'I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.'
~Louisa May Alcott
Doctors, surgeons, nurses, all of these help us to live longer, live healthier, and live better. But is it really them who does all the work, takes care of everything, fixes everybody? I mean, it's partially them of course, because they are the ones that perform all of the surgeries, stitches, shots, and blood tests. But I mean really. Because in my experience, what really fixes you are the syringes, needles, IV drips, and other medical tools that most, if not all hospitals use. But where, you wonder, do all of these tools go once they have been used or cannot be used any longer? How are they disposed of? Well I'll tell you......
In the late 1970's, medical waste was thrown into the sea without a second thought! Besides polluting our planet, the medical waste posed an extreme and severe threat to the amazing sea creatures that inhabit vast open ocean. Tons of plastic was later found in hundreds and probably thousands of marine birds, for they often mistake plastic pellets for crabs ( yes, there are crabs with small wings that fly underwater - very cool!), or other food, and eat them. Many birds have been found dead with plastic in their stomachs!!!
~Louisa May Alcott
Doctors, surgeons, nurses, all of these help us to live longer, live healthier, and live better. But is it really them who does all the work, takes care of everything, fixes everybody? I mean, it's partially them of course, because they are the ones that perform all of the surgeries, stitches, shots, and blood tests. But I mean really. Because in my experience, what really fixes you are the syringes, needles, IV drips, and other medical tools that most, if not all hospitals use. But where, you wonder, do all of these tools go once they have been used or cannot be used any longer? How are they disposed of? Well I'll tell you......
In the late 1970's, medical waste was thrown into the sea without a second thought! Besides polluting our planet, the medical waste posed an extreme and severe threat to the amazing sea creatures that inhabit vast open ocean. Tons of plastic was later found in hundreds and probably thousands of marine birds, for they often mistake plastic pellets for crabs ( yes, there are crabs with small wings that fly underwater - very cool!), or other food, and eat them. Many birds have been found dead with plastic in their stomachs!!!
Today, one of my friends, Cassie, commented on my post called Inhumane Fishing Is Wrong! This is what she said:
'Thank you Aria. I was an offshore lobster women in the 1970's and back then they thought it was a good idea to dump medical waste offshore. You can only imagine how horrible that was. We were pulling used syringes, IV plastic bags and tubes, empty medicine bottles, etc. up in our traps. It took people like you, that made posters and raised the consciousness of others, for them to stop. So thank you. I love your blog! <3 Cassie'
So even though we aren't throwing as much medical waste into the oceans as we used to - we still throw our trash onto the beach sometimes, or somehow medical waste still ends up out at sea. Maybe not as much, but still enough. So think to yourself - the next time you see a piece of trash or plastic just lying on the ocean's sandy shores - PICK IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!! Do something! Don't just stand there as you watch it drift out to sea, only to be digested by a hungry sea turtle! Your picking it up will make a difference and HELP SAVE OUR PLANET!
Picture take by MBC Applied Environmental Sciences
No comments:
Post a Comment