Word: plasticizers
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...Nokia will likely ship more devices worldwide this year than the next three biggest cell-phone makers - Korean rivals Samsung and LG, and London-based Sony Ericsson - combined. Manufacturing on that scale brings enormous purchasing power, making it possible to squeeze the cost of everything from memory chips to plastic casings...
...Woodring is trying to change that. With help from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woodring and several colleagues in ocean conservation are launching a two-ship expedition to the plastic vortex to explore it, take photographs and video and alert the public about the growing threat of ocean waste. "We need to make people realize what we are doing to our ocean," says Woodring...
...ships - the New Horizon from Scripps in San Diego, and the Kaisei from San Francisco - will depart from California for nearly monthlong missions to the vortex. The New Horizon will focus on scientific research, looking at the impact of the plastic vortex on marine life in the Pacific. As the plastic bakes in the sun, it slowly breaks down, leaching toxic chemicals into the water that may harm fish - and eventually us, when we eat them...
...Pacific vortex isn't the only one. The Atlantic and Indian oceans, which have different current patterns, have plastic gyres of their own. Since these massive hoards of plastic come to float in international waters - and the vortices are far from land - no government is willing to take on the expense and difficulty of cleaning them up. The best solution is simply to stop adding to them by using less plastic and recycling it when we do. Currently, more than 60 billion tons of plastic are produced each year, and less than 5% of that is ever recycled. Much...
...Woodring hopes that Project Kaisei will awaken people to the fact that the plastic they throw in the garbage doesn't just disappear. "Anyone who has ever been on the beach and seen plastic debris can understand this," he says. "This isn't like glacial melting or tropical deforestation, which might not be in your home territory. This is something that everyone can see and touch and make a difference...