Plastic Pollution Flashcards
What percentage of Americans over the age of 6 have detectable levels of BPA in their system?
92.6%
In the video A Plastic Ocean what did the kids do instead of going to school?
Scavenged for plastic to earn money
In the video A Plastic Ocean what did they find in the bottom of the Mediterranean?
Lots of plastics, bottles, bombs, old parachutes
In the video A Plastic Ocean a shipping container breaks and spills nurdles in the Ocean, what is a nurdle?
A small pellet that serves as a raw material in plastic production.
In the video A Plastic Ocean why would the supermarkets not buy the fish?
The nurdles were in their gut
What is the percentage of plastic water bottles that are only used once?
Over 90%
What has happened to every single piece of plastic ever made?
It’s still on the planet in one way or another.
How many million tons of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans every year?
8
If a blue whale was tangled up in a plastic sheet, how long could it survive underwater?
30 minutes
In the last 10 years we have made more plastic than in the last
Century
In the video A Plastic Ocean how did the whale die?
Starved due to too much plastic in the stomach
In the video A Plastic Ocean sea birds often eat Plastic, how does it affect them?
Fills up their stomach causing them to not eat and get malnourished
Turtles eat plastic bags because they mistake them for
Jellyfish
In the video A Plastic Ocean why did the narrator go to different places trying to get food and drink without plastics?
To make a point that plastic is everywhere and we rely on it too much.
Large pieces of plastic, like old detergent bottles are broken down into smaller pieces in the oceans. What are 3 things that cause the bottles to be broken down into microplastics?
Salt, sun rot, wave action
Microplastics are poison pills because they
Are made with toxic chemicals that leach out of plastics.
In the video A Plastic Ocean when a Chinese company shipping container cracks open during a typhoon, bags of nurdles open and spill all over the place. Environmentalist put out a call on Facebook for help. Who comes to help?
People from the company sinopec, and those who are most affected by the spill.
What percentage of pollution comes from activities that have taken place on land?
Over 80%
What percentage of microplastics were found in mussels and seafood from the British beaches?
Over 75%
Plastics were developed and sold to be disposable. What does this mean?
That they’re single use and get thrown away and are used for short periods of time.
What percentage of oceans are actually protected by law?
4-6%
How long does it take plastic to degrade and break down in the ocean?
600 years
On average, what percentage of plastic is properly recycled?
9%
How does the ocean help regulate the earth’s climate?
Absorbs heat and CO2 keeping nearby land cooler and circulating heat around the world.
