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Plastics are polluting our oceans. Some scientists say 100 million tons
of plastic bags, bottles, food containers, and other items have created an
environmental nightmare. Fish and birds are eating the plastic, and in the
process they are introducing chemicals into the food chain.
To raise awareness about the problem two men have just finished a 2,600
mile journey from California to Hawaii. They made the trip on a raft built
from recycled junk, thus the raft's name; The Junk.
"Never so good to see people. To see land. Three months at sea. Twice
as long as expected," Marcus Eriksen said as the raft was towed into the
Ala Wai Boat Harbor.
Eriksen and Joel Paschal left Long Beach, California on June 1. They
spent 88 days on junk. Literally. Their raft is made from 15,000 plastic
bottles bundled together for floatation, discarded sail boat masts for
strength, and an old cessna fuselage for a cabin.
"The only stuff that's modern, nice, is the safety equipment. We had to
take a full complement of safety gear because it's an unproven boat,"
Paschal told KGMB9.
The trip got off to a slow start.
"In the first four weeks we achieved 218 miles West. That's it. We had
another 2,400 miles to go. First month, went just South. South. South. And
we're headed towards hurricane Alley. We had four hurricanes pass within
100 miles South of us," Eriksen said.
The hurricanes did not get them ... but hunger almost did. They caught
as many fish as they could, but still ran low on food.
"So we went onto half rations after we realized we were going to take
too long to get there," Paschal explained.
Now that their mission is complete, they are focusing on their
message.
"The mass of plastic in the middle of the Pacific, in the middle of no
where, it's increasing very quickly. When we began ten years ago and we
found like .002 grams (of plastic) for each square meter. It doubled in
five years. It doubled again three years later," Eriksen said.
"We are creating all of this plastic junk that we use just one time and
it lasts forever in the environment," Paschal added.
"The solution is a cultural fix. Get people aware of the plastic trash
issue and then do something about it," Eriksen concluded.
He asks everyone to help by using less plastic and recycling what is
used. He said government can help by outlawing plastic bags.
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/9347/40/
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