Sea sick: how we are destroying our oceans and what we can do about it

[webfact]

 

By Veena Thoopkrajae with additional report by SukhumapornLaiyok

 

Oceans are amazing. Covering more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface, they are among the most valuable natural resources that keep us alive in many different ways. But unfortunately, this big blue planet is under threat of global warming and pollution, particularly involving plastics.

 

Footage of coral bleaching, images of a huge amount of plastic waste accumulating in oceans, and reports of a decline in marine life are among the visible signs of environmental decline.

 

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In Thailand, baby dugong Marium died as a result of ingesting plastic. A dead green turtle in Chumporn had plastic bags and other plastic waste in its stomach. A stranded whale found in Songkhla had 80 plastic bags in its belly, weighing 8 kgs.

 

Coral reefs in Krabi’s Maya Bay, famously featured in the hit movie “The Beach”, were degraded by warmer seas and overcrowding. Oil spills from a pipeline blackened sand on Mae Ramphueng beach in Rayong. It also killed wedge clams, a biological indicator of pollution, and affected crustaceans found in the area. And stronger storms driven by global climate change are leading to more erosion and even more intense harmful algal blooms.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/sea-sick-how-we-are-destroying-our-oceans-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-04-22

 

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[Meat Pie 47]

Just stop plastics

[smedly]

stop spilling oil into the sea at Rayong would be a great start 

 

 

 

as for plastics - my guess is 70% of my waste is plastic - absolutly everything you buy here is in a plastic wrapper 

[vandeventer]

3 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Just stop plastics

Yes, plastic is a problem but so is China as they drop a lot of human waste in he ocean, and what about all the nuclear waste being dropped in the ocean in 44 gallon drums. I stopped eating seafood a long time ago as we are too close to Chine's dumping grounds.

[Isaan sailor]

Shrimp farming takes a deadly toll on sea life.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

In Thailand, baby dugong Marium died as a result of ingesting plastic. A dead green turtle in Chumporn had plastic bags and other plastic waste in its stomach. A stranded whale found in Songkhla had 80 plastic bags in its belly, weighing 8 kgs.

 

Coral reefs in Krabi’s Maya Bay, famously featured in the hit movie “The Beach”, were degraded by warmer seas and overcrowding. Oil spills from a pipeline blackened sand on Mae Ramphueng beach in Rayong. It also killed wedge clams, a biological indicator of pollution, and affected crustaceans found in the area. And stronger storms driven by global climate change are leading to more erosion and even more intense harmful algal blooms

That's just the tip of the ice-berg... ohhh, they're melting too.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Just stop plastics

Thailand, no plastics... Oh my god.

No containers, no bottles, no plastic wrap, no drinking vessels, no food containers... how will the evolve?

Never, like the rest of the world, talk about it do nothing.
 

[Rampant Rabbit]

 the answer is they dont  know anything much about  long term effects and the problem isnt the plastic its the filthy people throwing their  <deleted> where they want and Thais are expert s at this

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Rampant Rabbit

[KhunLA]

Does anyone even have to think about the how & what to do ?

 

Apparently nobody cares ... som naa na

[monsieurhappy]

In 1800 the population of planet earth was estimated at one billion!

Now we are at eight billion!!

When are people going to realise that planet earth CANNOT sustain all this population??

It's because of this population explosion that the world is being contaminated!

Maybe we should be pouring contraceptives into the water supply??

[Tropposurfer]

I love the comments about China. If anyone thinks that one nation is preeminent in polluting the globe, and or that plastics pollution is purely regionally distributed and damaging then they don't have much of a grasp of either facts or reality.

As for other forms of pollution oil spills, industrial waste etc then there's veery few first world countries that have clean hands (plz excuse the pun). 

There are many forms of wrapping that can be made to be biodegradable and organic e.g. bamboo, and recycled fast-growing plantation timber products e.g./ paper and cardboard.

A good business opportunity to develop, and promote.

We refuse plastic bags when offered them, use reusable coffee cups, and iced drink containers, never use plastic straws, take our own hot food containers when we go to buy local food-stalls, use our own reusable shopping bags, and recycle what plastic bags we do get for many months. And always say to the vendors when handing over our containers we politely and smilingly refusing plastic bags and say; 'plastic mai dee for Thailand. 'There's lots we can do to limit the pollution. When you go to the beach or elsewhere if you see rubbish pick up a little bit of it bag it and put in your bins at home.

I've picked up plastics on the beach since I was about 12 years old, and while I hold no illusion that we as a species will ever change our ways sufficiently to not destroy the eco-viability of our planet I do what I can in my small way until I return to the earth form whence I came.

[RandiRona]

Hug Trees??

[Rampant Rabbit]

22 minutes ago, monsieurhappy said:

In 1800 the population of planet earth was estimated at one billion!

Now we are at eight billion!!

When are people going to realise that planet earth CANNOT sustain all this population??

It's because of this population explosion that the world is being contaminated!

Maybe we should be pouring contraceptives into the water supply??

Incorrect, it certainly  can properly  managed, but it  isnt properly  managed and nature  will control the population eventually

[KhunLA]

31 minutes ago, RandiRona said:

Hug Trees??

too many ants 

[mikebell]

6 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Just stop plastics

Thais would suffer withdrawal symptoms.  What would scavenging dogs do all day?

[RandiRona]

15 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

too many ants 

Condoms ban??

[monsieurhappy]

1 hour ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Incorrect, it certainly  can properly  managed, but it  isnt properly  managed and nature  will control the population eventually

It is said that the population of earth can be accommodated on the Isle of Wight!

Would you want to be there with them??

[Rampant Rabbit]

6 minutes ago, monsieurhappy said:

It is said that the population of earth can be accommodated on the Isle of Wight!

Would you want to be there with them??

That  was  not  your initial statement was it, no need to twist it  round,  you  stated there were  too  many people  basically and the planet couldnt support it, which is  incorrect. Not whteher they could all fit  on the Isle of  Wight

Edited April 22, 2022 by Rampant Rabbit

[Harveyg]

The money wins again.

Who are the biggest richest entities on this planet?

Edited April 22, 2022 by Harveyg

[SOTIRIOS]

...using the word 'we' rather loosely...(?)

 

...the average 'Joe' obeys all the rules....

 

...get real....

[AKJeff]

3 hours ago, monsieurhappy said:

In 1800 the population of planet earth was estimated at one billion!

Now we are at eight billion!!

When are people going to realise that planet earth CANNOT sustain all this population??

It's because of this population explosion that the world is being contaminated!

Maybe we should be pouring contraceptives into the water supply??

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521

 

Maybe the world already has.  The population in most industrialized countries have peeked already and even in China the demographics look like there will be a declining population soon if not already..

[RocketDog]

4 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Incorrect, it certainly  can properly  managed, but it  isnt properly  managed and nature  will control the population eventually

The pandemic ain't over yet.

Maybe Great Nature is holding the best for last:

A true killer variant that will kill in the billions instead of millions.

Sad thought but I'm hardly the first to have it.

 

Stay tuned.

 

 

[Sparktrader]

7 hours ago, monsieurhappy said:

In 1800 the population of planet earth was estimated at one billion!

Now we are at eight billion!!

When are people going to realise that planet earth CANNOT sustain all this population??

It's because of this population explosion that the world is being contaminated!

Maybe we should be pouring contraceptives into the water supply??

Bill Burr has the solution. Take out cruise ships. His argument is those people are not much good and wont be missed. Watch youtube.

[AgentSmith]

7 hours ago, monsieurhappy said:

In 1800 the population of planet earth was estimated at one billion!

Now we are at eight billion!!

When are people going to realise that planet earth CANNOT sustain all this population??

It's because of this population explosion that the world is being contaminated!

Maybe we should be pouring contraceptives into the water supply??

Extreme overpopulation as it has been predicted for a long time is not gonna happen. Total population is gonna hit a plateau quite soon and in the decades after we'll see a collapse in many parts of the world. Japan is at the frontline here. China's economy will slow down because of a heavily aging population. People stopped having kids there simply because it became too expensive. Russia's population is already shrinking. So will Europe's and America's soon. Other areas are behind with their curves but will eventually follow the same path.

 

Population isn't the issue. It's legislation, habit and lack of common sense. Change can happen. Europe's already banned plastic bags in many places. In Holland I wasn't able to find a single plastic bag at any store the last time I was there. Everyone's back to using reusable bags. In KL all plastic bags I saw were biodegradable, made from corn starch. Change isn't that difficult. It just needs to pick up enough momentum.

Edited April 22, 2022 by AgentSmith

[zzaa09]

9 hours ago, hotchilli said:

 

Never, like the rest of the world, talk about it do nothing.
 

Seems to be the running rhetorical fashion for quite some time now. 

It's clear that we're terribly ignorant or consciously ignore the truer dangers. 

[hotchilli]

1 minute ago, zzaa09 said:

Seems to be the running rhetorical fashion for quite some time now. 

It's clear that we're terribly ignorant or consciously ignore the truer dangers. 

The change barely started prior to Covid, now the worlds focus will be on other things.

Thailands focus is getting millions of tourists back-in again to pollute everything and destroy the beauty of the land and oceans.

[2009]

Stop fishing.

[RT555]

Think about how many times people dump Drano down the drain and how many times our water has been filtered, And they are finding plastics in our blood. I'm glad I will most likely be 10 feet under in a few years. This earth cannot take it for more than 50 more years. ....Jus sayin.

[Meat Pie 47]

 

[kwonitoy]

There are a few companies that use the bulk of disposable plastic bottles.

 

Push government to make them use reusable aluminum or glass, Like they used to and that would go a long way in plastic pollution reduction.

The companies that use plastic perpetuate the myth that plastic is recyclable because it helps their bottom line and pushes the so called recycle system to the consumers and not at the production level where it should be. 

It they didn't make it WE wouldn't have to clean up their mess

 

Plastic for most purposes and all the hype IS NOT recyclable in appreciative quantities.

 

Coca-Cola’s annual plastic production amounts to about 108bn bottles a year, more than a fifth of the world’s PET bottle output of about 500bn bottles a year,