Plastic Birds

Imagine that you are constantly eating, but slowly starving to death. Hundreds of species of marine mammals, fish, birds, and sea turtles face this risk every day when they mistake plastic debris for food. 

Plastic debris can be found in oceans around the world. Scientists have estimated that there are over five trillion pieces of plastic weighing more than a quarter of a million tons floating at sea globally. 

Most of this plastic debris comes from sources on land and ends up in oceans and bays due largely to poor waste management.

Plastic does not biodegrade, but at sea large pieces of plastic break down into increasingly smaller fragments that are easy for birds to consume. 

A nose for sulfur

in the early 1970s showed that tube-nosed seabirds use their powerful sense of smell, or olfaction, seabirds are attracted to dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a natural scented sulfur compound. DMS comes from marine algae.

However, in a study just published propose a new explanation: For many imperilled species, marine plastic debris also produces an odour that the birds associate with food and is very similar DMS

So much plastic trash is flowing into the oceans than 90 per cent of seabirds eat it now and virtually everyone will be consuming it by 2050 In a new study published this week, tracks for the first time how widespread plastics have become inside seabirds around the world.

Scientists have been tracking plastic ingestion by seabirds for decades. In 1960, plastic was found in the stomachs of fewer than five per cent, but by 1980, it had jumped to 80 per cent. 

The most disturbing finding is. 

“Global plastic production doubles every 11 years “So in the next 11 years, we’ll make as much plastic as we’ve made since plastic was invented. 

You can help: pay attention to how much plastic you throw away—grocery bags, Styrofoam cups, water bottles, packaging—and try to use less and recycle and dispose of plastic correctly

sometimes I get a feeling that it is all s bit too late