I just watched Vice’s “Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastic”, which discusses the insane amount of plastic drifting in the Pacific ocean close to Hawaii. It’s an ever shifting area larger than the total size of Texas, where the “plankton-to-plastic ratio” goes up to 1:1000. Now, a lot of the three part documentary deals with life aboard the research vessel, which I could have done without, but it does give you a quick look into the problem.
Part 1/3: http://bit.ly/Garbage-Island-1
Part 2/3: http://bit.ly/Garbage-Island-2
Part 3/3: http://bit.ly/Garbage-Island-3
Why is plankton important? (From Wiki Answers)
The ratio is unknown as the 1999 research report of 6:1 ratio (plastic:plankton) has been discredited for not accurately measuring plankton physically and throughout the water surfaces of the planet. We do know that there is a problem with pollution in our oceans and that it is affecting the marine ecosystem. The plankton species has dropped 40% in population over the past 60 years. The reasons why this is critical for ocean life and human life are;
- Plankton is the bottom of the marine ecosystem’s food chain, and without it, marine life would no longer sustain.
- Plankton absorbs 1/3 of the sunlight hitting the water surfaces. The less plankton there is, the more sunlight absorbed by the water surface, essentially rising the temperature and changing the environments for species, some of which cannot sustain in high temperatures.
- Plankton also absorbs carbon dioxide and produces HALF of the planets oxygen. This is obviously the critical dependance on human life.
