Visit the website to check out: | Seaweek 2013 - What's on the site? |
| Information |
| Background Information |
| Sustainable Seas for K to 6 |
| Teaching Ideas |
| Sustainability and the Great Barrier Reef Teaching Unit |
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Last year the theme was: ‘Marine Debris – Clean it Up!’.
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Disappointingly WE have a LONG way to go to get it right!!
"The ocean is like a soup of plastic mostly composed of fragments invisible to the human eyes, killing life and affecting dangerously our health." Pierre Fidenci, ESI President.
Credit: Important call: plastics kill!
Credit: Important call: plastics kill!
"Fourteen billion pounds of garbage, mostly plastic, is dumped into the ocean every year."
o Orme, Helen. 2008. Earth in Danger: Pollution. New York, NY: Bearport Publishing.
"Americans buy over 29 million bottles of water every year. Making all those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually, which would be enough fuel to keep 1 million cars on the road for one year. Only 13% of those bottles are recycled. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose—and if they are burned, they release toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals."
Didier, Suzanne. “Water Bottle Pollution Facts.” National Geographic. 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012.
Most of the marine debris in the world is comprised of plastic materials (between 60 to 80% of total marine debris).
The longevity of some plastics is estimated to be hundreds to thousands of years!
The environmental impacts resulting from the accumulation of plastic waste are huge and increasing. Plastic debris affects wildlife, human health, and the environment.
The millions of tons of plastic bottles, bags, and garbage in the world's oceans are breaking down and leaching toxins posing a threat to marine life and human. Plastic materials in landfills sink in harmful chemicals into groundwater. Chemicals added to plastics are dangerously absorbed by humans like altering hormones.
Research on plastics includes a large and robust literature reporting adverse health effects in laboratory animals and wildlife at even low doses. Plastic debris is ingested by hundreds of species choking and starving them. Floating plastic debris can spread invasive species.
Litter and Debris in our waterways pdf available for download. This tiny plastic confetti, along with larger pieces of floating plastic, creates a big problem. Birds, like the laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), and filter feeders that strain food out of the water may mistake plastic for plankton, fish eggs, or other food. On remote Midway Atoll, albatross chicks die of starvation and dehydration because their parents have unwittingly fed them bottle caps and cigarette lighters, which they can't digest. Even in the protected waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, at the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, our trash threatens endangered species like Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles.
Marine Debris | Ocean News | Ocean Today Drinking Water: Bottled or From the Tap? video available -Click on the link above.
Further reading: Theme Issue 'Plastics, the environment and human health' compiled by R. C. Thompson, C. J. Moore, F. S. vom Saal and S. H. Swan
Additional resources for Sustainability
Fish and Kids / Marine Stewardship Council A package containing lessons, worksheets, and activities to teach young students about sustainable seafood. Each subject has two levels: one for grades K-2and another for grades 3-5 Additional resources: http://www.fishandkids.org Grades: K-5
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