Picture is from Downtown Wilmington, NC after a storm
Jennifer and I just finished an interview with Catherine Welch with WHQR - NPR. It was a welcomed opportunity to tell an audience what we found on our marine debris survey of the North Atlantic Gyre. There is so much to say that inevitably I leave something out. Like the fact that the problem with plastics in our marine environment goes unnoticed because most of it is underwater or broken down into small bits floating on the surface. Not that it takes a trained eye to see it; you just have to recognize that it’s there. Once you do, it likens to the "Magic Eyes" from the 90s. Remember staring at a random series of blotches until an image imbedded in the blotches could be recognized? Once your eyes discovered it, you could always see it. And you wondered why you hadn't noticed at first glance.
Our hope is to have people start seeing the litter on the ground, really seeing the plastic bags stuck in trees or blowing across roadways into ditches. To see that dropping litter out of a moving vehicle often ends up in our storm drains and washed out to sea. Once we all see it, we're more likely going to share the burden of it. We'll secure our trash so it doesn't end up entangling or accidentally eaten by marine animals and birds.
Thank you, Catherine, for giving us the opportunity to talk about the insidious amount of marine debris Jennifer and I witnessed plaguing Bermuda and parts of the North Atlantic Gyre. Hopefully, more people will get the Magic Eye to see the lost or abandon trash on the ground, help remove it, and begin to reduce their amount of plastic use.
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