Plastic waste: be part of the solution, not the problem
Covering 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface and deeper in places than Mount Everest is tall, oceans have long been a source of fascination. Since Captain Cook charted the Pacific Ocean in the 18th century, returning with zoological specimens and botanical artwork that set the mark for scientific exploration, we have been learning about the natural world. Scientists are still discovering new species. Researchers and filmmakers travel to the most inhospitable places, revealing the ocean’s mysteries in documentaries such as Blue Planet.
But sadly, today’s naturalists are faced with the impact of ocean plastic waste. Watching albatross parents feed plastic to chicks has been one of the lows of David Attenborough’s natural history career. But how did we reach this point and what can we do to help regenerate our oceans?
The plastic revolution
In her book Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, featured in the Scientific American, Susan Freinkel tells the story of how plastic not only shaped new hair combs but freed us from the supply and manufacturing limitations of natural products, such as wood, iron and glass. Responding to a challenge to find an alternative to ivory for billiard balls, New Yorker John Wesley Hyatt created the first man-made polymer in 1870, a “malleable substance that could be…
