The LA Times’ 5-part series chronicling the increasing problem of marine debris has won a Pulitzer for explanatory reporting. The series details, among other things, the deluge of plastics that have entered our oceans. Scientists have seen as much as as ten-fold increase in the amounts of plastics in our world’s oceans, and right in our own backyard—the mid-Pacific garbage patch—plastic outweighs plankton by a factor of six. California, with the largest ocean economy in the US, contributes greatly to this pollution. Furthermore, despite a successful bottle bill program, the amount of plastics being recovered for recycling has actually decreased in recent years due to the proliferation of new plastic products, such as bottled water.
SOURCE: Californians Against Waste
