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Earth Science

Plastic Pollution Is Killing Coral Reefs, 4-Year Study Finds (npr.org) 90

Posted by BeauHD from the wrapped-in-plastic dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A new study based on four years of diving on 159 reefs in the Pacific shows that reefs in four countries -- Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar -- are heavily contaminated with plastic. It clings to the coral, especially branching coral. And where it clings, it sickens or kills. "The likelihood of disease increases from 4 percent to 89 percent when corals are in contact with plastic," researchers report in the journal Science. Study leader Drew Harvell at Cornell University says the plastic could be harming coral in at least two ways. First, bacteria and other harmful microorganisms are abundant in the water and on corals; when the coral is abraded, that might invite pathogens into the coral. In addition, Harvell says, plastic can block sunlight from reaching coral. Based on how much plastic the researchers found while diving, they estimate that over 11 billion plastic items could be entangled in coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region, home to over half the world's coral reefs. And their survey did not include China, one of the biggest sources of plastic pollution.
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Plastic Pollution Is Killing Coral Reefs, 4-Year Study Finds More

Plastic Pollution Is Killing Coral Reefs, 4-Year Study Finds

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  • Only one cause (Score:3)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @11:44PM (#56005265) Homepage Journal
    Global warming and ocean acidification are other reasons.

  • One problem at a time (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    First, replace all carcinogenic toxic internal combustion engines with electric motors.

    • ...made from ores obtained through carcinogenic mining and toxic refining.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DogDude ( 805747 )
        The environmental impact of making an electric motor is what percentage of creating an ICE engine?

        The environmental impact of making an electric motor is what percentage of a tank of gas?

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Electric motor and geartrain, about the same or slightly less. Many electric cars are made of lightweight composites and metals (eg, aluminium) rather than the standard ICE gal-steel as well, so is generally much worse environmentally than an ICE car body. Electric power storage, far worse, if current battery tech is assumed.

          They might be better if you're comparing tiny little 100km-range electric citycars to the oversized ICE behemoths popular in the USA. And don't forget that most of a conventionally cons

      • Re: One problem at a time (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You skipped the school and system complexity classes, didn't you?

        Electric motor is 10 times less effort to manufacture than a stupid 4 cylinder block.

        The main point - where it matters, at your persons location - electric motors have ZERO carcinogenic emissions.

  • Where does the ocean plastic come from? 10 Rivers (Score:5, Informative)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @11:45PM (#56005273)

    Just 10 rivers carry 90% of plastic polluting the oceans

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci... [dailymail.co.uk]

    • Obviously we need to build about 10 walls...

      Wall.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Z80a ( 971949 )

        Net walls to capture the plastic and reuse it?

        • Learn the trash people to act like responsible educated people?

          Americans don't seem to be all that great in this regard either. But maybe better. At least they collect their trash. Into one pile but ...

        • Net walls to capture the plastic and reuse it?

          You can only downcycle plastic. Eventually you still end up with a mountain of plastic garbage. A more interesting idea is to replace petroleum based plastic packaging with something biodegradable. The dilemma is that with petroleum based plastics you sequester the carbon in the packaging but you are stuck with mountains of plastic garbage clogging up your landfills and your oceans, bio plastics degrade but that means they release, methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas. However, if we could come up wit

          • However, if we could come up with a packaging material that could actually be composted into soil

            They tried something like that. It was made from trees, if I remember well.

            Never caught on.

            • Last time I was in the bay area, most of the 'plastic' disposable things I picked up were compostable biomass. I've not seen them much elsewhere, so I don't know if there's some subsidy or penalty that means that it's only economically feasible in California, but it seemed like a good replacement.

          • "The dilemma is that with petroleum based plastics ..."

            Nitpicky, I know, but at least in the US, most plastics are made from Methane or Ethane -- i.e. Natural Gas. You CAN make them from petroleum or coal, but NG or Natural Gas Liquids (Ethane, Propane, Butane) are cheaper feedstocks.

            Biodegradable plastics? Nifty idea. But how do you keep them from biodegrading on the shelf? Most folks want containers to ... like .. contain.

            I actually do think that overuse of plastic is a genuine problem, even if I don'

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dgatwood ( 11270 )

              I actually do think that overuse of plastic is a genuine problem, even if I don't have any answer for what to do about it. ... Maybe significant refundable deposits and significant non-refundable recycling fees on every plastic product ...

              Blech. Plastic isn't overused. In fact, if there's anything that would become better (or remain as good, but become cheaper) if it were made out of plastic, then I would argue that plastic is still underused.

              The problem is not that plastic is being used, but rather that

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            You can only downcycle plastic. Eventually you still end up with a mountain of plastic garbage.

            There's always thermal depolymerization, which can turn all that plastic (and other organic materials, to some extent) into a rough approximation of crude oil. And that material in turn should be readily convertible into various kinds of plastics, unless I'm missing something.

      • Yes. A wall will solve this problem. Walls solve every problems nowadays.

    • The only industrialized western country on the list of top 20 plastic polluters is the United States at No. 20.

      The U.S. and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter, researchers said.

      Smh. We have the money and organization to manage disposal properly, yet as individuals we ruin it by manually trashing the place.

      • Re:Where does the ocean plastic come from? 10 Rive (Score:4, Insightful)

        by xxxLCxxx ( 5220173 ) on Friday January 26, 2018 @02:37AM (#56005611)
        Actually, as we were able to find out only recently, that 'disposal' consisted in shipping it to China and declaring it 'recycled'. We learned that, when China refused to take any more of that plastic wastes from the US and GERMany, upon which both nations are now facing the problem of keeping their statistics 'green'.
        I believe the term to use here is "whitewashing". The western world is very good at this, thanks to our – totally independent – media. ;-)
        • See my reply below.

          By the way: China ASKED for the waste, for use in recycling and putting it to its own use. Nobody was foisting it off on them.
          • Did you never hear about corruption in China? Somebody surely profited from this and it wasn't China as a total, so much can be sure.
            You can get a Brazilian kid from the favelas to cut somebody's throat for a few bucks. That doesn't make it the child asking for the job...

        • Re:Where does the ocean plastic come from? 10 Rive (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Jane Q. Public ( 1010737 ) on Friday January 26, 2018 @02:47AM (#56005635)
          This was China's own plan to bolster its own plastics industry.

          The fact that they decided to end it suddenly [bloomberg.com] and then blame the shutdown on others trying to "push" their waste onto China is a rather consistent pattern for the Chinese government.

        • I was interested to see what haopened here in Sweden since we like to think we're good at it. No idea about exports but I know we burn our own and others waste and before you were supposed to throw soft plastics with the rest garbage simply to burn it.
          This is 17 years old so unlikely accurate but:
          "Sverige Ã¥tervann, enligt PlastForum nordica 2001/7, 79 % av all plast, 17 % materialÃ¥tervanns och resterande 62 % energiÃ¥tervanns, dvs fÃrbrÃndes."
          "Recycled" 79% but just 1

          • It doesn't appear from this study map (see comment below) that Sweden is a significant contributor to ocean plastic pollution.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by aliquis ( 678370 )

              Haven't stopped two of them from starting some ocean focus group like yesterday to get a head-start of some UN thing after 2020 or whatever it was.

              That of course line up nicely with yesterdays or so /. post about how Sweden was #2 in how innovativeness (well, USA being #11 or whatever it was, but the second placement was in there too.)

              They would of course prefer if one could show Swedish solutions or ideas on the subject. As for whatever that cause economical returns I don't know. I guess the group by itsel

          • Now if you burn waste in general what's the difference?

            Depends HOW you burn it.

            Burning it in open air, low temperature fires, is not the same as plasma gasification. [wikipedia.org]

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by aliquis ( 678370 )

              Depends HOW you burn it.

              Burning it in open air, low temperature fires, is not the same as plasma gasification.

              But if anything I assume generic waste is burned at an even higher temperature than just plastic waste?

              • Municipal waste is usually a mix of various waste products, but the temperature is more determined by the kind of plasma technology and configuration used.
                E.g. The pyrolysis stage will run at around 600 C, to separate most of the gases, but then the gasses are "cleaned" of particulates by plasma at about 1200 C.
                Or, plasma arc can burn the mix at 6000-15000 K (hot electrode) or 7000 K (cold electrode).

                It's not yet a world-wide standardized technology, mainly due to attempts to make it both economically viabl

        • I believe the term to use here is "whitewashing".

          I think Greenwashing [wikipedia.org] is the term that you're looking for.

      • Sources of ocean plastic [postimg.org] From a peer-reviewed paper. (I apologize that I do not have a direct reference to the paper ready at hand).

        So, I suppose what we should infer from this, is that we should help developing countries become developed countries, so they can clean themselves up, yes?

        But we don't do that by redistributing wealth. The idea is not to drag everyone to the bottom, but to assist everyone to the top.

  • All the other non-CO2 pollution (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SumDog ( 466607 ) on Thursday January 25, 2018 @11:57PM (#56005307) Homepage Journal

    I'm glad this is out here, because right now everyone is focused on CO2. The reality is that there is are so many other forms of pollution that are destroying our planet that are much more devastating. We have lakes of sludge in China as a result of all our cellphones and laptops.

    To stop general pollution, we need to consume less. Our cellphones need to last 10 years, not 2. Everything doesn't need to come in a cardboard box from Amazon. We generate so much waste in our day to day lives and consume sooooo much. To really fight pollution, we need products that last longer, fewer factories with workers that get paid more, more durable goods and a restructuring of how we value things. Companies should be praised for good products when people don't buy more stuff because their previous line has stood up so well (like CPUs and memory).

    It's a tall order. It's not easy. It probably won't happen.

    And it doesn't matter if you believe climate change is man made or not. If we reduce general pollution, consume lest, demand better public transport (which can be a reality now, unlike self driving cars that might be a reality ten years from now, and won't even touch 10% of the capacity of trains), we can reduce all kinds of pollution, including CO2.

    I personally don't feel this will happen until America runs out of countries to bomb and manipulate, fuel prices hit $9/gal and the US collapses. The vote is a joke. Trump is the 2 minute hate (really 24/7 hate) and Americans have lost sight of the real enemies that are present, no matter which puppet is elected.

    • Self driving cars will be here faster than a lot more rail roads that's definitely for sure.

      Also here in Sweden the collectivists talk about faster travel competing with planes, better transport capacity for the industry and less lorries and especially public transport. The problem is just that one rail-road track won't do that. Three would.
      The heavy cargo transports are slower. The local public transports need to stop often. The fast trains can't have the slow ones going on the same tracks and the track ne

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Kiuas ( 1084567 )

      And it doesn't matter if you believe climate change is man made or not. If we reduce general pollution, consume lest, demand better public transport (which can be a reality now, unlike self driving cars that might be a reality ten years from now, and won't even touch 10% of the capacity of trains), we can reduce all kinds of pollution, including CO2.

      I 100 % agree with you, but there's a major dilemma here: it's not just about whether or not one cares about the environment, consumption is the cornerstone of

    • To stop general pollution, we need to consume less.

      To stop absolutely yes we do. But we won't because humans don't work like that. However there's no reason we can't consume different. You're far more likely to not end up with teenage pregnancy if you teach people safe sex rather than abstinence. The same applies to everything else we do.

      My local supermarket started individually plastic wrapping vegetables. I no longer shop there, I got to the grocer next door. My girlfriend is obsessed with drinking from straws, she now uses paper ones. Electronics go to a

    • Our cellphones need to last 10 years, not 2.

      They probably do. Mine is now five years old and still works pretty well, but the problem is the software. It runs Android, so I can get third-party updates from LineageOS, but that's done by volunteers. How about taxing companies that stop producing software-updates for network-connected devices based on their sales and support lifetime and using that money to subsidise third-party development that keeps the devices in circulation?

      Everything doesn't need to come in a cardboard box from Amazon

      Why not? It's cheap cardboard made from recycled paper and it goes back

    • You're part of the problem.

      But hey, continue bitching, blaming America as some sort of secular Satan-figure as a focus for your particular strain of self-loathing.

      I'm sure that will result in a constructive solution.

  • This is a very big problem (Score:3)

    by TomGreenhaw ( 929233 ) on Friday January 26, 2018 @11:35AM (#56007399)
    I won't forget the time I learned about small plastic fiber pollution. Most of us are familiar with the dryer lint we have to clean, but just as much or more lint is ejected by our washing machines. The plastic based fabrics we wear and wash are emitting tons of these microfibers into the waterways and ending up in our seafood.

    I'm trying to wear more cotton and natural fibers and have put a better trap on my washing machine.

    I fear that we are one of the last generations to enjoy the level of natural beauty of our planet currently offers. The future of our planetary ecosysem is pretty bleak because the likelihood of humanity addressing pollution to the extent required is nil.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      I'm trying to wear more cotton and natural fibers and have put a better trap on my washing machine.

      Nobody wants to drink plastics; it isn't just about the fish. But individual washing machines are really not the right place to solve the problem. Those fibers don't just end up in the washing machine. They end up on people, which means they go down tub and shower drains, sink drains, etc. So even if everybody added filters on their washing machines, it still wouldn't even come close to fixing the problem.

  • We have too much plastic in the environment. Where does plastic come from. Silly frivolous packaging. Who demands all the silly frivolous packaging. White liberals. We need to ban white liberals. Redneck crackers pretty much drink straight from the faucet. Disadvantaged blacks and brown people do likewise. Smug white liberals on the other hand love their fancy plastic bottles holding tap water distilled from springs in Mt Kilimanjaro.

    If we get rid of the white liberals, I think rednecks and black wo

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