General Reef
just FYI
Makin’ some little changes - layout on the posts and what not will be a bit off kilter, if not completely unbearable ;), ... haven’t done any browser testing … sorry if it’s your first time here! Working on it though...!
Pacific Plastic
Today is Earth Day. Perfect time to do the “3 days of lights out” on the tank. It’s a also a good time to think about the impact we, as individuals, have on the world around us. At home, we try to be as prudent as possible in regards to the environment, but when it comes down to it, we’re just as culpable in some way or another as our neighbors, down the street, on another coast, or across the pond.
On the drive back from lunch last week I was listening to The Story on NPR, one of my favorite radio programs. The story was told by Captain Charles Moore, who, in 1997 was dumbfounded by what he saw on a trip across the Pacific. I also found myself in disbelief listening to Moore give the report of his original findings compared to now, 10 years later…
According to research done by the group with whom Captain Moore works with, pieces of plastic in the Pacific Gyre outnumber the zooplankton by 6:1. Eighty percent of this plastic in the ocean, an estimated 100 million tons, comes directly from us, our waste…
Podcast of the story from TheStory.org
Captain Charles Moore was sailing the Pacific in 1997 when he came across a large patch of plastic trash. His discovery shocked him, and compelled him to do research on the amount of trash in the ocean.
His recent findings are alarming: much of of the world’s plastic waste has ended up off the western coast of the United States and the eastern coast of the Philippines. One floating garbage heap contains 3.5 million tons of junk, 80 percent of which is plastic.
Captain Moore talks to Dick about the problems plastic waste causes for marine and plant life, and why it’s crucial to change the way we use plastic now.
* See photos of the kinds of trash Capt. Moore finds in his research
* Visit the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, where Captain Moore works
* Watch a video clip explaining why plastic in the ocean is a problem
Just some food for thought… that was probably packaged in plastic…
Tags: Discussion
4 comments for “Pacific Plastic”
Post a comment
Happy Earth Day!
After conferring with our customer service department, we decided to heed your adanks and let you know that this will be incorporated into ouvice and try the “3 days of lights out.” The main entry to “The Cave of Wonders,” as I so lovingly refer to it (so I liked Disney’s Aladdin, OK?!?), was blanketed with cyanobacteria. The 3 day outage cleared that up along with some other areas where algae was beginning to form. Just wanted to send over my thanks and let you know this will be a (semi) regular part of our aquarium maintenance going forward.
I realize now I should have read that comment before I posted it. Several edits make it almost unreadable! I think you probably get it though…
lol, I figured it out.
Yeah, the lights out can work wonders, though if you have cyano, might also look into increasing flow / reducing feeding / seeing where the nutrients are coming from. Not only do I do the 3 days off from time to time, with the AC3 I’ll be sitting in the office and decide it should be a random cloudy day on the reef and shut the lights out… speaking of which… it’s kind of rainy out today… hmm…