Polluting the Waters of Earth

The world seems focused on the Gulf Oil disaster at this moment and will be until the oil ceases to gush forth. After that each day the news will dwindle until it reaches the point of a monthly or yearly review of the event and its after affects. This is the way of things. Even for those everyday citizens all along the coast who are 'directly' impacted by this mind boggling event.

Maybe this is a time when we should all take a moment to reflect on the value of the ocean and it's long term survival as a place of pleasure and a bountiful pantry.

The waters of the earth have - since the very beginning of man - served as convenient place of disposal for all things. The waters wash away the dirt, wind driven waves carry away the garbage. Rivers, stream, lakes, ponds - have all seen this. Rain and snow run off from the mountains - all carry water - eventually - to the ocean. From the land comes all things to the sea.

Those who now walk the beach and the living room glued to the news in anxious arousal for the answer, the causes and the solutions have - may hap unknowing - contributed to a problem that dwarfs that which is now ongoing.

Society demands comforts, eases, fuel, heat, energy, transportation, clothes, cosmetics, beauty aids, furniture and the list is endless. A good number dispose of the left overs with little to no thought as to where it goes, what it becomes or where it ends up.

Open a candy bar - throw the wrapper on the ground. Need a stick of gum - throw the wrapper on the ground. Open a new CD - throw the wrapper out the window. Smoke a cigarette - toss the left over on the ground. Get a new couch - dump the old over an embankment. Buy a new car - park the old in the pasture to rust away. Purchase a new computer - take the old out to the hills and shoot it to smithereens. Change the baby - toss the dirty diaper into the woods. Drink a beer - toss the bottle into the ditch. Drink a soda - pitch the can off to the side of the road. Drink a bottle of water - hurl the empty bottle into the ravine. Open a bag of weenees to roast - tuck the plastic wrapper under a piece of drift wood. Open a bottle - toss the cap into the weeds. Finish a cup of coffee - drop the styrofoam cup onto the road. The list is endless and never ending. "It's only one small item. Who cares anyway?"

You can go as far into the wilderness as you feel safe to venture - try the arctic woods for example - and you will find dirty diapers, discarded beer, soda and water bottles, old TV's, computer screens, micro waves, furniture, food wrappers and old machinery. Man has left his mark upon the land. And as sure as a rainbow follows the rain, water will take it to the sea.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean between San Fransisco and Hawaii is an area twice the size of Texas covering 2.5 million square miles that is known as the plastic grave yard. Tests of Pacific waters show 48 parts of plastic to one part of plankton. 80% begins its journey from land.

That plastic is ingested by sea life and can result in death of those. Broken down it drops to the ocean floor and particles are ingested by plankton - which concentrates the substances - the plankton is eaten by another - and the concentration of the poison concentrates again. Each level on the food chain increases the concentration of poisons and toxins until it sits upon the table of those who began the process by carelessly throwing plastic waste onto the land.

In a report to the government, the U.S. National Research Council stated that 36% of the pollutants in our nations waters come from cities and industry. Now the city - folks - is you and I. Vehicle fluid leaks, fuel burning byproducts, fertilizers, medicines, pet walks and garbage. Industry adds: mercury, fertilizer. 370,000 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. use fresh water to carry off waste - discharging it into rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. The list here includes asbestos, phosphates, lead, nitrates, mercury, sulfur, sulfur acid, petro chemicals,caustic soda and sodium compounds. The construction industry adds: slurries of cement, gypsum, abrasives, metals and solvents. Studies revealed that garbage, solid industrial waste and sludge formed in sewage treatment are commonly dumped into the ocean. Even with sewage treatment, some medicines are not broken down - they are moved on through the food chain.

Centuries of toxic waste disposal into the worlds oceans continued unabated until laws began to take affect in the 1970's. Hundreds of years of dumping that included pesticides, chemical weapons and radio active wastes.There are still countries that produce DDT and PCP without the strict regulations to reduce it's toxins and dump them into world's waters.

Every year small planes, small boats, laden barges and big ships slip beneath the waves to end up on the ocean floor. They take with them oil, fuels, chemicals, paint and much, much more. Centuries of lost shipping includes regular loss of containers from ships in continual movement across the world's shipping lanes. Shipments of mercury bound for the gold fields, lead based paint, DDT, pesticides, chemicals, medicines, automotive fluids, gas, oil, diesel, kerosene, anti freeze and the list is as endless as the particles of contaminated water upon the earth.

Oil spills account for 12% of discharge into the oceans. In 1989, the Exon Valdez went aground off the coast of Alaska resulting in an 11 million gallon spill. In 1997, 22 separate spills around the world totaled 15 million gallons.

If this particular spill has your attention, take a closer look at your own habits and those around you to become more conscious of lessening the impact on waters and the survival of the world's oceans.