Invisible Threats
From plastic utensils, water bottles, bags, and countless other examples, single use plastics are everywhere you look in today’s society. While being convenient and cheap, over time these plastics break down into micro plastics which are having a disastrous effect on our oceans.
The Story
It’s estimated that there is 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans, and five “islands of garbage” made up mostly of plastics have been found around the world. As these plastics slowly break down in the sun, they disintegrate into small granular pieces known as microplastics. Small organisms like plankton eat these plastics and when the bigger fish start eating the plankton, they become sick. This process continues all the way up the food web, to the apex predators.

Brian Hunt from UBC, recently published a scientific paper on microplastics in partnership with Cory Frank and the Guardian Watchmen of K’omoks First Nation. Brian tells us the findings of their report, and what solutions can help tackle this problem.

We further explore microplastics with the help of Ocean Wise and their microplastic research team who are teaming up with people of all nationalities across Canada to try to find solutions to this problem and help clean up our oceans.

Finally, we meet Sean Bath, the founder of the non profit organisation, Clean Harbours Initiative. He explains that his team has been collecting garbage off the shores and out of the ports of Newfoundland Canada, and how ocean currents take plastic waste around the world, eventually depositing it on shore lines everywhere.
The Location
