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By negligently discarding plastic items, especially plastic water bottles, fishing gear and plastic bags, people are unknowingly causing the deaths of millions of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles each and every year. We defile the face of the earth with plastic refuse creating waterway contamination.

Since the invention of plastic earlier this century, it has become a popular material used in a wide variety of unique and innovative applications. Plastic is used to make, or wrap around, many of the items we buy or use. The problem comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used in wrapping or packaging. Plastic is accessible, lightweight and quickly discarded. Too quickly discarded.

Plastics are widely used as they are easy and inexpensive to manufacture, strong and durable. Regrettably these same desirable characteristics make plastic an overwhelming pollution problem. Low quality and low cost means plastic is readily discarded. Plastics take around 300 years to photo degrade. Its long life assures it survives in the environment for extended periods where it can do great harm. Plastic does not easily decompose and requires high energy ultra-violet light to break down, therefore the massive volume of plastic waste in the worlds’ streams, rivers and oceans is steadily increasing. Plastic is now found in virtually all the oceans and rivers of the world, even the most inaccessible and once pristine.

Charles Moore, an American oceanographer, reports the volume of plastic pollution in the worlds oceans is so extensive it’s beyond cleaning up. A toxic plastic mass of refuse double the size of Texas swirls in the waters of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii. There the crew found that test samples contained six parts of plastic for every part plankton, with a five-fold increase in the amount of plastic between 1997 and 2007.

Over 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide every year and the total is growing. That is an unconscionable amount of waste, so much that more than one million bags are used every minute and their impact on the planet is devastating. Plastic bags are only part of the crisis. America alone, yearly produces more than of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle pollution. Around the globe, our precious planet is defaced and poisoned with more than 100 million tons of plastic pollution annually.

According to the California Costal Commission, over 80 per cent of refuse within our rivers and coastal waterways, most of it being plastic, originates on land rather than coming from boats.

Deadly plastic pollution affects marine wildlife in various ways: entangling and trapping creatures and by being eaten. Turtles are particularly threatened by plastic pollution. Seven of the world’s turtle species are already endangered or threatened for a host of reasons. Turtles become entangled in fishing nets, and many sea turtles have been found dead with plastic garbage bags in their stomachs. Studies indicate turtles mistake these floating semi-transparent bags for jellyfish and eat them. The turtles die an inhumane death from choking or from being unable to eat. A dead turtle found off the coast Hawaii was found to have more than 1000 pieces of plastic in its stomach including part of a comb, a toy truck wheel and lank of nylon rope.

There is great environmental concern about the effect of plastic trash on all marine mammals. These elegant creatures are already under threat for a variety of other reasons. Seal and whale populations have been decimated by unregulated hunting. A recent study concluded that in excess of 100,000 marine mammals expire needlessly each year from the lethal effects of plastic pollution alone.

World-wide over 100 bird species are known to consume plastic particles. This includes 35 or more species found in coastal South Africa. A recent study of blue petrel hatchlings at South Africa’s remote Marion Island reported that 90% of the chicks examined had plastic in their digestive systems, apparently fed to them accidentally by their parents. South African seabirds are among the worst affected in the world. Plastics remain in the birds’ stomachs, halting digestion and leading to starvation.

Scientific studies are not conclusive about how much plastic birds and fish are consuming, however scientists agree that plastic in seafood is likely to be unhealthy for people. Plastic is compared with toxic materials such as mercury. Plastic acts like a thirsty sponge when in contact with poisons such as PCBs, concentrating them at levels that are millions of time more than in seawater.

The ingredients in plastic have been linked to cancer and reproductive deformaties. Bisphenol A, found in plastic water bottles, has been shown to produce cancer in lab rats, to interrupt hormone levels and is associated with diabetes and obesity.

Scientific studies also cause concerns that the massive swirls of floating plastic could contribute to global warming by creating a thick shady canopy that makes it difficult for plankton and plant life to sustain growth.

Let’s examine a few different ways where together we can make a change. The global crisis of plastic pollution demands urgent study and action. Business should be encouraged to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging and to reuse and recycle. Plastic wrapping and plastic garbage bags should carry a warning label advising of the dangers of plastic pollution and shoppers should be encouraged to use earth-wise shopping bags of organic, natural materials or recycled plastic fibers. Please tell this to our law makers. The situation only continues to worsen. We must act now!

Support re-cycling programs and promote environmental awareness in your local community. Be pro active in asking governments to make changes and consumers to rethink their attitudes. Set an example to your family, friends, fellow workers and neighbors. Volunteer for neighborhood clean up projects, be involved. Purchase products that minimize the amount of plastic packaging and inform store management why you are doing so. Together we can speak with a loud voice when we speak with our dollars.

Decide to drink tap or carbon filtered water from a glass-lined reusable container. If you do purchase plastic bottled, dispose of the container responsibily. Recycle.

With growing environmental awareness, it has become obvious that there is much more that we can do to create a sustainable planet for our children If only every one of us would take a few tiny steps, make a few different choices and consciously consider about our impact on the planet, there might be a way to restore the world to its original beauty and resources.