"In 1907, a chemist named Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic. In the little more than 100 years since, plastic has benefited humanity even while we polluted Earth with it. During the 1950s, plastic production rapidly increased and since then, people have created billions of tons of plastic. Millions of tons of plastic enter the world's fragile oceans and ecosystems every year. This informative book examines the globally significant...

Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea-more like a soup than a floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught: less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. And plastic pollution isn't confined to the open sea: it's in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat. In...

It's in your toothbrush ... your clothes ... your earbuds. Chances are, you're touching it right now. We're talking about plastic! Plastic is absolutely everywhere and in practically everything we touch, from pens to water bottles to sports equipment. And a lot of it is used once and then thrown away. Unfortunately, it takes a REALLY long time for plastic to break down and it can be harmful to our environment, especially wildlife. But why and when...

A discussion of issues relating to garbage and recyling, presented in a pro/con format

The world consumes over 300 million tonnes of plastic each year. But when did we start using plastic? And why? Where does all the plastic waste go? Journey through the life cycle of plastic -how plastics are produced, the many uses of plastics throughout the last century, how our plastic use has spiralled out of control, and what we can do about it.

"An exploration of the ways in which we use and dispose of plastic and how our dependence on plastic is negatively impacting our planet. The text concludes with a call to action for readers to help change the current rates of plastic use"--

"When she was young, biologist Ana Pêgo didn't play in a backyard but on a beach. As she grew older, Ana realized that a new species was becoming more and more common in the sand. She decided to collect the species and give it a name: Plasticus maritimus. She dedicated her life to studying plastic in the oceans and raising awareness of the danger it poses to the health of the planet. Inspired by Ana's experiences, and backed by extensive research,...

In the summer of 1997, Charles Moore set sail from Honolulu for California after competing in a trans-Pacific race. When he and his crew took a shortcut through the seldom-traversed North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a vast oceanic "desert" where winds are slack, Moore realized his ship was skimming through a plastic soup. He had stumbled upon the largest garbage dump on the planet, soon to be dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch--where plastic outweighs...