Plastic Ocean : How a Sea Captain's Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans

by Moore, Capt. Charles; Phillips, Cassandra

• ISBN13: 9781583334249
• ISBN10: 1583334246
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-27
• Publisher: Avery

Summary

A prominent seafaring environmentalist and researcher shares his shocking discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean, and inspires a fundamental rethinking of the Plastic Age and a growing global health crisis. In the summer of 1997, Charles Moore set sail from Honolulu with the sole intention of returning home after competing in a trans-Pacific race. To get to California, he and his crew took a shortcut through the seldom-traversed North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a vast "oceanic desert" where winds are slack and sailing ships languish. There, Moore realized his catamaran was surrounded by a "plastic soup." He had stumbled upon the largest garbage dump on the planet-a spiral nebula where plastic outweighed zooplankton, the ocean's food base, by a factor of six to one. In Plastic Ocean, Moore recounts his ominous findings and unveils the secret life and hidden properties of plastics. From milk jugs to polymer molecules small enough to penetrate human skin or be unknowingly inhaled, plastic is now suspected of contributing to a host of ailments including infertility, autism, thyroid dysfunction, and some cancers. A call to action as urgent as Rachel Carson's seminal Silent Spring, Moore's sobering revelations will be embraced by activists, concerned parents, and seafaring enthusiasts concerned about the deadly impact and implications of this man made blight.

Author Biography

Capt. Charles Moore is a researcher and speaker focusing on the environment. He lives in Long Beach, California.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader	p. ix
A Plastic Soup	p. 1
Synthetic Evolution	p. 20
Surfing The Learning Curve	p. 42
Swept Away: The Oceans as Global Dumpster	p. 57
The Plastic Sea Around Us	p. 75
The Invention of Throwaway Living	p. 93
Harm	p. 109
The Plastic Age	p. 126
Gonzo Science	p. 152
The Message Finds Its Medium	p. 171
Net Losses	p. 191
Indigestible	p. 210
Bad Chemistry	p. 240
Debris Forensics	p. 269
Erasing our Plastic Footprint	p. 292
Refuse	p. 319
Sources and Resources	p. 339
Acknowledgments	p. 347
Index	p. 351
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