Tag Archives: Ocean

Floating in the Abyss of Plastic

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Mandy Barker is a marine photographer who has won countless awards with her art that involves the use of ocean plastic. Barker’s goal with her art is to help raise awareness for the increased pollution of our oceans with plastics. She graduated from De Montfort University in England, and has been working with plastics for decades.

The following image is from Barker’s collection titled “SOUP.” Based on how scientists refer to the accumulation of microplastics in the ocean as a “soup.” Analyzing this artwork brings in a sense of sadness, because the realization of what we have done to our oceans truly sets in. It is clear that Barker is trying to show off the true effects of what we have done to our oceans. We should be feeling sad and shocked by the pure quantity of garbage we have thrown in it, and we should want to take action. 

Lastly in the below image the artwork is titled “Europe,” for it contains over 622 debris  balls collected from the waters around Europe. The instant connection I felt when viewing these artworks is that these balls almost represent planets. Specifically this artwork is shaped in a flowing matter that reminds one of the intricate designs of galaxies throughout the universe. I believe that the ultimate message that needs to be taken from here is that just like these balls we only have one chance at our true purpose, and if we fail then we will just become another ball in the infinite abyss.

Calvin Gorman

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Consumer Product Analysis

As an avid seagoer I love anything to do with the ocean. I aim to be as environmentally sustainable when on the water, however, this is almost impossible in this day and age due to everything being made for purpose, rather than sustainability. I believe that this must be flipped and we must start taking sustainability into account as a priority, whilst still producing a product that serves its designated purpose. 

The difficulty with fishing gear is that there are many different types of braided lines depending on what the targeted species is, what the weathers like, how far offshore, and many other variables, and these different types of line are all made with different materials. Some lines such as monofilament have life spans of 2 to 3 years, whereas fluorocarbon lines can last up to 10 years. Fluorocarbon is actually the term given to a broad family of compounds including, carbon, chlorine, fluorine, and other synthetics made from hydrocarbons. Fluorocarbon is also used in Freon which is a refrigerant in air cooling systems, evidently it is not good for you. Hence, Freon was banned in the US January 1st 2020, due to health concerns and its role in destroying the ozone layer. However fluorocarbons are still used legally in the international fishing industry. Monofilament hence the name, is comprised from one single strand of line that may contain multiple different polymers chemically fused together, the most common medium for mono line is nylon. Which uses enormous quantities of water to be produced and also emits nitrous oxide which is a greenhouse gas roughly 300 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Monofilament is admired for its flexibility which makes it easier to cast, whereas fluorocarbon line is used for its sturdiness and is more commonly used when targeting larger fish or for rougher conditions. 

Zombie in the Water': New Greenpeace Report Warns of Deadly Ghost Fishing Gear - EcoWatch

In our oceans, fishing gear makes up roughly 10% of the total pollution. This is a very large percentage for solely one industry. Discarded fishing nets and fishing lines have been given the term “Ghost Fishing Gear”, this really implies how these discarded items are haunting our seas and destroying some of the most important habitats on the planet. If we can produce a product that can help reduce this pollution it would be beneficial to restoring sea life populations and helping rejuvenate coral reefs. 

During my research I found that a lot more fishing gear companies have started to experiment and transition to biodegradable fishing lines, in particular Eagle Claw Tackle which is the brand I use personally. Unfortunately many will not make the conversion to sustainable gear as very few anglers will want to buy a product that is designed to break. In response to this Eagle Claw made biodegradable lines much more affordable than other types of braid, and also imposed a 10 month guarantee on all lines made by them. I believe that this is most definitely the right approach to get people to use the product, however I also believe that people need to be made more aware of what consequences their actions have on the environment. Furthermore, government bodies should establish laws to prohibit the use of fishing gear with trace toxic materials, and aim to create a fishing industry that is completely 100% sustainable.

The Plastic Lining of Waste

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It is well known, plastic does not belong in our lakes, rivers, and especially our oceans.  A place of no return for plastic and other waste that enters the forbidden seas.  What if there was something we could do to utilize that plastic already in the ocean to clean up more plastic in the ocean.  Well, this is exactly what is happening because of Michael Timko from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.  Timko and his colleagues have proposed a plan that could decrease the amount of waste in our oceans  by also utilizing the waste to convert into fuel.  A news article from NewsScientist published on November 1st, 2021 gives the details on his great idea.

As much as 12.7 million tons of plastic enter into our oceans annually. This plastic can end up in our stomachs by consuming the seafood that constantly feed off of it, usually mistaking it for their actual food.   Ships to decrease this plastic intoxication must use a lot of fossil fuel in order to make their voyages.   Ships requiring a lot of power use and waste a lot of fossil fuel per year, almost canceling out any good efforts of cleaning up the plastic.  This is where Timko and his colleagues come in.

Timko and his colleagues believe that this plastic already dumped into the ocean can be actively converted to fuel the ships while on the ocean.  This would synonymously power the ships cleaning the plastic in the ocean while reducing the use of limited fossil fuel resources and the litter in the ocean. To convert plastic into fuel while on the ship, a process called hydrothermal liquefaction is used.  The plastic material is broken down into polymers at extremely high temperatures of 1022º Fahrenheit while using extremely high pressure.

 

 

Because of the high quantity of plastic in the ocean, these scientists believe that not only this plastic can be collected, processed into fuel as it is being collected, but also stored in excess on the ship.  Although, the process to create fuel from plastic would release carbon emissions due to the burning stage, the amount of emission would still have less of an impact on the environment than using a ship powered by fossil fuel, and returning the plastic to be recycled, further creating more carbon emission.  Timko says, “This is not a silver bullet, but we think it’s an interesting way to add to the technological solutions already out there.”.

Michael Timko focuses his efforts at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts to chemical engineering.  I do not believe he has biases, and is just using his knowledge, time, and resources in the way scientists should start focusing on, on our environment and our one Earth.  The authors intended audience is anyone willing to expand their mind and learn about the new technological options we have or can create to help out plastic problem.

 

 

I believe that with the rapid increase of technology, and discovering new technological advancements every day, our society should focus these efforts and energies (no pun intended) on saving our Earth from it’s ultimate devastation.  Instead of looking to advance our space exploration, or social media platforms we should start by doing the bare minimum for saving our Earth, the psychical and only place we live and can exist.

 

 

 

Cigarette Butts and the Impact on the Mediterranean Environment

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The Mediterranean Sea is a beautiful water body located in the heart of the Mediterranean basin and is virtually completely surrounded by land mass. This sea plays a vital role in not only the environmental and geographical aspect of the Mediterranean however also the economical. Tourists travel from all across the globe to visit the stunning environment that the Mediterranean basin has to offer. In 2019 the Mediterranean saw roughly 304 million arrivals from countries outside of the Mediterranean basin. With tourism rates this high there are bound to be multiple negative environmental impacts in the region.

I grew up on a small island roughly 120 miles east from the coast of Barcelona – in the heart of the Mediterranean sea, where tourism accounts for more than 75% of the total economic output. I was truly able to witness first hand the damages we as a human species do to this planet for the benefit of an economy. 

This beautiful island naturally became a tourist hotspot for many people in European countries. As they can get on a 2hr plane ride, live in paradise for a week or two, and then return to their home country with no regard for their ecological footprint. 

As a resident of the island and a lover of the sea I took it as my responsibility to volunteer for multiple beach clean ups. During these beach clean ups it would be a team of as many people as we could gather, and we would work in groups of 5-6 zoning off specific areas of the beach where different teams would work at collecting all types of plastic. The plastic was then given to another group which would audit what different types of plastic were collected and categorized into groups for proper recycling.

 When I participated in these clean ups, I noticed that the most common pollutant I would see were plastic cigarette butts. These butts may be tiny and go unnoticed in the sand however they contain hundreds of toxic chemicals and are primarily made of cellulose acetate, a man-made plastic material. The cellulose acetate acts as a filter for nicotine, multiple heavy metals such as but not exclusively, lead, mercury and nickel and many toxins, including formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia. So when a person smokes a cigarette they are trapping these toxins in the filter and then throwing them to sit there and leach into the sand or water, causing detrimental damage to the environment and animal populations. 

Finding out these impacts that the cigarette tips had on the ecosystem I questioned why there were so many of them and why so many ended up on our beaches and in our water rather than in the garbage. From a National Geographic study an estimated third of all cigarettes make it to the trash, that means 2 out of 3 cigarettes get flicked away. I then found that on a global scale an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of cigarette filters wound up as toxic waste in our environment. To put this into comparison I calculated how many lbs of plastic straws were thrown away in a year and it is astonishing how much greater the amount of cigarette butt waste is. A rough 160 million lbs of plastic straws are thrown away each year this does not even contribute ⅕ of the amount of cigarette waste in a year. So why are we constantly told to avoid plastic straws but no action has been taken to reduce the amount of cigarette waste? I believe that there are bigger elements at work here, greenwashing the population for their own companies’ financial benefit. 

 

Life Cycle of a Plastic Water Bottle

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Plastic surrounds us everywhere. Almost all of the products we use everyday are made from a form of plastic. As a consumer, the biggest contributor to my plastic footprint is plastic water bottles. I own a hydro flask that I fill up everyday before class, however there are days where I’m running late and will grab a plastic water bottle from the fridge. Plastic water bottles are convenient when I’m crunched for time and need to grab something on the go. Typically plastic water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate also known as PET. PET is produced from petroleum hydrocarbons. Polyethylene terephthalate is polymerized to create molecular chains. This allows it to produce PET bottles later on. The water bottles are made by melting plastic pellets, and injecting the melted plastic into multiple-cavity molds. They are then shipped to bottling facilities.

The life cycle of a water bottle starts when it is manufactured. After, they are distributed to stores where they are sold. On average a single plastic water bottle lasts me around a few hours. Once it’s empty I try to recycle it, but if that’s not an option I throw it in the trash. If the bottle is recycled it gets shredded down into flakes, and then melted down into pellets. The pellets are then sold to companies that can melt them and turn them into different products. If the bottle doesn’t end up getting recycled it could end up in a few places. The three most common things to happen to the bottles are, they end up in a landfill, the ocean, or they get incinerated. When the bottles end up in a landfill or the ocean, the PET can take up to ten years to break down. When the plastic is in the landfills over time the toxic chemicals leach into the ground, which ultimately could end up in the water we drink. When in the ocean, the plastic affects marine ecosystems and could harm the sea life. Animals mistake the plastic as food and eat it. This is not only harmful for them, but for us too. In addition, when the plastic is incinerated it releases harmful toxins back into the atmosphere.

We are in control of our consumption of plastic. To help prevent the plastic from ending up in landfills or the ocean, it’s important to recycle or refrain from purchasing plastic bottles. There are alternative reusable water bottles that can be used to replace plastic ones.

Citations:

https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/What_Will_Happen_if_You_Do_Not_Recycle_Plastic

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/materials-handling/plastic-bottle-manufacturing/

Whale in the Plastic Ocean

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While there has been many different artist who have taken on the task of portraying plastic pollution in our world, artist Cod Steaks created a major art instillation that takes the cake in this specific artistic category

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Located in Bristol, United Kingdom this piece features two life-sized whales ‘swimming’ in an ocean of plastic soup, made from over 70,00 plastic bottles. This work is supposed to represent the “beauty and fragility of the ocean” and make a clear and bold representation of the reality of the world we have created through constant human environment degradation. The material choice of this work is the most important aspect overall, as the materials themselves are what truly represents the overall agenda of the artist themselves. Focused on the tumultuous amounts of plastic within our ocean, Steaks makes a specific point to shock and involve the audiences attention by displaying a realistic sized model to fully show the impact of the amount of waste and plastic pollution that fills our oceans on a day to day basis.

The grace of the rolling waves and the simplicity and size of the whale only show to contrast the damages and depletion that our Earth is going though due to the human condition and lack of concern our society as a whole as determined. The message is simple and is not an artistic piece that is difficult to understand by any means, but it values the importance of fixing the plastic pollution problem on a global scale

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The value of art has a major impact on society as whole, using simple materials and symbolism to capture a message and certain agenda and portray it to the audience. I believe that art is often used as a from of expression over major issues within cultures and societies that need a push to have betterment in their realities. Plastic pollution has become a major issue within our economic, societal, political and cultural standards and has continued to push barriers in debate on what to do to better the environment humans have been depleting for so many years.

While I believe its easy to ‘support’ or ‘understand’ an issue, true symbolism, shock, and influence can not just be easily achieved, and I feel like Steaks does an impeccable job nailing all those major structures. The structure itself is amazing and grand in size that would take an audience by surprise and sheer shock when they stood next to it, yet the true impressiveness is the artistic flow and implicitness of the waves that are made from plastic, the truest form of symbolism of plastic pollution. Every aspect of the piece is made from some sort of plastic or metal material that weaves together the influence plastic has on not only the ocean itself but the marine life it surrounds as well. Cod’s agenda was very specific, with his ideology noting that “our sea of recycled plastic bottles represents the detrimental effect of plastic pollution on the ocean, which is something that all of us can act on—today—by reducing our consumption of single use plastics.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/s/see-whales-swimming-ocean-70-000-plastic-water-212729228.html

Art is a perfect way to symbolize bigger issues with a simple message to capture an audience’s attention and influence them beyond what any research study or article understanding could do. I will always have a major appreciation for the artistic field for the true impressiveness of symbolism and activism weaved within.

Saltwater Sensitive Brewery

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Today major polluters of plastics today are from major corporations such as Coca Cola, Shell, and Nestle. Each year over 300 million tons of plastic are produced and more than half of that is used by corporations to produce single use plastics that often get thrown into the environment rather than recycled. However some corporations have taken the initiative and began to find more sustainable and eco friendly alternatives. We have all heard of compostable products such as bags, bottles, etc. Although you have probably not heard of edible beer can rings.

Meet Saltwater Brewery; they are a Florida based Brewery that was founded in 2013 with the goal to give back to charities that are working to preserve our oceans, alongside providing a refreshing drink to Floridians. These rings are made out of the byproducts produced during the brewery process, and are hundred percent edible by marine creatures (such as Sea Turtles). In 2016 their company hit the headlines when they became the first brewery to implement Eco Six Pack Rings. In 5 days they were able to obtain 3.5 billion global impressions without investing any money into the media. These rings became available to purchase with their beers in all of their tasting rooms alongside many stores throughout Florida.

Analyzing Saltwater Brewery’s website they claim that their goal is to produce a tasteful beer while giving back to the community and protecting Florida’s natural wonders. They give some of their profits to many environmentally based organizations such as CCA Florida, Surfrider Foundation, The Ocean Foundation, and MOTE Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and Billfish Foundation. Alongside this they claim to produce their edible beer can rings with the byproducts produced from the production of their beer. Overall all of these claims seem to be honest and true, and there seems to be no deception or greenwashing whatsoever on the side of Saltwater Brewery.

Regarding the media coverage of the brewery they all seem to be having a rather positive outlook upon the brewery. These articles help provide some extra information on the product that was not provided on the company’s website. The edible rings are primarily made out of wheat and barley which forms an equally as strong ring compared to the plastic rings, however they do mention that these rings are rather expensive to produce, so the cost of their beers have gone up due to this fact with the company hoping that “customers will be willing to pay a bit extra for the environment.” The company is doing good, but it does seem like some of that good will be reduced due to the fact they won’t be selling as much due to their high cost.

Overall in the end Saltwater Brewery seems to be a genuinely honest company when it comes to their concerns of the environment. Ever since their founding they have been donating to charities to help preserve Florida’s oceans. All throughout their website they have themes of conservation, green, and ocean imagery. All in all the company is honest and genuine when it comes to the topics of conservation and plastics.