, except we have pictures of fish.

Littering makes me mad, particularly the litter that piles up around trash cans, rather in inside of them. One good rain and all that stuff is literally down the drain.

Also, everyone should use the cloth grocery bags. The flat bottoms make it easier to neatly stack stuff and baggers are less likely to put two things in a bag and start a new one. They're just superior to plastic grocery bags.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 19, 2012 11:22:53 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

Fun fact: Portland recently reduced residential trash by over 40%. The city has had a robust curbside recycling program for as long as I can remember, but it just implemented curbside composting last fall. Everybody gets a rollcart for trash, one for recycling (everything but glass goes there), and one for yard debris. We also get smaller buckets for glass. Anyway, before last fall, trash and recycling were picked up every week and yard debris every other week. With the new composting program, all food scraps are to go in the yard debris bin, which is now picked up every week while trash switched to every other week.

Do people grumble? You bet. But they adjust, and the trash footprint has been reduced enormously.

We've had curbside composting in my city for maybe two years now and I adore it! Between the recyclables (which could be improved, there's a lot of plastics that are totally recyclable that they don't take), the yard waste and the composting my household has dropped from the 35 gallon can to the 22 gallon. AND I get a free bag of dirt for the garden annually (provided I'm not too lazy to pick it up).

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Jun 19, 2012 11:22:53 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

Jun 19, 2012 11:09:24 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Bingo. People have to realize that small actions do have an impact.

I approached our college kid neighbors and invited them to put all their recycling in our big recycling bin. Every pick-up day that thing is full to the brim now. Every little bit helps.

I should point out here that I agree with those who said that making the changes on a large scale likely will require government intervention--even if it's just at the local level to start with. I live in a green bubble where the city mandates recycling and composting (sort of) while banning plastic grocery bags, so it's easy to forget that there are LOTS of places around the country were people don't do anything "green," either because there are no such programs where they live or because they don't care, or both. When I visit my father in TX, I always forget that they don't recycle where he is and I'm all, "where do you put your recycleables?" and they look at me like I have boogers hanging all over my face.

Fun fact: Portland recently reduced residential trash by over 40%. The city has had a robust curbside recycling program for as long as I can remember, but it just implemented curbside composting last fall. Everybody gets a rollcart for trash, one for recycling (everything but glass goes there), and one for yard debris. We also get smaller buckets for glass. Anyway, before last fall, trash and recycling were picked up every week and yard debris every other week. With the new composting program, all food scraps are to go in the yard debris bin, which is now picked up every week while trash switched to every other week.

Do people grumble? You bet. But they adjust, and the trash footprint has been reduced enormously.

I'm so jealous of this. Here, we have one tiny recycle can that our entire building has to share. It gets filled within a day of being picked up and then you either have to store your recyclables in your teeny kitchen area until some space opens up, or toss them in the regular dumpster. 90% of people do the latter.

[curmudgeon]

Jun 19, 2012 11:25:42 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Also, everyone should use the cloth grocery bags. The flat bottoms make it easier to neatly stack stuff and baggers are less likely to put two things in a bag and start a new one. They're just superior to plastic grocery bags.

Except they are super smart and know just exactly where to hide in my car so I don't remember them/can't find them.

[chichimi]

Re: not thinking it makes a difference-I always compare it to driving with your seatbelt on, washing your hands, and taking care of yourself. You may not die if you dont brush your teeth one night but when its YOUR life, you care. Its our environment and you should care.

[ringstrue]

Jun 19, 2012 10:43:29 GMT -5 teflep said:

Jun 19, 2012 10:26:27 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

This is me actually. I do use totes when grocery shopping, deny bags when buying food and finally dragged my butt to pick up recycle bins since my city doesn't provide them. I do these things but I have to admit I don't feel like it really is impacting anything. I kind of do it on the off chance that my small contribution matters, but I can't say I feel really strongly that I have improved anything by doing these things.

And I was listening to NPR yesterday about how Maryland doesn't recycle glass as it is not profitable. We have the largest fresh water estuary here, to protect, and we can't recycle f'ing glass? Maybe a new casino can fund this?

ITA and not for noting but not everything has to be profitable before the local govt. gets into it. I'm just saying in general, not to you, tef. Or hell, yeah build a freakin casino or some shit, I don't care.

[ttt]

Jun 19, 2012 11:59:47 GMT -5 @chichimi said:

Re: not thinking it makes a difference-I always compare it to driving with your seatbelt on, washing your hands, and taking care of yourself. You may not die if you dont brush your teeth one night but when its YOUR life, you care. Its our environment and you should care.

But the thing is, I can use cloth bags and bike everywhere and completely turn my life into an eco-friendly one and it still won't do a damn thing about the massive amounts of industrial fertilizer running off into the oceans and creating dead zones. Even if EVERYONE stopped using plastic bags, which isn't going to happen, how much would it really help?

The things you do to take care of yourself have a direct impact on your health and safety. The things you as an individual do to take care of the environment have an indirect, at best, impact.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 19, 2012 11:41:07 GMT -5 curmudgeon said:

Jun 19, 2012 11:25:42 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Also, everyone should use the cloth grocery bags. The flat bottoms make it easier to neatly stack stuff and baggers are less likely to put two things in a bag and start a new one. They're just superior to plastic grocery bags.

Except they are super smart and know just exactly where to hide in my car so I don't remember them/can't find them.

Probably they're getting busy making little cloth sandwich bags and don't want you to walk in on them.

[chichimi]

Jun 19, 2012 13:18:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

Jun 19, 2012 11:59:47 GMT -5 @chichimi said:

Re: not thinking it makes a difference-I always compare it to driving with your seatbelt on, washing your hands, and taking care of yourself. You may not die if you dont brush your teeth one night but when its YOUR life, you care. Its our environment and you should care.

But the thing is, I can use cloth bags and bike everywhere and completely turn my life into an eco-friendly one and it still won't do a damn thing about the massive amounts of industrial fertilizer running off into the oceans and creating dead zones. Even if EVERYONE stopped using plastic bags, which isn't going to happen, how much would it really help?

The things you do to take care of yourself have a direct impact on your health and safety. The things you as an individual do to take care of the environment have an indirect, at best, impact.

No, that's wrong. Those plastic bags never go away. They do have a direct impact, you just aren't always there to see it. Its also environmentally responsible to vote into office people who share your views but unfortunately, it can be trying to be a one issue voter. It doesnt have to be an either or, though. I do what I can and I also look for environmental policy of those running for office. Im not telling people to carry totes and spend the rest of their time patting themselves on the back, Im saying that doing these really easy things to help is the minimum that I expect of you, as a fellow human sharing the planet.

[summer]

Jun 19, 2012 13:57:58 GMT -5 @chichimi said:

Jun 19, 2012 13:18:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

But the thing is, I can use cloth bags and bike everywhere and completely turn my life into an eco-friendly one and it still won't do a damn thing about the massive amounts of industrial fertilizer running off into the oceans and creating dead zones. Even if EVERYONE stopped using plastic bags, which isn't going to happen, how much would it really help?

The things you do to take care of yourself have a direct impact on your health and safety. The things you as an individual do to take care of the environment have an indirect, at best, impact.

No, that's wrong. Those plastic bags never go away. They do have a direct impact, you just aren't always there to see it. Its also environmentally responsible to vote into office people who share your views but unfortunately, it can be trying to be a one issue voter. It doesnt have to be an either or, though. I do what I can and I also look for environmental policy of those running for office. Im not telling people to carry totes and spend the rest of their time patting themselves on the back, Im saying that doing these really easy things to help is the minimum that I expect of you, as a fellow human sharing the planet.

This exactly. Not doing what is right because no one else is is lazy, IMO. Do what you can AND then convince others to do the same. And convince officials. It will make a difference but not if everyone gives into apathy.