Think Trees, Trees, Trees!

Red Mangrove Tree, SW Florida

There's a very strong tendency to get discouraged about climate change and global warming.  I will be posting more blogs on microplastics and their effects on all of us.  But today, let's think positively.

50% of all CO2 produced on the earth by refining and manufacturing and automobiles and trucks, etc. is absorbed by the oceans and the forests (the trees of the earth).  25% is absorbed by the ocean and 25% is absorbed by trees.  Currently, approximately 10 billion acres of the earth is covered with trees, down from 12 billion a hundred years ago.  

Why are trees so important?  

Trees are the lungs of the earth

We learned about photosynthesis in High School.   By taking in the CO2 from the air around us, trees produce the oxygen we breathe.

According to saveatree.com: "Both above and below ground, trees are essential to the eco-systems in which they reside. Far reaching roots hold soil in place and fight erosion. Trees absorb and store rainwater which reduce runoff and sediment deposit after storms. This helps the ground water supply recharge, prevents the transport of chemicals into streams and prevents flooding. Fallen leaves make excellent compost that enriches soil."

So, what can we do? 

What a great birthday present: plant a tree.  A tree absorbs about 50 pounds of CO2 per year.  (One human being produces about 4000 pounds of CO2 per year, so it takes about 80 trees per year to offset the CO2 production of one human.  But we need to start somewhere.

So, go bigger: support The Arbor Day Foundation.  Their goal is to plant 20 million trees.  Check it out at arborday.org.

There is something we all can do and every little bit helps: Plant a tree!

HOTMIC: No, it's not what you think

Plastics found intact, in the ocean, from 1988 and 1996

Whenever we hear the words "hot mic", we think of a microphone that is still live and some politician or other saying something they should not have and it's recorded for posterity.

But the HOTMIC I'm referring to in this blog is the Horizontal and Vertical Oceanic Distribution, Transport, and Impact of Microplastics.

For some reason, we humans can't seem to properly dispose of our plastic waste.  The result is the overwhelming amount of plastics that are being carried into the ocean and waterways and being consumed by sea creatures of all types.

I am referring specifically to an article published on June 11, 2020, entitled:  

"Persistence of plastic debris and its colonization by bacterial communities after two decades on the abyssal seafloor" by S. Krause, et al. in Scientific Reports,10,9484. 
According to their research:
"Currently, 5–13 Mt [metric tons] of plastic debris are believed to enter the oceans every year..."
The authors further state that "Currently, more than 60% of all debris present in the oceans is plastic with increasing trend so far". 
Obviously, this can't continue unabated without severe consequences to our planet and our ocean life.  Single use plastics--including water bottles, and particularly, packaging--are quite simply destroying our planet, one metric ton at a time.
There are two organizations working very hard to clean the plastic out of the oceans: 4Ocean (4ocean.com) and The Ocean Cleanup (theoceancleanup.com).
What can we do?  For one thing, we can donate to these worthy causes to provide the money to help them clean up the plastics in the oceans.  We can stop and think before we use any single use plastics for water or shopping and, if we do, we can make sure they're disposed of properly.  And we can make sure all plastics are properly disposed of.
Plastics last forever so we need to dispose of plastics knowing that they won't decompose.

Carbon Dioxide: The Enemy Around Us

There are a lot of words for what's going on around us: Global Warming, Climate Change, Climate Evolution, etc.  But the facts are clear.  

I have wracked my brain to think of a way to clearly describe what is happening.

Imagine that you're lying in bed on a cold night.  You ask your partner or your parent to get you another blanket to warm up.  While you're asleep, they add another blanket, and then another.  What these blankets are now doing is trapping your body heat and warming you way more than necessary, causing you to start sweating.  This is exactly what is happening to the earth.  Greenhouse gases are thickening the atmosphere and not allowing heat from the sun to escape, trapping it right here on our planet.  And carbon dioxide is the main culprit.  And what are the main sources of CO2?

What we can do about this is the subject of my blog.  

We do know this for sure: we can't keep going like this.  A warming earth has consequences and these consequences are not good.

There are things that everyone can start doing immediately.  Think about how we waste energy: driving when we can walk or bike; using inefficient light bulbs; recycling everything recyclable; composting waste.  As we go forward in our discussion, we will discuss ways to reduce energy waste.

Start simple:  recycle everything that is recyclable, especially plastic water bottles.  

Think Clean!

Whence Plastics? Why Worry About My Plastic Water Bottle?

"Plastics are made from natural materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and crude oil through a polymerisation or polycondensation process. ... In a polymerisation reactor, monomers such as ethylene and propylene are linked together to form long polymer chains." (From www.plasticseurope.org).  The whole thing starts with crude oil that has been refined to provide the foundation for plastics manufacturing.
So how does crude oil refining--which is essential part of the manufacturing of plastics, effect our planet.
Let's start this discussion with some basic science: surrounding the earth are five layers of atmosphere. The "troposphere" is where humans operate, where we live and breathe.  Above the troposphere there are two layers, the stratosphere and the mesophere--the space where commercial jets fly.  Finally, there's the thermosphere and the exosphere.  Carbon dioxide emissions are thickening all layers (except the exosphere).  Quite simply, the earth has become a "heat trap".  The carbon dioxide buildup has allowed the radiation that would normally exit our "troposphere" be captured--no longer escaping into the exosphere.
According to the National Resources Defense Council (nrdc.org) "In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity is the largest source of heat-trapping pollution, producing about two billion tons of CO2 every year. Coal-burning power plants are by far the biggest polluters. The country’s second-largest source of carbon pollution is the transportation sector, which generates about 1.7 billion tons of CO2 emissions a year."
And, according the the Federal EPA: "approximately one ounce of carbon dioxide is emitted for each ounce of polyethylene (PET) produced. PET is the type of plastic most commonly used for beverage bottles. Other sources pin the production ratio of carbon emissions to plastic production closer to 5:1."
So, where you start is simple: start by stopping the use of plastic bags and plastic bottles.
We have to start somewhere.

Microplastics Are Everywhere

Microplastics: plastic debris less than 5mm in length (NOAA)

In the 1967 movie, "The Graduate", with Dustin Hoffman, Mr. Robinson takes newly graduated Dustin Hoffman aside and tells him: "I have one word for you.  Plastics."  Plastics are everywhere and, in many cases, we don't even realize it.  Nylon is a "thermoplastic"; spandex is 85% polyurethane--a plastic, to name a couple of the most popular recent uses of plastic.  Ten years ago, before spandex became popular in men's clothing (underwear especially), 80% of all clothing contained spandex.  

According to Bioplastics News (bioplasticsnews.com), over 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute; 60 million plastic bottles per hour.

Plastics are everywhere, and the disposal of plastics is a problem that will only grow astronomically over the next several decades.  According to most estimates, only 10% of plastics produced are recycled.  If 10% of all plastic bottles are recycled, then 900,000 plastic bottles end up in the environment every single minute.

According to biologicaldiversity.org, "Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. It only takes about 14 plastic bags for the equivalent of the gas required to drive one mile. The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year."

So what to do?Be aware: learn what your local recycling rules are and recycle everything they will accept. 
Be aware: take your plastic shopping bags back to the store.
Be aware: the clothes you wear, as well as the plastic bottles and bags, contain plastics.
According to the April 15, 2019 issue of "National Geographic":
"Scientists have warned we are creating a “plastic planet”. Some 420 million tons of plastics were produced in 2015, up from just over two million tons in 1950. Over this 65-year period roughly six billion tons ended up either in landfill or in the natural environment, a 2017 study estimated. Plastic waste that starts out as bottles, packaging, and so on degrades over time to microplastic particles or much smaller nanoparticles. One study estimated there are 15 to 51 trillion microplastics particles floating on the surface of the oceans. A trillion is one thousand billion. A trillion seconds is nearly 32,000 years."

All of us need to recycle or reuse as much as possible!

It All Starts With You

Five large plastic bags of trash were removed from this whale.  Despite tremendous efforts, the whale could not be saved. 

What you see in the picture should make you sick--that is its intention.  But the solution starts with YOU.

Plastics--an industry too big to fail; an industry that virtually encapsulates everything, computers, TV's, cars, shopping bags, cell phones--everything: And yet, if it isn't curbed we will all die from its effects.  Micro plastics, the detritus of plastic waste, have been found in the atmosphere.  We will be breathing it and dying from it too soon.

I am writing this blog to educate as many people as I can to the evils of pollution and to the fact that our planet has to be saved for our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Our blog content will start with YOU and what you can do in your daily life, at school, at work, at home, to help alleviate this terrible blight on our planet.

You can start by looking around you.  Where is the plastic and how are your dealing with it?

There is an organization called 4Ocean (4ocean.com).  From their website:

"Even though 4ocean has collected millions of pounds of trash from the ocean and built an international infrastructure to fight the ocean plastic crisis, we’re just getting started. The ocean plastic crisis is massive and growing."

We are going to address these issues and discuss solutions in our weekly blog post.  Please share with friends and family.