Living in a plastic bubble, a bubble in a plastic world

What is the most common thing floating on the surface of our oceans today? Most people would be astonished to learn that it’s plastic garbage. Scientists estimate that 25% of the earth’s surface is covered with floating plastics debris. Scientists recently discovered a a floating island of plastic the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. Charles Moore, the scientist who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, describes what he first saw from the deck of his sailboat during a trip to Hawaii, “As I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic. It seemed unbelievable, but I never found a clear spot. In the week it took to cross the subtropical high, no matter what time of day I looked, plastic debris was floating everywhere: bottles, bottle caps, wrappers, fragments.” Where does the garbage come from? Moore returned to study the garbage patch and estimates that 80% comes from land-based sources, and 20% from ships. The most common type of plastic he found were plastic pellets (aka nurdles), that are used to manufacture plastic products. Over 250 billion pounds of these pellets are produced worldwide and shipped around the world. The rest of the plastic he found in the garbage patch consisted of plastic bags and plastic gadgets “that could stock the checkout counter at a convenience store.”

All this plastic is having a devastating effect on wildlife (see below, The Dangers of Plastic Bags). Birds, fish, turtles, and other wildlife become entangled in the plastic or else ingest it, and choke or starve to death. Japanese scientists have found that plastic fragments in the ocean attract and accumulate poisons such as DDT, PCB’s and other toxins in extremely high concentrations. The poisons move up the food web as jellyfish eat them (and the toxins), are then eaten by fish, which are then eaten by larger fish. Humans consume many species of fish that are known to have high levels of toxins. The problem isn’t limited to oceans, plastic garbage and windblown bags harm terrestrial wildlife and pollute rivers and lakes.

The main problem with plastics is that they don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade – a process whereby sunlight breaks it down into smaller pieces of plastic polymer and eventually down to plastic molecules. Even microscopically small individual plastic molecules are indigestible to bacteria and every other organism on earth. It may take 500 years or longer for those plastic molecules to be broken down into the building blocks of life. Plastics are washed from city streets into stormwater drains that eventually reach some sort of water way (a river or the ocean), and are eventually carried out to sea by ocean currents. The result is that the plant’s oceans are literally stewing in garbage.

People love plastic for the same reasons that it so harmful to wildlife – it’s indestructible and lasts forever. Plastic has become ubiquitous; it would be hard for most people to imagine life without it. Global consumption of plastic has skyrocketed from 5 million tons to 100 million tons since the 1950’s. Sadly, much of this plastic is disposable – over 35% is packaging that the consumer just throws away. The world produces close to 1 trillion plastic bags per year, almost 40% come from the US, and billions end up as trash. Each individual person uses hundreds of these bags every year. The numbers are staggering. Plastics are also made from petrochemicals, a product of oil, which means that our addiction to plastic is also fueling our unsustainable dependence on oil.


How can you lessen your impact?

Paper or Plastic?
Impact: Plastic bags pose a threat to wildlife that ingest or become intangled in floating or windblown bags.
Options: Bring your own reusable bags, there are now a ton of options out there. If you forget yours, ask for paper which is almost always made from recycled materials (at least partially). Avoid using plastic food storage bags; instead use tupperware-type containers.

Reduce waste from packaging
Impact: Non-recyclable plastic clamshell containers and other types of plastic packaging are wasteful not just because they’re disposable, but because they increase transportation costs by making products bulkier.
Options: Avoid buying products in this type of packaging whenever possible, instead find products in paperboard packaging or else buy in bulk. Get take-out from restaurants with compostable or recyclable take-out containers.

Bottled water and drinks
Impact: Less than 30% of beverage containers are recyclable, in addition to using a lot of petrochemicals.
Options: Don’t buy bottled water, it’s bad for you (it contains Bisphenol-A) and the planet. Instead, drink filtered tap water from a reusable, preferably non-plastic container (such as Klean Kanteen). Buy drinks in recyclable containers with a #1 or 2 on the bottom. If you buy six-packs, cut apart the rings to prevent animals from becoming entangled in them.

Trash bags
Impact: No biodegradable, especially in our landfills.
Options: Reuse paper grocery bags to line you garbage can. Reduce the amount of garbage you throw away by composting food scraps in your green bin or in your backyard composter.

The Dangers of Plastic Bags

Stemming the tide of invasive species

The second biggest threat to biodiversity in the world is human-caused biological invasions by introduced species (the first is habitat destruction in its many forms). Biological invasions represent an important facet of global environmental change, the unprecedented opportunity for accidental and deliberate human-aided dispersal of species to new environments. Untold numbers of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes that have evolved in relative geographic isolation are being introduced into new ecosystems across the globe through international trade and travel routes. Not every new species that is introduced will become invasive. Most species that escape are not successful in their new habitat, but some are well adapted to their new environment and have the bonus of having no natural enemies. Without anything the control its population, these species begin to multiply and spread rapidly, becoming invasive. In the process, invasive species take over and push out the native plants and animals that used to live (or feed, breed, etc.) there, oftentimes resulting in their extinction locally. In fact, 42% of the species on the endangered species list are there because an invasive species kicked them out of their habitat, and worldwide that number is 80%. The end result of a successful invasion is the homogenization of plant communities, often characterized by a single species exerting dominating the entire ecosystem.

It’s an expensive problem; the economic impacts of invasive species are roughly estimated to cost the US $138 billion a year, worldwide its $1.4 trillion (or 5% of the global economy). That’s spent on detection, chemical and manual control, loss of range and cropland productivity, decreased land value, increased threat from natural disasters (fire, erosion, and flooding), loss of recreational opportunities, and decreased water availability. Some are intentional introductions, plants and animals imported from other countries to be sold in the US that somehow escape captivity or disperse their offspring into the wild. Other invasions are accidental. Weed seeds, insects, fungi and bacteria can hitch a ride through nursery soil, contaminated seed or animal feed, on other plants or animals, on humans (or using our transportation), in the water or through the wind. Animals, such as the brown tree snake, can sneak onto overseas airlines. Marine invertebrates, like zebra mussels, can be released in harbors from ship ballast water. Many other animals, such as rodents, can hitch a ride on the ships themselves.

Humans have long had the habit of introducing new plants and animals whenever they traveled to new places. Humans tend to bring useful species, ones that can be cultivated or raised for food (some they like for less practical reasons), but other species can hitch a ride and arrive unnoticed, at least initially. As humans have learned to travel faster and farther, the rate of species invasions and their impact to our landscape has increased along with it. Globalization means that new species are being introduced everywhere in the world like never before. The US now has an estimated 50,000 known invasive species, and that number that is increasing rapidly. Some species become invasive quickly after being introduced to a new suitable habitat, other “sleepers” don’t become a problem until years after they’ve been introduced. Climate change models predict that global warming will allow many invasive species to expand their ranges. Because of all these factors, it’s difficult to predict which species will become pests, although scientists are creating better assessment tools for governments to use to screen imports.

What can one person do to stem the tide of invasive species? Here’s a list of some ways you can make a difference:

• Help control invasive species. Find a local community habitat restoration, land conservancy, park or watershed group that needs volunteers to pull weeds from your local creek or forest. It’s a great way to get some sunshine and exercise, and maybe learn more about nature while you’re there. You may even see a cool bird, some wildlife, or a rare wildflower, all who certainly appreciate you making more room for them.
• Be Fire and Flood Safe. Many invasive species, like Arundo and French broom increase the threat from floods and fires. Make sure your property is clear of weeds and plant appropriate alternatives, such as natives.
• Stop buying invasive species. Whenever you purchase any type of live plant or animal, find out whether it’s invasive before you bring it home. Plants in your garden can produce seeds that can travel miles and invade native ecosystems in your watershed or even beyond. Find a list of the invasive plants from your local Weed Management Area, then don’t plant them or remove any pests from your garden. Some types of beneficial insects can also be sources of invasions in some locations.
• Don’t transport invasive species. Its fun to bring back souvenirs from exotic locales, but don’t sneak stuff back that you shouldn’t, especially if it’s alive.
• Don’t dispose of stuff into waterways. Agricultural runoff, illegal dumping, and improperly disposed of aquarium water can all be sources of invasive species in our rivers, lakes, and oceans.
  
• Use your power as a consumer. Some known invasive species are still sold in the US. If you come across something you know is invasive, respectfully inform the retailer that you choose not to buy invasive species.

Fire on the Mountain

This summer I had my first personal experience with wildfire, previously having studied fire ecology in graduate school and visited many wildfire sites to study the effects of fire on the forest vegetation. But that was always after the ground had cooled and the firefighters had gone home. On June 21st we witnessed the lightning strike during a freakish dry lightning storm on summer solstice and saw the first column of smoke rise from the Plumas National Forest, just east of Sawmill Peak in Butte County and about 3 miles from my house. The Camp Fire was just one of 41 wildfires in the Butte County Lightning Complex that started on June 21st, and when we left for Quincy for HSMF on 4th of July weekend, Cal Fire was celebrating that the Camp Fire would be 100% contained the following day. We felt like we could finally relax and enjoy a weekend of good music. We enjoyed the festival so much that we had almost forgotten about the fires until the smoke started rolling in during Railroad Earth’s Saturday evening set, reminding us that the fires weren’t entirely under control yet.

The night we returned home, all of the separate wildfires near the town of Paradise (including the Camp Fire) had merged into one huge firestorm. The following morning, the sun was totally obstructed by the smoke, it was as dark as night. Outside it was raining heavy ash and embers along with burnt leaves and twigs that were still warm to the touch. The sky was so thick with smoke that it was hard to breathe and hurt our lungs. The fire was quickly moving in our direction, and the only fire break was the West Branch of the Feather River, a small creek at the bottom of a steep canyon. If the fire crossed the creek it could move up the brush choked canyon in a matter of minutes and the towns of Magalia and Paradise could be in flames. Cal Fire officials admit that it was a combination of hard work and a break in the weather that allowed them to contain the fire and keep it from crossing the West Branch. We lived under a precautionary evacuation order for over a month, the amount of time it took over 2,200 firefighters to finally contain the 59,440 acre Camp Fire. Cal Fire is still actively mopping up hot spots. The cost of fighting the Butte County fires has been estimated around $85 million.

California has spent $390 million dollars this year on fighting wildfires ($310 million over budget) and the federal government has spent $570 million, $340 million of that figure on fire suppression alone. Politicians are proposing possible solutions to pay for the escalating firefighting costs, such as creating a federal emergency fire fund and charging property owners in high risk areas a surcharge to help defray the costs. But there has been little discussion about why wildfires are getting progressively larger and more uncontrollable, and what we should be doing about it. After all, didn’t humans have a hand in creating the problem?

Wildfires have always been a part of the natural disturbance regime in places like California, like hurricanes in the mid-Atlantic. Many native people used fire to manage their landscape, recognizing that many native plants and animals depend on fire for their reproduction. Fire and other natural disturbances are essential in maintaining healthy populations and biodiversity of plants and animals. Historically, the fire cycle in the Sierra Cascade foothills where I live (characterized as mixed conifer forest) is roughly 7-10 years. Fire season was late summer to fall, fires were patchy (where large patches are left unburned), and most fires were ground fires (not canopy fires that burn the tree tops). The ground fires clear the forest floor of saplings and shrubs that have moved in since the last fire but, since they are cooler burning, most of the mature trees survive. The fire reduces the fuel load in the forest and the areas cleared by fire serve as a nursery for new pine and fir trees, which need the fire and the clean soil it leaves behind to germinate their seeds. As a result, historically the forest landscape looked something like a patchwork quilt of made up of patches of trees of different ages, depending on when a given patch last burned. Large scale canopy fires that burned entire forests to the ground were a more rare occurrence.

The United State Forest Service adopted a fire suppression policy in 1919 to protect valuable timber resources, and changed the historical fire regimes with unforeseen ecological consequences. Ironically, the main problem with fire suppression is that it causes wildfires to actually become worse over the long-term. That’s because when forests don’t burn, the forest floor below the mature trees becomes choked with vegetation, dramatically increasing the fuel load and making wildfires more intense and unpredictable. These fires burn much hotter and many more of them become canopy fires, as the fire uses the thick vegetation to climb into the forest canopy and burn the entire forest. The fires burn so hot that they even kill seeds buried in the soil, and move so rapidly, that most wildlife can’t escape to safety. Recent droughts and the effects of climate change are only making these fires more severe, as vegetation becomes more flammable and dry lightning storms become more frequent.

There is no shortage of recent examples of this type of wildfire, or firestorm as the network news is fond of calling them, and the devastation they cause. The wildfires this summer in northern California, that ignited from thousands of dry lightning strikes and burned uncontrollably for months, was certainly typical of this new fire regime that humans have helped create. The issue of how to improve our forestry management practices to decrease fire danger is a complicated issue with many different interests involved. There is the need of the forest to burn every few years, to regenerate itself and remain healthy for the plants and animals that depend on it. There is the need of the communities who neighbor the forest and fear losing their homes to wildfire. There is the need to manage forests for timber and other resources, which could be done utilizing fire as a management tool along with more sustainable harvesting methods to keep forests healthy. There is the risk to our infrastructure that large-scale fires can pose. With climate change predicted to make wildfire conditions even worse, there is an urgent need to find integrated solutions that address all of these issues. We need to do more than just spend more money on fire fighting (ie. fire suppression) and turn a blind eye to the larger problem. We need to resolve our relationship with wildfire and learn to coexist with it.