General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWTF? "Plastic Rocks" are appearing on Hawaiian shores!
From AAAS Science: Rocks Made of Plastic Found on Hawaiian Beach. We've found tons of plastic floating in our oceans - which really complicated the search for MH 370 wreckage; floating plastic junk kept turning up in aerial photos and being identified as wreckage. Bits of plastic are now incorporated in Antarctic ice. Now, we're seeing:
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.................//snip
I'm not as negative about the human race as some others on DU; but, we really, really need to clean up our act.
Tikki
(14,557 posts)I truly care and I don't want the beauty of my backyard destroyed.
Tikki
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)StarryNite
(9,443 posts)Makes me think of "The Graduate"
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
valerief
(53,235 posts)passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)And our oceans. It's a disgrace what we've done to our oceans.
goldent
(1,582 posts)It is a "wonder" material but with it comes consequences.
japple
(9,821 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)From a geological perspective, the amount of change to the planet's ecosystems since the Industrial Revolution is clearly a new Epoch. It'll stand out in fossils, and plastics like this article is about, etc.
Wikipedia regarding this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary and
The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term that marks the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems. The term was coined in the 1980s[1] by ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer and has been widely popularized by the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist, Paul Crutzen, who regards the influence of human behavior on the Earth's atmosphere in recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new geological epoch for its lithosphere. To date, the term has not been adopted as part of the official nomenclature of the geological field of study.
In 2008 a proposal was presented to the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London to make the Anthropocene a formal unit of geological epoch divisions.[2] A large majority of that Stratigraphy Commission decided the proposal had merit and should therefore be examined further. Steps are being taken by independent working groups of scientists from various geological societies to determine whether the Anthropocene will be formally accepted into the Geological Time Scale.[3]