Taking Better Care of the Water We All Love...
 

I just came across this video about a documentary that focuses on the state of our oceans, for me this short trailer was eye opening and a reminder of just how fragile our planet is. Hopefully every one of us that loves our planet's oceans and waterways, respects and takes the best possible care already.

https://vimeo.com/25563376

https://vimeo.com/6889248

https://vimeo.com/8177268

Okay, ready for the thrashings to begin! :party-smiley-004:

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...on-of-the-seas

"The Devolution of the Seas." Foreign Affairs.
http://i57.tinypic.com/9ut2r8.png

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pRy88R-4BI

I wonder if in the 13 years since this.........is it better or worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqzAHGXvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D41rO7mL6zM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GX-y1Z1w00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ZKk11R56o

Thanks for the additional videos... this is clearly a real and visible threat to our environment unlike the debates some have regrading the invisible carbon and fossil fuel impacts.

And 13 years later I certainly do not think we are any better!

I won't post the link here-
posits that all the ocean's saltwater fish will be gone by 2048.

Just think about that for a moment.
Regardless of what you think of that date, and how far off it is... early or late
the mere fact that we are discussing it should be cause to snap one's head around.

It's not in my back yard so I ain't worried attitude is gonna kill us.

I think if you look at the rate of major disasters over the last few years such as fukashima and the bp spill for starters...
and the sheer volume of toxicity being poured into, and tons of fish being yanked out or needlessly killed in our oceans
I hope we aren't too late. Because I doubt much will change in the next 13 years.

Hell, major worldwide media outlets and political orgs have made it part of their agendas
(all bought and paid for by the petro industrial complex, among other big money interests)
to advance the idea that climate change as well is a hoax. Not a small possibility, but complete horsefeathers.
And a not-insignificant number of people have bought into it.

this here is real stuff in front of our faces and still we do nothing.

keep on gutting the epa... I'm sure your bottom line is doing ok.

one more comment to the plastic zone...
when considering square miles of unusable and/or toxic parts of our oceans

I would add the dead zone at the mouth of the Miss River... due mostly to fertilizer runoff upstream.

I'm sure there's more. I can't wait for the Russians to ruin the Arctic with an nice oil-related disaster.

I think we as boaters should take the initiative to first and foremost police ourselves beginning with cigarette butts. (my pet peeve). Cleaning up the areas after we congregate will go a very long way with the locals, I have spent hours cleaning up the disgusting aftermath of HotBoat all while explaining to the locals that all gofast boaters are not the same. This is in no way intended to cause a debate, just awareness. A large percentage of the boaters in my area do a great job! (except the butts!)

bobbo

I cannot agree more with your post... it does being with us! I remember several years ago while on the Mississippi we had a friend on our boat making White Russians with those little white plastic creamer packs and when he was done he just tossed them all into the river!! I was lucky enough to have caught them all before going downstream, "we all boat here!" was my response to him. Did it make a difference? Did he change his ways after that day? I have no idea, but what I do know, there just that much less plastic in our waterways.

Up here in the the great white north I feel the boaters go above and beyond to keep are play ground clean and safe but in the oceans its legal to dump as long as your so far off shore (correct me if i'm wrong)
That's just plain dumb.

And this video had no influence from the debris produced from the Japan tsunami??

Complying arguments, and a tear at the heart strings but most of these videos are made with a political propose in mind.

You posted on a website that has no problem with the idea of burning massive amounts of fossil fuels to feed our waterborne speed wishes. What is your proposed fix to the problem that you have brought to our attention?

There is nothing political about stopping plastics from entering the ecosystem. It affects everything. It will take a long time to move this issue to the front just like CFC's and leaded gasoline did back in the 1970's. I remember in the 70's not having PE some days because there was a stage I or stage II "smog alert". The problem with this issue is waaaaaaaaaaay different. It is not localized and no one "owns" the ocean so any country can NOT educate and/or regulate plastic handling and be a major global problem. Most folks won't give a fack about all this hullabaloo about plastic pollution on a daily basis. Others will.........and will make changes in their life and try to influence others change as well. THAT is what this thread is about. Education. :D

I believe this coast guard plaque is required on all boats? NO PLASTIC EVER.

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I was going to get a pic of mine.. thanks

pretty pathetic when you think about it...

Remember that plastic is just one thing that is being dumped into the ocean.

As far as the Japanese tsunami contributing to the pacific plastic zone, I remember first reading about it years ago- long before the latest incident.
The leakage from fukashima poses a much larger problem.
Not to go all chicken little and all... but, what if some catsastrophic event such as that sets off a chain of events that kill off most or all of certain species in the ocean?
Then dominoes really begin to fall...

How many gallons of water are there between Japan's coastline and California's?
And there warnings of enough radioactivity out there already to be concerned about...
How many miles issat again? the entire Pacific Ocean?

Think about how long it took us to plug that one little hole we punched in the earth's crust.

Fuel burn by performance boats is such an insignificant amount as a percentage of all fuel used by all vessels it isn't worth considering on a planetary scale.
Fossil fuel will continue to be used by the planet until there is no more to use, or we switch to smarter alternatives (not in our lifetimes),

You are absolutely right, I enjoy our loud and somewhat fast for its size boat, but at the same time I am completely aware of the requirement for fossil fuel. But does this mean I have to give a giant "F you" to our entire environment?

There was a video posted that talked about this very topic long before the tsunami ever happened and like Level III Chaos mentioned this as simply about education and not politics. It was intended to make people think about their actions.

My personal proposed fix to the problem....

• Recycle, it amazes me how in this day in age there are not more solutions to recycling. We have lived in St. Louis for the last 15 years and recycling outside of a city limit is non existent we would have to drive several miles in order to do it. The location of recycling bins in and around public places was non existent and Houston seems to have the same problem. Wal-mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, large grocery stores just to name a few need to take responsibility, they sell literally tons of plastic, metal and cardboard by the minute and do absolutely nothing in return. They all should offer recycling options for ALL their products even the ones that cost them money like florescent light bulbs.

Just to give you an idea, a couple of years ago we decided to recycle for a NYE resolution. Once we started recycling 100% we had only one trash bag a week between the two of us and this was shocking and eye opening to us. Now we are living in an apartment in the city of Houston with no recycling and we now have a trash bag a day! Luckily once we move into our home the city does offer single stream recycling for curbside pick up. From one bag a week to one bag a day is shocking!

• Be mindful, realize where your trash is and where is it going. How many times have we seen pick up trucks with trash swirling around their bed only to be blown out if it? 95% of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate (a plastic) and our planet is not a giant ashtray, next time you're waiting at light look along the curve, you'll be shocked at how many butts are out there. Take the time to cut the 'six pack' plastic rings, it takes only a second. If something blows out of your boat while under way turn around and retrieve it.

I can see how easy it is to just past the blame to Asia, but on the Atlantic side there is still plenty of trash washing up on our shores, the Mississippi is loaded with trash. If one piece of trash is picked up, thrown away properly or simply recycled is simply put one less piece of trash making its way into the water we all love. If trash is political then so be it! If my thinking makes me a "tree hugger" then so be it! I can still be concerned about our planet while burning fuel and firing guns? I think so. :)