Marine Litter

[Chris Lewer]

Approximately 8 million tonnes of man-made litter enters the earth’s oceans each year, causing the death of over 1 million seabirds and over 100,000 turtles and marine mammals annually.

What can we, as individuals, do to prevent or relieve this?

[Freebird]

I think we are way past the point where individuals can do anything to reduce the marine litter problem, or even prevent it from getting worse. It will only become less of a problem if governments take responsibility and legislate better on plastics and waste management. But to do that, they need to put the environment before profits.

[Planet Watcher]

Yes, you’re right. But legislation will only address the problem and not the cause… which is too many people producing too much waste.

[Ripley]

For governments to take responsibility, we need responsible governments. But that will only happen if people are smart enough to vote them into office. And people need to make it clear that they want overpopulation on the agenda, so that it is openly discussed.

[Ocean Lover]

Slowing population growth will certainly help to relieve some pressure on the oceans until we have developed better ways to both manage waste and clean up the waste that is already at sea.

[DayWalker]

Sure, it’s not a quick fix. None of the earth’s environmental problems are a quick fix.  But yes, we need to address the cause as well as engineer ways to repair the damage. If reducing the number of people on the planet deals with the cause, then governments need to be talking about that.

[Author]

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