National Estuaries Week: Restore our Nation's Estuaries

 

An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments known as ecotone. Wikipedia  Brackish water is water that is slightly saltier than fresh water, but not as salty as sea water.  An "ecotone" is a transition area between two ecological environments--a transition zone, in the case of an estuary, between salt water and fresh water.

Estuaries are known as the "nurseries" of the sea because they provide shelter for many species of fish and a resting place for migratory birds.

Estuaries are the most productive areas on the planet for organic growth and repositories of carbon dioxide--keeping CO2 locked in and restricting global warming.

Without estuaries providing shelter for thousands of fish, mammals and birds, our food production would be greatly reduced.

photo by Nannette O'Hara

 From www.epa.gov: "National Estuaries Week, which first began as National Estuaries Day, was founded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1988 as part of Coastweeks. While Coastweeks was a broad celebration of our nation’s coasts, National Estuaries Day was created to specifically focus on estuaries, with a mission to encourage citizens to explore and appreciate their local estuaries. For many years in the 1990s, NOAA and EPA hosted National Estuaries Day events both locally and nationally. But when federal support declined, the event disappeared for some time with no national effort to hold it together.

Around 2007, Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) saw the opportunity to revive National Estuaries Day. RAE partnered with organizations like the Association of National Estuary Programs (ANEP), the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA), and NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (NOAA OCM), to grow National Estuaries Day, soon overtaking its original reach. It became clear that one day was not enough time to host celebratory events, and many organizations expressed disappointment over not be able to participate. National Estuaries Day became National Estuaries Week in 2013 to provide more opportunities for activities and celebration. Celebrated every third week in September, National Estuaries Week continues to be a unique opportunity to come together and raise awareness for our estuaries and coasts."

Estuaries are an absolutely essential part of our ecosystem and saving them should be important to everyone on this planet, Earth.

Plastic Recycling: Chapter II

 

Many people ask me what possible good will it do to recycle.  What exactly happens to recycled bottles, and plastic wraps, etc.?  Well, unfortunately, the news is not good.

In a recent post, I discussed the numbers inside the recycle arrows and what they mean.  Numbers 3 through 7 are collected in recycle bins, but are actually useless for recycling.

According to YaleEnvironment360: "The new research (by Greenpeace) found that none of the United States’ 367 facilities are capable of processing coffee pods. Just 14 percent of them can process what are known as plastic clamshells, containers commonly used for takeout food, fruit, and baked goods. Just 11 percent of facilities can recycle plastic cups; 4 percent plastic bags; and just 1 percent can process plastic plates, cutlery, straws, and stirrers."

“This survey confirms what many news reports have indicated since China restricted plastic waste imports two years ago — that recycling facilities across the country are not able to sort, sell, and reprocess much of the plastic that companies produce,” Jan Dell, founder of The Last Beach Cleanup and leader of the new survey.

So, when you look at a plastic package and it says "Recyclable", it probably isn't unless it's has a number 1 (PET, polyethylene teraphthalate) or a number 2 (HDPE, high density polyethylene).  Recyclers collect the other plastics, but they end up in landfills and take 500 years to decompose.

Every little bit of trash not disposed of properly creates a problem:

According to the website science.howstuffworks.com: "The trash production in the United States has almost tripled since 1960. This trash is handled in various ways. About 32.5 percent of the trash is recycled or composted, 12.5 percent is burned and 55 percent is buried in landfills [source: EPA]. The amount of trash buried in landfills has doubled since 1960."

My next post will discuss how trash is handled in the U.S.