Apr 28 - Plastic waste finds its way around the globe - and into the marine foodchain

Seattle Times writer Paula Brock lends insight into the natural dump site for the world's most vast ocean - and how humans may be poisoning themselves with plastic by releasing them into the food chain:

SEATTLE - Something red caught Ellen Anderson's eye. Something sharp and bright, out of place amidst the muted colors and gentle rhythms of the dunes.

Anderson stepped off the little path that wound from her Ocean Park weekend house to a sandy stretch along the Washington coast. She parted the long beach grasses. She stared, shocked: a dead bird, its exposed belly filled with shiny bits of plastic. Chunks yellowed like old teeth, a perforated pink rectangle, hairy tan slivers. A red shard had first captured her attention.

"My gut hurt. It was a glorious day, sunny, a treasure in May. Everything was great. And then I saw that bird and I was sick to my stomach," Anderson recently recalled.

The rest of the article, “The Problem With Plastic: Waves of Junk Are Flowing Into the Food Chain” goes on to elucidate how plastic debris is clogging up our natural systems and killing wildlife. What Ellen Anderson probably didn’t know is that there are over 100,000 birds killed every year from marine debris, 90% of which is plastic.

CAW is currently sponsoring legislation, AB 1940, that directly addresses this issue by proposing a Marine Debris taskforce to create and implement a comprehensive plan dealing with the physical pollution in our oceans. Consider supporting this bill with a letter, or learn more about the problem of marine debris.