Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic

Rating: ****

    Capt. Charles Moore started off his TED talk by showing a cover of a life magazine that said “Throw Away Life Style”. The concept was to just use plastic based disposable dishes to lower the amount of house work required. This of course escalated and created the Throw away life style we have today causing us to pollute the oceans with thousands of tons of garbage.

    Capt. Charles Moore started by explaining that plastics is the number one pollutant in the oceans and that under 5% of them are recycled, which is an amazingly low number. He also shows many places around the world that are completely contaminated by plastic garbage. Also he explains that these plastic remains floating in the ocean are mistaken as food form most wild life and causes the death of hundreds of thousands of birds and fish. It is said that one third of fish in the ocean are contaminated with plastic. The fact is that there is no way to get all of the plastic out of the oceans and he says the only solution is to stop it at its source and stop the throw away society now.

    This speech has reminded me just how much of a negative impact our society has toward the oceans and wild life. Its made me think that this throw away life style can be stopped but that it will most likely not because of the laziness of people. It’s really a sad thing to think about and I know that I will start thinking twice before I throw away a plastic plate or bottle.

Moore, Charles. "Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic." TED Talks. 2009. Speech.