Plastic Fantastic?

Following on our extremely popular Caught in the Pacific Trash Vortex post that highlighted social activist Chris Jordan's plea about the seabirds from the Midway Atoll, Mirabelle was contacted last month by the designers of an interesting educational infographic that really drew our attention further on the damage caused by the 'fantastic' yet pawned invention that is plastic. We have great pleasure in sharing this catchy bit of information with you.

As a beach babe living on the coast, Mirabelle is faced with the downside of plastic on a daily basis, so we thought we would even drill the awareness message further by adding an advert that also caught our eye. In our view, packaging as a whole needs a total rethink and overhaul, and the plastic supremacy needs to be toned down drastically. Plastic manufacturers/ suppliers and their immediate Fortune 100 clients are to blame, but then again it is up to the end consumer to "vote with their feet" and shun plastics for more sustainable less pollution-prone alternatives that will be less likely to end up back into the food chain. Folks, let's make this work and let's be smarter in 2013!

Sorry, Blogger won't allow picture to zoom in!

Sources: (1) OnlineEducation.net. (2) Concept Ad WWF, by Eric Eykhout, via Behance: "Plastic litter from all over the earth ends up in the ocean, gets caught up in ocean currents and has created a giant swirling mass of 7 million tons of toxic debris dubbed 'The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.' The waters in this immense area contain 6 times more plastic than plankton, a primary food source for fish, marine mammals and ultimately affecting humans as well."

Additional Resources: Find out about professional surfer Kyle Thiermann's mission to help reverse plastic pollution effects on 'surfers paradise' coastlines across the world, via Surfing For Change.

Interesting update (18/07/2013): Two scientists manage to break down phtalates (soft plastic components), using bacteria! (via TED Talks).

Caught in the Pacific Trash Vortex

Images speak a thousand words as documented by visual artist and social activist Chris Jordan who has been following the fate of albatrosses on some of the remotest islands on Earth, the Midway Atoll... Ironically what should be paradise is nothing more than paradise lost... in plastic!

Source: All photography by Chris Jordan. Midway displays signs of human civilisation in all its tangible horror, where plastic fantastic is an aberration of pharaonic proportions. In this part of the world, the trash vortex - a superposition of plastic debris swirling around and causing devastation and suffocation not only to marine life but also to sea birds - is the size of Texas, itself slightly bigger than France... Where better to look out for proof than in the stomachs of decomposed corpses, so no need for NCIS to get their shiny dissection instruments out to determine the cause of death. Oh, and while we're at it, enjoy your dinner! Now according to Bag It (Jim Hurst) who's also been involved in the Midway Project, 'In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. The United States International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the U.S. in 2009.' Makes you ponder, doesn't it?