The World’s Largest Dump

A “plastic gumbo” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an astronomical rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, says scientists.
The vast expanse of debris, including tons of plastic, is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting “dump” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” believes that nearly 100 million tons of debris circulates in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, said “The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: “It moves around like a big animal without a leash.” When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. “The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic,” he added.

Mr. Moore, a former sailor, came across the mass of waste in 1997. He had steered his craft into the “North Pacific gyre” – a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme pressure systems. He was astonished to find himself surrounded by garbage, day after day, thousands of miles from land. “Every time I came on deck, there was trash floating by,” he said in an interview. “How could we have fouled such a huge area? How could this go on for a week?”

Mr. Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He warned that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.
Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic soup but that there was “no reason to doubt” Algalita’s findings.
“After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems.”
Professor Karl is working on an expedition with Algalita in search of the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. “Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere,” said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.
Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water’s surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. “You only see it from the bows of ships,” he said.
According to the UN Environment Program, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.
Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic,
What could we do? The damage that has been done by the past plastic debris is irreversible, yet, we must continue to educate the effect of single use plastics and improper disposal of waste. There are numerous household items we can all avoid to consume by being just a bit more eco-conscious, for example reusable shopping bags are one thing that we consume on a daily basis that is unnecessarily polluting our waters. How much effort does it take to simply reuse bags. It’s the simple, small actions that we take every day that can stop the problem from growing and spreading.

Plastic Bag Ban/ Los Angeles

Efforts to ban disposable shopping bags in much of California continue, with the latest debate now centering around Los Angeles.

Already, San Francisco had recently passed a law prohibiting large grocery stores in the city from giving away plastic bags to customers. Similar initiatives have been making their way through Berkeley and other parts of the Bay Area. In addition, iconic Swedish retailer IKEA has made headlines by charging consumers a nickel per plastic bag taken out of the store.

While LA’s city council is set to debate a possible ban on plastic bags in its jurisdiction, some observers are arguing that such a strict stance isn’t optimal. Los Angeles Times editors point out that IKEA’s small fee has caused use of plastic bags at its stores to plummet by 92%, while similar results are being seen across Ireland, which recently instituted a country-wide fee.

Here’s where it gets a little complicated, according to the Times. A 2006 bill in California prohibits local governments from imposing fees on plastic shopping bags (we wonder who lobbied for that one?). A new bill, AB 2058 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), hopes to repeal that ban. But in the meantime, cities can either ban plastic bags or pretty much just live with the waste, which the Times calls an “environmental atrocity.”

The LA ban being discussed would affect all plastic carry-out bags at supermarkets and other retail stores by 2012 — but only if no fees can be imposed instead. This would give business owners more than enough time to come up with alternatives, whether they give discounts to the BYOB crowd, switch to recycled paper carry-outs or other ideas.

It’s true 2012 is a ways away, and by then many sea turtles and other wildlife will have choked to death on plastic detritus, and the giant floating island of plastic in the Pacific — which some call Gilligan’s Island from the trashy sitcom that won’t go away — will likely have grown. Hopefully, retailers will get the message, see the writing on the wall, and start switching to more eco-friendly options ASAP, and government bans won’t even be needed.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/los-angeles-plastic-bag-ban-460708?click=main_sr#ixzz0RBc86iTE

Reusable Shopping Bags- Additional Benefits

Beyond the environment, there are several other benefits to using an eco-friendly bag.  Reusable Bags can carry at least twice as much as most shopping bags. Reusable bags are easier to carry, typically having long, soft, fabric handles that are easy on the hands and are easy to put over your shoulder, leaving your hands free for other things such as holding your child’s hand as you walk through the busy parking lot. Many bags are made from environmentally friendly fabrics, such as hemp or recycled cotton and are non-toxic and non-allergenic. Additionally, reusable eco-friendly bags are washable and are made from strong fabric that will last for many years.

Free Grocery Bags Not Free

Finally, many stores today offer credits for shoppers that bring their own bags instead of using plastic or paper. Although grocery stores offer bags for “free” the truth is that these bags are not free. Grocery stores have to pay for the bags and pass those costs on to the consumer via higher prices on items in the store. Since people that bring their own bags in to the store aren’t using the plastic bags, the store is able to provide a credit to the customer as a means to make up for the higher priced items. Typically this is not a huge credit, $0.10 per bag for example. However, the point is that over time, the reusable bag will pay for itself and in the long run and could actually save you money on groceries.

Save money while Going Green!

We all want to live green and save money at the same time, and we can too. Kermit the Frog was wrong when he said, “It ain’t easy being green.” It’s really easy, and highly effective too, if you know how. This article will provide you with 5 essential steps you can start taking today to live green and save money.

1. Turn your heater thermostats down one or two degrees in winter, and turn your air conditioning thermostats up one or two degrees in summer. If we all did this, the combined difference would be phenomenal. We’d still feel warm in winter and cool in summer, so learn how to live green and save money with your heating and cooling appliances.

2. The other appliance that needs your attention is your washing machine. Start washing your clothes in cold water. Modern powders work just as efficiently in cold water as hot. Most of the energy that goes into a clothes wash is in heating up the water, so you will save on electricity, live green and save money too.

3. When your clothes are nice and clean, don’t throw them into the dryer. Unless it’s pouring rain, hang them out to air dry. It’s what your grandmother did, and she managed just fine. She may have liked having a dryer, but they weren’t around back then, so she just had to live green and save money. You can too!

4. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are a dream come true for anyone who wants to live green and save money. They burn just 25% of the electricity that a standard light bulb burns, and they can last up to 10 times longer. Change your old bulbs today!

5. Try to consume a little less of everything, from electricity, to gas in the car, to the food you eat. Take time to write out a shopping list, and stick to it. If you feel the impulse to buy something you don’t really need, get into the habit of waiting 24 hours, then review it. The chances are you either won’t want it any more, or you will have forgotten about it.

It’s easy to live green and save money. You just have to give it some thought. Get into a routine that works and before you know it, you will find yourself in the situation where you live green and save money every day.

Reusable bags!

Welcome to our blog!

The Bag Movement is an organization established in promoting the use of reusable bags.  They have designed a unique concept in which giving back to charity has been incorporated into the “going green” movement.  The bags are made of durable, machine washable, recycled polyester. They are compact, affordable and very attractive.  The reusable bags come in different colors, each representing a charitable cause.  The Bag Movement, LLC believes that we can make a difference in our environment by taking small steps in our daily lives, and changing a couple of habits.