Neptune’s plastic patch – news from the vortex

Photo by myecoaction.com

I’ve mentioned my predilection for open water swimming.  I grew up in West Los Angeles, and in the permissive 1970s, with far more autonomy than kids today are afforded, my best friend Frankie and I would frequently take the #3 bus from his home on Montana Ave. down to the beach during the summer.  We spent hours in the surf, boogie boarding and body surfing.  Later on, Frankie became proficient on a surfboard, while I excelled as a freestyle skateboarder (my proudest moment was taking 5^th place in the annual Bay street freestyle competition in 1978).  Frankie went on to become a professional diver, and while my professional career has never directly involved the ocean, my jobs over the last 15 years have kept me close to some of the eminently swimmable bodies of water in the Puget Sound region – notably Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish, and Lake Union. 

Since I have a bee in my bonnet about garbage, and a fondness for the feeling of cool water and goose poop sliding over my skin, the thought of garbage in the water chaps, as they say, my speedo-covered ass.

I’ve rescued floating debris from a watery grave, as reported in this very blog.  I’ve braved muddy banks to retrieve things as large as a 5 gallon bucket and as small as a cigarette butt.  I’ve waded into the frigid waters of Puget sound for Styrofoam and other pollutants.  Yes, I’m mildly obsessed – thanks for your concern.

Imagine my surprise to find out recently about a global ecological calamity involving garbage in the ocean.  It’s new to me, and I suspect, new to you as well.  I’m talking about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, aka the Pacific Trash Vortex.

The patch was originally theorized by NOAA in 1988, and discovered 9 years later by oceanographer Charles Moore (here’s his TED talk on the topic).  The patch is created by ocean currents which funnel flotsam into the North Pacific Gyre, whence it cannot escape.  The materials, largely plastics, degrade here midocean, and enter the food chain.  Toxins introduced this way can cause sickness or death in marine animals, disrupt normal hormone patterns, and eventually find their way into seafood and back into our lives. 

How can we help?  Well, one way may be to participate in International Coastal Cleanup Day, sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy – it occurred on September 21 this year.  Or, you may choose to support companies such as Electrolux or Method, which are committing to creating products made from plastic collected from  the vortex.

Better yet, if you live on or near the coast, make a point to swing by the beach to rescue one or more pieces of floating debris from in or near the water.  Every piece you keep out of an ocean, lake, or stream minimizes the opportunity for that bottle or bag to become toxic sludge in your next order of sushi.  Think about it, and act – one piece a day is a small price to pay to preserve clean water and healthy food for posterity.

Big Bellies for Trash!

The Greater Seattle Metropolitan area is going “belly up” for green technology.  Big Belly Solar is a Massachusetts company that is using technology in an innovative way to solve some of the most pervasive issues around municipal litter collection.  Their unique solar-powered compactor system attacks the litter problem on several fronts:

• The fully enclosed design prevents weather or pests from scattering trash from bins
• The compacting system allows their collectors to hold a greater volume of trash and therefore require less frequent collection.
•  The units are internet-connected, and will notify their handlers electronically when they need collection

The results sound promising.  The University of Washington piloted Big Belly compactors beginning in 2011, and have realized savings as a result.   Similar programs have been started in my town of Kirkland, as well as in the City of Seattle.  It makes sense that this high tech hub would embrace this innovative combination of well-tested technologies, and by all indications the investment is paying off.  I happily deposit my daily picks in Big Belly compactors such as this one near the bus stop at Yale and Stewart.

Of course, I have my own challenges around a big belly.  Before leaving my Eastside job to work in Seattle I was rock climbing two days or more a week.  Before that I spent a couple of years studying capoeira through the excellent program at Capoeira Malês.  And prior to that, I was spending mornings before work at Crossroads Skate Park in Bellevue.

My morning workout, circa 2006 (Photo by Huck Productions)

All that ended when I started working in Seattle and traded my exercise time for 2 hours a day of commuting.  The warm season sees me swimming (and picking up marine litter).  The rest of the year, I take as much time as I can to walk.  Walking takes me to the streets, and gives me ample opportunity to dispose of one or more pieces of litter a day.  I guess you could say collecting litter helps me control my big belly, much like the way Big Belly is helping Seattle deal with litter.  

What comes around, goes around.  Make sure what goes on the ground winds up in the garbage!

What are the kids drinking these days?

One thing I notice in my avocation as self-appointed litter police is the occasional “nest” that teens and young adults create in their quest to flout alcohol age restrictions.  Sometimes these are in the bushes, sometimes in an abandoned lot, or by the side of the road.  Sometimes they are represented by collections in the garbage can at my adopt-a-stop.

I recognize these signs, because I was a teenage drinker.  At 17 or 18, my bandmates and I would drive to a local convenience or liquor store, and park outside waiting for a cool-looking adult who might buy us some beer.  We referred to it as “spotting”, as in “hey, ya wanna go spot some beer?.”  It wasn’t hard to find somebody willing. 

Once, when it was Jim’s turn to hang out and solicit potential enablers, he got a yes from a pretty twentysomething girl, who not only bought us the beer, but rewarded Jim with a long deep wet kiss for his trouble.  It’s 32 years later and I’m still jealous.

But I digress.

A few things to note about the nests this year:

1. It’s all about the Steel Reserve.  Whether it’s my neighborhood on the Eastside or where I work in the SLU, those shiny silver cans are congregated together. No other brand seems to satisfy the thirsty teen in 2013.
2. When they aren’t leaving cans in neat piles, they are walking down the street, leaving a trail of cans, about two to the block.
3. Nobody seems to want to dent the smooth silvery exterior of the cans.  The picture above is typical.  Even crammed by the six pack into the adopt-a-stop bin, the cans are miraculously unmarred.
4. They are a breeze to pick up.  Except for the shambling trail-leavers, these nests are clean, consolidated, and recyclable.

Carry on, one-piecers, and keep your eyes out for signs of nests in your neighborhood.  They are a simple way to grab some quick karma points.