Plastic Pollution Is Not Only an Ocean Problem

This sculpture of an octopus on a pile of plastic trash was part of a traveling exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

We’ve all seen them along our waterways: water bottles, bags, straws, flip-flops, and coffee mugs. They make up huge garbage dumps in the oceans and kill marine life and birds. Microplastics—very tiny plastic particles—are showing up in fish, beer, drinking water, and our own bodies. It matters because Wisconsin is bordered by three massive watersheds: Lake Michigan to our east, the Mississippi River to our west, and Lake Superior to our north.

Twenty-two million pounds of plastic pollution flow into Lake Michigan a year. You can read more about that here.
The Mississippi River watershed covers 31 states, including Wisconsin, and contributes 40% of the plastic pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. For more information, check out this link.
A 2018 study of 35 national parks found that the waters of Lake Superior in Wisconsin's Apostle Islands had the highest concentration of plastic pollution of the parks.

So, we need to reduce the amount of plastic we buy and throw away. But how best to spread the word without shaming others?

Polite climate advocacy can be simple

Just share a discovery like learning through art. The Chazen Art Museum is hosting a traveling interactive exhibit entitled, “Plastic Entanglements,” containing artwork made from ocean plastic. This free, kid-friendly exhibit is only being shown in Madison before leaving the state in January 2020. Check out the exhibit while it’s in town, and be sure to get more information here.

People were invited to place their used water bottles in the chicken-wire framework of the whale shark on the seafront in La Paz, Mexico.

The art in the photos on this page is made from ocean plastic.

Photo credits in post: Pat Patterson

Splash photo: by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash