Check out these marvelous knobbed whelk shells! Our cottage guests found them among the eelgrass, on a beach at Nantucket where they spent the day. Fascinating article about the garbage patch in the Pacific yesterday on CNN.com. “Here's what scientists do know: They know the size of this zone is huge, maybe as big as Texas. And they know that all the plastic accumulated in the patch has mostly broken down into smaller bits, floating just under the water's surface like confetti, basically a soupy mix of plastic-filled seawater that stretches for maybe thousands of miles. They know the garbage patch has been growing for many years, and scientists first became aware of the problem years ago when fisherman reported encountering widespread debris. They know there are other debris fields in other oceans of the world, but this one is the biggest.” Plastic breaks down into small bits, which seabirds mistake for food. Plastic was the subject of conversation over breakfast: what all the plastic in the environment is doing to the world. We all need to rethink our lives, when we use plastic, what alternatives there are, how we can urge friends and neighbors to adopt similar behavior. Seventh Generation offers recycled plastic kitchen bags and ran an informative newsletter article about plastics in June. Take a pretty basket or tote with you to the store. Suggest to the young, inexperienced person behind the counter not to use a bag on one or two items. (I do so all the time at Cumberland Farms.) As early as 2003 articles about plastic bags appeared in National Geographic, warning how many end up in the ocean. We do not know what all this plastic is doing to the environment, but early thinking indicates the consequences could be dire. Wellfleet recycles plastics today but imagine a town policy tomorrow of reclaiming all plastics, the way some cities have done for firearms, and requiring food manufacturers to package their products in alternatives. “Okay, folks. Turn in your Tupperware, bottles, measuring cups …” The list would go on and on. As one of my guests said this morning, “I tried to live without plastic and discovered how hard it is.” Plastic is everywhere. Sometimes central governments need to lead the way and ban a product that is toxic to the environment. Kudos to the PR folks in the plastics industry! Talk about successful marketing! They are right up there with the honchos who convinced us to smoke cigarettes. What a world we are leaving to our children! How much better to find whelks in the eelgrass, beside the ocean, than bits of discarded plastic! (Alex, below, has done an amazing job of collecting shells since he arrived last weekend. The whelks are from Nantucket, but Duck Harbor was the source for most of the others.)
