The Not Bright Future for Whales And Dolphins

     Whales and dolphins did not evolve to withstand what humans are throwing their way. The list of threats are many, but there is one threat that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Added to entanglement in fishing nets, collision strikes with ships, ocean acidification, loss of prey from overfishing, damage to the oceans from trawlers that scrape the seafloor, weapons testing, coastal overdevelopment, dredging, acoustic noise and sonar use that damages marine life tissue and hearing, chemical pollutants, human created ocean dead zones that kill virtually everything, radioactive waste - and much more - is the added threat of plastic and other oil based waste material.

       Plastic, Styrofoam and oil based materials (including food wrappers for chips, cookies, crackers, fast food restaurants and much more) enters the oceans daily by thousands upon thousands of tons. 

       In addition, micoplastics from a variety of products, and micoplastic fibers from clothing and other textiles, daily enters the oceans by the millions from washing, cleaning and a variety of other means. 

       Plastic and microplastic poisoning of the oceans will be the final straw. Already it has killed and sickened untold numbers of whales, dolphins,sea turtles, seabirds, fish and other marine life.

       Humans will not be unaffected. Plastic, including microplastic beads and microplastic fibers, are in the fish and marine life people eat. The fibers are in our water, in the air, and in the food chain.  

       The world focuses on its religious and political conflicts as we continue to poison ourselves.

       This human created disaster is not being addressed. There is no technology that can counter the daily poisoning of the oceans. No matter how much garbage is removed from ocean garbage patches, it will in no way equal what enters the oceans daily. Furthermore, almost all plastic and oil based material breaks down and disperses, and is virtually impossible to recover.

        There is no simple solution. It has to start with a massive worldwide effort to reduce the amount of garbage that enters the oceans. Reducing the amount of packaging materials and changing the materials used for packaging, textiles and more is essential. Hugely profitable food corporations serving burgers, coffees, fries, etc., know that their food wrappers, disposable gloves and so forth end up in the oceans, especially in countries where there is poor garbage disposal (which includes most countries of the world). It cannot be business as usual in which the only measure of wealth is what a stock does. The Dow Jones can reach 100,000, and it is meaningless in a poisoned world.

        Many marine species are on the verge of extinction. Many species are already far too stressed to withstand the massive threat, only decades old, of plastic poisoning. Whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish, marine life and humans did not evolve to withstand plastic poisoning. And once plastic enters the oceans, it is virtually impossible to remove. It has already entered the oceans by millions of tons, with thousands of new tons added daily.