Oct 27, 2009: Killer Plastic

xoxoxoBruce · 10-27-2009, 02:43 AM

We've discussed, here in the Cellar, the stories of huge amounts of plastic in the Pacific Ocean Gyre. Apparently most of the plastic breaks down into small pieces, making a "soup" just below the surface.

Well, not all of the pieces are small...

Quote:

These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

~cj, October 2009

Albatrosses are killing their chicks, without even realizing it.

link

Scriveyn · 10-27-2009, 03:50 AM

Plus, less obvious, the "sand" on the worlds beaches is in part made up of broken down plastic. Some research found up to 10% of the grains are actually plastic.

SPUCK · 10-27-2009, 05:33 AM

The bastards!
Death to plastic hording birds!

Got a light buddy?

Griff · 10-27-2009, 06:21 AM

Dead albatros on the cellar, dead aspen on NPR, depressing start to the day and that's just the "A"s.

spudcon · 10-27-2009, 07:29 AM

Don't you just hate it when you're eating a dead albatross chick, and you get a hunk of bottlecap stuck between your teeth?

TheMercenary · 10-27-2009, 08:54 AM

Pretty sad statement.

birdclaw · 10-27-2009, 10:28 AM

Strange you don't see these images on the "power of plastic" commercials.

xoxoxoBruce · 10-27-2009, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff

Dead albatros on the cellar, dead aspen on NPR, depressing start to the day and that's just the "A"s.

Yeah, I've been holding on to this for awhile, trying to figure out the best day for it. Too sad for a Monday, it's certainly not a Friday image, too important for a weekend. I just wish NPR would check with the Cellar first.

glatt · 10-27-2009, 04:28 PM

This IotD is depressing as hell. We human beings are filthy pigs.

xoxoxoBruce · 10-27-2009, 05:06 PM

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'd prefer happier things too, but some things are too important to ignore. Let's blame it on the Aussies, or the Japs, or maybe Aliens.

Gravdigr · 10-27-2009, 06:30 PM

I thought we (Merkins, anyway) were blaming everything on China and Cuba. And Iran. Yeah, Iran.

wolf · 10-27-2009, 06:54 PM

Mebbe that evil-loution theory thingy is wrong ... albatrosses seem to be as good at figuring out plastic is not food as deer, squirrels, and opossum are about cars.

TheDaVinciChode · 10-27-2009, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

Mebbe that evil-loution theory thingy is wrong ... albatrosses seem to be as good at figuring out plastic is not food as deer, squirrels, and opossum are about cars.

The albatross, deer, squirrel, and opossum, that avoid these dangers, pass the information to their young.

Those that do not, cannot.

The young who fail to use the information, never grow old enough to pass on said information.

It's a slow process, but nature is slowly killing off the less-able-to-adapt.

Elspode · 10-27-2009, 07:52 PM

What we need here is an ad campaign:

"Plastic - Albatross tested, albatross approved! Hundreds of thousands of albatross can't be wrong!"

Yeah, that's what we need.

newtimer · 10-27-2009, 08:52 PM

Hey, there's my lucky green lighter I lost at the beach last year. Thanks for finding it!

10-27-2009, 06:21 AM	#4
Griff whose life is now like a hockey game Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 11,513	Dead albatros on the cellar, dead aspen on NPR, depressing start to the day and that's just the "A"s. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

10-27-2009, 07:29 AM	#5
spudcon Beware of potatoes Join Date: May 2007 Location: Upstate NY, USA Posts: 1,301	Don't you just hate it when you're eating a dead albatross chick, and you get a hunk of bottlecap stuck between your teeth? __________________ Keep your corvines in the corbels.

10-27-2009, 08:54 AM	#6
TheMercenary We must have you for dinner. Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Savannah, Georgia Posts: 14,145	Pretty sad statement. __________________ "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil Aphorism 146 "So you heard what you expected to hear, and assumed my intent." -LJ

10-27-2009, 10:28 AM	#7
birdclaw putting the "g" in flight Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 137	Strange you don't see these images on the "power of plastic" commercials. __________________ “If any man says he hates war more than I do, he better have a knife, that's all I have to say”

10-27-2009, 05:06 PM	#10
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 32,457	Yeah, yeah, I know. I'd prefer happier things too, but some things are too important to ignore. Let's blame it on the Aussies, or the Japs, or maybe Aliens. __________________ Excuse me Miss, does this handkerchief smell like chloroform?

10-27-2009, 03:50 AM	#2
Scriveyn Here Be Dragons Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Between my ears Posts: 328	Plus, less obvious, the "sand" on the worlds beaches is in part made up of broken down plastic. Some research found up to 10% of the grains are actually plastic.

10-27-2009, 05:33 AM	#3
SPUCK Lecturer Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 761	The bastards! Death to plastic hording birds! Got a light buddy?

10-27-2009, 04:28 PM	#9
glatt accepts the challenge Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 10,050	This IotD is depressing as hell. We human beings are filthy pigs.

10-27-2009, 06:30 PM	#11
Gravdigr Lecturer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: South Central...KY that is Posts: 927	I thought we (Merkins, anyway) were blaming everything on China and Cuba. And Iran. Yeah, Iran. __________________ Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. Windows 7, you get busy dyin'. -Ellis Boyd Redding

10-27-2009, 06:54 PM	#12
wolf chews 3 times on each side Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 17,203	Mebbe that evil-loution theory thingy is wrong ... albatrosses seem to be as good at figuring out plastic is not food as deer, squirrels, and opossum are about cars. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

10-27-2009, 07:52 PM	#14
Elspode O'er ripe and manky Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 11,735	What we need here is an ad campaign: "Plastic - Albatross tested, albatross approved! Hundreds of thousands of albatross can't be wrong!" Yeah, that's what we need. __________________ Peas and Logic, Patrick We are the other people...you're the other people, too. - FZ

10-27-2009, 08:52 PM	#15
newtimer Vice-President of Resentment Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 196	Hey, there's my lucky green lighter I lost at the beach last year. Thanks for finding it!

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