Garbology Chapter 6

         Chapter 6 was by far one of the most interesting chapters of Garbology. It talked about how plastic was created, its unplanned influences, and how it is found everywhere. It begins by talking about Miriam Goldstein and her discoveries of nurdles. Nurdles are small grains of broken down plastic that is washed up on the shores of our beaches. Although they are found at almost every beach, people miss it almost always. It is easily taken for sea shells. Miriam Goldstein has been on extended sea voyages four times in less than two years trying to gather data. When she had gotten reports of the Pacific Garbage Patch, she had expected to see visible trash but she had found nothing. What they found instead were high concentrations of small plastic. What people do not understand is the impact that plastic is making. Half the oxygen we breathe in, come from plankton that live on the surface of the ocean. We depend on them. Plastic asks as a magnet or a sponge that attracts toxic chemicals. As these plankton eat the toxins, they bring toxins in the food chain, which is not only bad for the marine fish, but also to the humans that eat those fish. About 7 million tons of trash ends up in the ocean, with plastic being 80 percent. Plastic had started with an American chemist named Leo Baekland. Plastic first started off with radios, telephones, and retro items and soon ended up everywhere. It was this flexible, interesting new product that interested everyone.
       I feel like we have become so dependent on plastic because of the fact of how quick and convenient it makes everything. Instead of washing so many dishes for example, people use plastic cups, plates, and utencils. All that plastic is disposed and washed up into the ocean. Plastic feels light and harmless, but in reality it affects our environment tremendously. After I had finished reading this chapter, I looked around my room and realized how much plastic there is. I am just one person in one house and I accumulate this much plastic. It's pretty disappointing.