How do we confront the swirling gyres of plastic pollution dumped into our oceans? In this show, we examine the social and environmental implications of wasted resources, and follow two interrelated approaches to solving the problem from an indigenous woman doing exemplary work in New Zealand and an LA-based plastics pollution fighter.
Oceans
Covering almost three-fourths of the earth’s surface, the oceans are the salt water habitat for 230,000 known species, with the unexplored depths carrying potentially 2 million more marine species. Ocean pollution, acidification, and climate change pose significant dangers in the coming years.
California Sea Lion Suffering Warming Pacific, Disappeared Sardines
Sick, starving and dying sea lion pups are washing up on the shores of California in record numbers this year. The culprit? An unusual blob of record warm water parked off the North Pacific Coast for a year and a half, affecting circulation and weather patterns with no relief in sight. Hence, sardine fisheries have collapsed with wildlife heading north.
Disappearing Cod: Sustainable Populations Require Long-Term Action
The NOAA is shutting down cod fishing for six months, from Provincetown, Mass., up to the Canadian border, in an effort to reverse plummeting numbers of the iconic fish in the Gulf of Maine. Jeffery Bolster argues humans have depredated the Atlantic’s fish stocks for centuries, and the focus on short-term fixes only compounds the problem.
Planet Ocean: Envisioning Land and Seas as One Ecosystem
Ocean Acidification Threatens Alaskan Crab Fishery
Sylvia Earle: Ocean Ecosystem Sustainability By 2050
Miskitu Portrait: Lobster and Life on Laguna Caratasca
Puerto Lempira lies on the shore of the sweetwater Laguna Caratasca, just west of the Caribbean in La Moskitia, Honduras. The largest Miskitu town in the region, with an ailing lobster industry in an atmosphere of post-coup insecurity and governmental corruption, many turn to drug trafficking for income.