Plastic Pollution

We are filling our oceans with toxic plastic!  Many people now know that plastics are not biodegradable – they don’t rot like wood or rust like metal.  But who cares?  So there’s some plastic bottles and plastic bags floating in the water, oh well.  Maybe they’ll just sink and after a really really long time they’ll dissapear.  Well… not ok.  For one thing, animals mistake the plastic for food (classic example sea turtles think plastic bags are jellyfish) and when they eat them, they get sick and die.  Not just from the structure of the plastic, although that is a problem, but also from the toxins.  Plastics contain all kinds of toxins from how they are made, and also they absorb toxins from the environment.  While they do not biodegrade, over time they disintegrate into tiny toxic nuggets. 

Check out: 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/21642965.html

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex