The Curse of a Synthetic Sea

Ever heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

It’s not some new gardening tool or electronic gizmo. It’s a massive gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean – perhaps twice the size of Texas – discovered in 1997 by oceanographer and racing boat captain Charles J. Moore. Though Moore dubbed it “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” he also referred to this shocking phenomenon as a “swirling sewer” and a “trash cemetery.”

No matter its appellation, the patch is a foreboding, near-permanent example of humanity’s ambiguous links to the natural world. It’s a haunting symbol of a throwaway society in a Faustian, over-consumption crisis.

And guess what? The Patch is one of five major oceanic gyres around the planet, each one potentially sweeping up marine litter and then swirling the debris into their hearts or casting it ashore in the Hawaiian Islands, on México’s Yucatán Peninsula, or some other remote shoreline.

Scientists estimate 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile of ocean worldwide! How in the world did all that debris get there?

We only recycle about 5% of our discarded plastic. Another 50% enters landfills. The remainder is “unaccounted for.” It falls from garbage and container trucks. It’s thrown out of car windows or cast overboard. It overflows from garbage cans and dumpsters. It’s left for others to clean up. Eventually, it clogs waterways, damages marine and coastal ecosystems, and enters marine food webs.

To make matters worse, the plastic often breaks down into tiny fragments (degrading but not decomposing) that act as “magnets” for waterborne contaminants and are later ingested by wildlife such as seabirds and turtles. And, to make matters really worse, a lot of that synthetic flotsam is caught by oceanic currents and dumped on otherwise pristine beaches around the world.

As an ecologist and as a citizen of the planet, I have been concerned for years about our ever-growing solid waste stream, campaigning against single-use plastic products such as drinking straws and grocery bags as examples of ridiculous squander. Further, since 2010, I have been actively involved with the marine plastics pollution along México’s southeastern Yucatán Peninsula. Oceanic currents from a nearby gyre dump tons of debris daily on its shores from all over the world: from the United States and Haiti to Greece and Malaysia.

My colleagues and I are now preparing for our 4^th annual beach clean-up crusade (Saturday, 23 February 2013) in and around a remote fishing village called Mahahual. Despite its remoteness, and because it’s located adjacent to the Mesoamerican Reef, the largest coral reef system in the Western Hemisphere, Mahahual is ground zero for high-density international tourism and outdoor recreation. The fishing, kayaking, snorkeling, and diving are simply spectacular!

But the sources of marine plastics pollution in the region are multiple: land-based discharge, shipping, fishing boats, cruise ships, offshore military operations – some intentional, some inadvertent. The result is an otherwise pristine coastline of sugary white sand, palm trees, turquoise blue waters – and mountains of plastics garbage. The environmental damage has reached a point of desperation for the citizens of the Yucatán Peninsula and, indeed, for conservationists around the world alarmed by this growing problem. We simply must act.

We call our international campaign “Limpia Mahahual.” It’s one approach toward finding a sustainable solution for marine plastics pollution in the region. The Spanish word, limpia, refers to our attempt to clean or purify Mahahual’s coastline. It’s an all-day event to engage hundreds of volunteers and dozens of corporate sponsors to tackle the colossal volume of plastic, especially focused on ridding the environs of its debilitating debris and recycling the PETE portion of the deposited waste.

Further, we hope to generate enough financial support to build a local recycling station and an environmental education center. All three components – the beach clean-up, the recycling station, and the education center – will benefit the local population as well as the thousands of tourists disgorged there annually from visiting cruise ships.

Citizens everywhere may assist us in our campaign. Perhaps you might like to join us in February to help with the beach clean-up? Send me a note with all your contact information – serious inquiries only, please. If you cannot join us, but still wish to help, please consider the following options:

• Donate to our cause: www.crowdrise.com/mahahual. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.
• Become part of the solution to plastics pollution. Buy products with little or no plastic packaging. Reduce the amount of plastic and other waste that you use (including plastic water bottles). Recycle as much as possible. Refuse single-use plastic items such as grocery bags, drinking straws, and cups. Dispose of your waste properly. Keep storm drains clean. Spread the word!
• Join a local clean-up campaign and become a member of an active conservation-minded organization.
• Promote a robust environmental education program in your local schools and universities.

Your support, however small or large, whether financial, educational, ethical, or even spiritual, will be deeply appreciated as we move toward a sustainable approach to a pernicious environmental problem in Mahahual and around the world: converting a synthetic sea back into a pristine paradise.

H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D.

Ecologist, Educator, and Explorer

[email protected]