ACTION ALERT — Our Oceans and Marine Life Now Contaminated with Plastics

Chesapeake Climate Action Network / Action Fund

Dear Friends and Concerned Citizens, 2/24/20

One garbage truck per minute.

According to the World Economic Forum, this is how much plastic is being dumped in the ocean. Plastic pollution has infiltrated our oceans, is ingested by marine life and has made its way into our food supply.

Please sign our petition and demand that Congress address the plastic pollution crisis right now.

Every time we eat fish, or animals feed on fish products, we are inadvertently eating plastic.

The average person ingests about 50,000 plastic particles each year; and that’s a low estimate which doesn’t account for the amount we inhale! Once broken down, microplastics release toxic chemicals that are linked to harmful health effects, including cancer, reproductive problems and a weakened immune system.

This is a crisis that can no longer be ignored. It’s time to put an end to reckless plastic production.

Ninety-nine percent of plastics are produced from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels. Not only are plastics and fossil fuels made of the same material, they are made by the same companies! Seven out of ten of the largest plastic producers are oil and natural gas companies. In other words, Exxon is putting gas in your car and plastic in your water bottle.

Since the 1950s, the petrochemical industry has produced a staggering 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Only a tiny proportion of that has been recycled; the rest can be found everywhere around the world, even in the deepest oceans. This is a crisis that can no longer be ignored. It’s time to put an end to reckless plastic production.

Today, fueled by an oversupply of fracked gas, plastic production is on the rise. Here at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network/Action Fund, we’ve had enough. We are raising the alarm about the next big carbon superpolluter and its links to the fossil fuel industry.

If you’ve had enough too, add your name and demand that Congress address the plastic pollution crisis and hold the plastic producers responsible.

Sincerely, Mike Tidwell, Executive Director, CCAN Action Fund

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See also: Scientists gather to study risk from microplastic pollution in ocean – Portland Press Herald, February 24, 2020

The goal of the West Coast group is to create a mathematical risk assessment for microplastic pollution similar to predictions used to analyze responses to major natural disasters such as earthquakes.