They describe themselves as:
"... a group of faculty and students in the Sociology department at the University of New Brunswick. As humans, we observe the multitude of problems facing humanity -- globalization, climate change, economic growth and collapse, pollution, wars, population increase and international migration, peak oil -- and wonder what the future will bring. As sociologists, we question the utility of current sociological theory for understanding the relationship between the natural and social systems that underpins many of these problems. As theorists, we are interested in unpacking the complexity of the modern world by integrating sociological theory with ecological theory and complex adaptive systems theory. Our planet is your planet."
On the link I provided under, it goes directly to their post called "Good news about plastic...sort of"
This post discusses the facts about global productions of plastic has risen nearly six times in quantity, since 1980. They also talk about the main "interests" (during 2010) on Plastic Pollutions; in our oceans in this case, and the length of time it takes for plastic to break down and their tendency to accumulate in the ocean.
Their first discovery on the topic, shows new studies with results of plastic breaking down much faster in the ocean. Yet, the down side is that it releases a "potentially" toxic Chemical like Bisphenol A. In today's studies, this has been proven correct. Here's one link that describes this break down: ACS. Their second findings were the accumulation of plastics has not increased in a 22 year study. Science Daily is the website providing this information.
After reading all of this, the blog, ACS, and Science Daily as well as the Journal reference done by Kara Lavender Law, Skye Moret-Ferguson, Nikolai A. Maximenko, Giora Proskurowski, Emily E. Peacock, Jan Hafner, and Christopher M. Reddy. Plastic Accumulation in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (2010); I couldn't help to think, people, scientist, mind you not, have known about this a lot more than I had originally thought, and researched!
What needs to happen, for change to occur? An empty ocean filled with nothing but carcasses, jellyfish, and plastic? What does make me happy is that this is finally surfacing, and the more people who discuss this problem we have, the more likely a solution will happen and take place.
Its a word-by-mouth kind of problem. Mention Plastic Continents to one person a day, and imagine all the people will become informed of this phenomenon in just a couple of months!!
If you are interested in the blog I mentioned above, here is their link:
Ecological Sociology
The Picture above was taken from the website: DVice
From their post- "Why aren't we turning our plastic trash into energy?"
No comments:
Post a Comment