Tuesday, April 20, 2010
News
Washed-Up Whale in Washington's Stomach Full of Plastic
Posted
by Benjamin Sutton
on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 4:01 PM
- Another cruel joke from Seinfeld comes true.
We've often written about our
cultural plastic addiction, and the terrifying
floating continents it has created, but plankton-sized plastic isn't the most photogenic thing on earth, until it leads a 37-foot gray whale ashore—as happened last week near Seattle. In a rather gruesome examination report published yesterday by
Cascadia Research, scientists with strong stomachs who rummaged through the massive mammal's tummy found that about 1-2 percent of its contents was plastic, including but not limited to: "more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball" (pictured). The report goes on to clarify that the plastic didn't necessarily kill the whale, though it is the fourth to have died in the high-traffic Puget Sound in the last two weeks. Also:
20 plastic bags!? Tax that whale shit. (
TreeHugger)
Tags: Whales, Plastic, Plastic patch, Plastic bag tax, Consumer culture
