Today is the first annual UN World Oceans Day. What does this
mean? It’s an effort to shine a spotlight on the state of our
oceans. It’s easy to stand on most shores, look out at the
horizon, and feel a lot of peace about how beautiful the oceans
are. But unfortunately, our oceans are in trouble. Very serious
trouble, actually. Trash getting into the water is a major one,
leading to things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. There
are other places around the world where trash is collecting, but
this is the largest. A comprehensive report on marine litter was
just released today. What can we do? Well, a lot, but here’s a
start: If you smoke, dispose of your butts in a container.
Stamping them on the ground just means they will get washed into
some waterway and it has been shown that the filters contain
plastics that make water toxic to fish. And the butts are eaten
by fish, turtles and other marine life, which also kills them.
Butts are trash. They shouldn’t just be tossed around and
beaches are not giant as