An inconvenient fact: litter is everywhere.
Litter: Some floats and some sinks.
Overall Health: That means planetary health. Yes, we can break it down into categories like human health, or pollution of streams and waterways, or unsightly by-ways, or potentially hazardous… no matter how you look at it, since it’s all part of the big picture, and at some point the litter becomes one with the water system, either through the land or through the sea or through the off-gassing into the air / becoming mixed into the clouds, or litter (trash) being left behind with space exploration… it’s all one earthly system, third planet from the sun, EARTH. We’re not alone. We co-exist on this planet with massive bio-diversity. As litter moves and changes it affects all aspects of our living. Breathing in fumes from plastic cannot, over time, be good for living organisms. Puncturing or scraping ourselves on a grounded object, may be cause to go to the doctor to get a tetanus shot. Not only can it be a health hazard, it can be an eyesore.
When I travel about, whether it is from here to the corner store, or cross-country, I want to enjoy the sights, and that means sidewalks, alleyways, parking lots, roadways, highways, byways, creeks, deserts, mountains, bogs, marshes, slopes, mountaintops. Beyond what I can see from the ground, there are other viewpoints.
As a visitor in the water-worlds we get to experience that space either by holding our breath, or using SCUBA or other underwater breathing equipment. We cannot stay for long, thus maintain visitor status. The seas are where the litter is ending up… you know the deal, water seeks its lowest level, meaning that mountain streams flow into lower and lower levels till it reaches sea level, joining with the massive, global water system of currents. We are seeing now from space the effects of the movement of litter in the water systems of the mountains on down, and are beginning to even give them names. The first one I became aware of was initially described as an island called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the size of Texas. Wow, that’s big. Research dissolved the notion that it was something that one could walk on. Now the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas and I’ve learned there are five of them throughout the oceans of our world. It seems that the only laws that apply are those of nature. Currents rule.
Are there any regulations or laws that address litter issues these international waters? Contemplate what it would be like to be personally responsible for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or others like it.
