Pebble in the Pond: About the Issue

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The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Pebble in the Pond is a group that was started in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada by a small group of people who were feeling frustrated and helpless about the state of the environment. The plastic issue came to our attention because of an article that was posted on the Internet about the Pacific Gyre, of which none of us had ever heard before.

After doing some research into the gyre and reading more about it, the feeling of horror was so strong that we couldn't just sit by and do nothing. And so we became pebbles in our pond, hoping to get information out to the public about the plastic issue, and get the wheels turning in order to rid our city, our province, our country, our oceans - and ultimately the world of this destructive material. We know it's a lofty goal, and that it will be a journey. But we are challenging ourselves and others to think back to a time when plastic didn't exist - it wasn't so long ago. There are many superior alternatives, ones that are not so destructive and harmful to us and our planet.

Some information about the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (from How Stuff Works):

It is the largest landfill in the world, and it floats in the middle of the ocean
It has "given birth" to two large masses of ever-accumulating trash, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches
The Eastern Garbage Patch floats between Hawaii and California; the Western Garbage Patch forms east of Japan and west of Hawaii
Scientists estimate its size as two times bigger than Texas
Each mass collects trash from all over the world
Plastic constitutes 90 per cent of all trash floating in the world's oceans
The UN Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic
In some areas, the amount of plastic outweighs the amount of plankton by a ratio of six to one

Map of the Pacific Gyre's location

For more information about the Gyre, visit the Algalita Marine Research Foundation

The problem is twofold: first, that there is far too much "stuff " being used and thrown away - our consumer society supports and promotes convenience and disposability. And second, that much of what we are throwing away is plastic, and plastic does not biodegrade. There is no natural process that can break it down. The irony is that the very thing that made plastic valuable to us is the thing that makes it imperative that we stop using it.

Instead of breaking down, plastic photodegrades. According to the website howstuffworks.com, "A plastic cigarette lighter cast out to sea will fragment into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic without breaking into simpler compounds, which scientists estimate could take hundreds of years. The small bits of plastic produced by photodegradation are called mermaid tears or nurdles."

Nurdles and other plastic in the oceans are proving deadly to sea creatures and marine life. Fish, birds and sea mammals are becoming poisoned, blocked, and deformed. Albatrosses roam widely on the northern pacific ocean. They give birth to roughly 500,000 chicks per year. It is estimated that 200,000 of them die because of plastic consumption - their parents feed them plastic thinking it is food. It's not surprising considering that plastic is becoming more common than food in this creature's habitat. Sea turtles are another animal terribly affected by plastic. They consume plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish, a traditional food source for turtles.

These are just a couple of sickening examples of which there are, unfortunately, far too many. The mess that plastic leaves in its wake is devastatingly obvious. And countries all over the world - particularly those with less active or effective clean up systems in place - are realizing that something has to be done. As a result, many cities and countries around the world are banning single-use plastic bags, which is a step in the right direction. But Canada and the US - perhaps some of the worst consumer societies in the world - have been some of the slowest and most reluctant to recognize the issue and take action. We believe that change will only take place when more people become aware of the problem, and make the decision to change their own habits and consumption patterns.

*Photos and information on this page have come from a variety of sources, but most heavily from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation

A very comprehensive and well-written article about plastics and the gyre can be found in the online magazine, www.bestlifeonline.com