Plastic Ocean: How a Sea Captain's Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans

by Charles Moore

Overview

The researcher who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—and remains one of today's key advocates for plastic pollution awareness—inspires a fundamental rethinking of the modern Plastic Age. 

In 1997, environmentalist Charles Moore discovered the world's largest collection of floating trash—the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ("GPGP")—while sailing from Hawaii to California. Moore was shocked by the level of pollution that he saw. And in the last 20 years, it's only gotten worse—a 2018 study has found that the vast dump of plastic waste swirling in the Pacific Ocean is now bigger than France, Germany, and Spain combined—far larger than previously feared.

In Plastic Ocean, Moore recounts his ominous findings and unveils the secret life of plastics. From milk jugs and abandoned fishing gear to polymer molecules small enough to penetrate human skin and be unknowingly inhaled, plastic is now suspected of contributing to a host of ailments, including infertility, autism, thyroid dysfunction, and certain cancers. An urgent call to action, Plastic Ocean's sobering revalations have been embraced by activists, concerned parents, and anyone alarmed by the deadly impact and implications of this man-made environmental catastrophe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583335017
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/04/2012
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,124,411
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Capt. Charles Moore is a researcher and speaker focusing on the environment. He lives in Long Beach, California.

Cassandra Phillips has worked as a newspaper reporter. She lives in Kamuela, Hawaii.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader ix

1 A Plastic Soup 1

2 Synthetic Evolution 20

3 Surfing the Learning Curve 42

4 Swept Away: The Oceans as Global Dumpster 57

5 The Plastic Sea Around Us 75

6 The Invention of throwaway Living 93

7 Harm 109

8 The Plastic Age 126

9 Gonzo Science 152

10 The Message Finds its Medium 171

11 Net Losses 191

12 Indigestible 210

13 Bad Chemistry 240

14 Debris Forensics 269

15 Erasing Our Plastic Footprint 292

16 Refuse 319

Afterword 338

Acknowledgments 358

Sources and Resources 362

Index 367

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A hero . . . Moore is the first person to have pursued serious scientific research by sampling the garbage patch." —-The New York Times

Editorial Reviews

"A hero...Moore is the first person to have pursued serious scientific research by sampling the garbage patch."
—The New York Times

 

"The author is an impassioned, fiercely inquisitive writer, detailing the many unorthodox ways he's managed to get these issues into the news and in peer-reviewed science journals. His account is chilling, but with an underlying message of optimism: If human behaviors change, we can still save the oceans, and ourselves. Fast-paced and electrifying, Moore's story is "gonzo science" at its best."
—Kirkus Reviews

 

"Captain Moore set sail across the pacific and saw what others missed, a plastic plague upon the ocean. This great new book explains that groundbreaking discovery and how our throwaway culture is devastating our sea life."
—Laurie David, author,


"In Plastic Ocean, readers join Captain Moore on journeys through history, into science labs and to remote parts of the ocean - revealing information both fascinating and incredibly important. A must read for anyone who likes a good adventure and wants to tackle today's pressing environmental problems."
—Annie Leonard, author and host, The Story of Stuff

 

"An ocean’s hero's call to action."
—Forbes.com

 

"Highly readable, thoughtful, honest, and determined, Plastic Ocean is a book with staying power."
—Booklist

From the Publisher

In 1997, Moore, captain of the oceanographic research vessel Alguita, discovered what became known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive “plastic soup... lightly seasoned with plastic flakes, bulked out here and there with ‘dumplings’: buoys, net clumps, floats, crates and other ‘macro debris’” floating between Hawaii and California. This now-famous discovery led Moore, already a long-time environmentalist, to become a scientist-activist focusing on what others concerned with oceanic plastic proliferation had ignored: the “plastic confetti” created by ultraviolet light and ocean chemicals granulating the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste that have washed, blown, or been dumped into the ocean. In this sobering, impassioned book, Moore chronicles his attempts to mitigate the insidious effects of these bits, which are ingested by ocean creatures and can work their way up the food chain to poison humans. Moore, the grandson of a president of Hancock Oil, is also able to guide the reader through a history of plastic, the chemical process of plastics production, and its indestructibility and threat to our world. He covers some of the same ground as Susan Freinkel’s Plastic, but his scientific background takes his investigation deeper. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A hero...Moore is the first person to have pursued serious scientific research by sampling the garbage patch."

The New York Times

In 1997, when Moore took a shortcut across the nearly windless North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. which ships rarely traverse, he and the crew found themselves cruising through a mass of plastic waste (since dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). Moore now campaigns against environmental pollution, focusing on the dangers posed by plastic. For all environmental collections.

Library Journal

It’s evident that Captain Charles Moore is passionate about educating the public about plastics, in particular the growing menace of the plastic debris that is choking the Pacific Ocean. However, the author's passion is not well served by Mel Foster's narration. His pace is too slow, and his delivery is not engaging enough as he discusses the production of plastics, the effects of plastics on humans and marine creatures, and research efforts focusing on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Moore's work is an alarming call to action to preserve marine ecology and to raise awareness about the problematic nature of our throwaway society. But Foster's narration does not go far enough to hold the listener's attention on this important topic. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2011 - AudioFile

Firsthand account of how plastics pervade our oceans in unimaginable ways, killing marine life and causing wide-ranging environmental and health effects.

Capt. Moore, a lifelong seafarer, was spurred to activism when his catamaran stalled in a remote area of the northeast Pacific and he noticed a visible proliferation of plastic bits and other trash floating on the water's surface.Dubbed "The Great North Pacific Garbage Patch," it was an ominous indicator of thecavalier way in which humans dispose of tons of plastictrash. This initial discovery led the author on a decades-long investigation into plastic production, distribution and chemical makeup, which revealed a level of pollution--in the sea and otherwise--far more insidious than people realized. The rise of "disposable" products coupled with inexpensive mass-production processes resulted in an unprecedented number of plastic bottles, lighters, shopping bags, diapers and other detritus being thrown away each year. Too much of it winds up in the ocean, where cool saltwater drastically slows down decomposition rates. Growing numbers of vulnerable animals are ingesting these materials, and often suffering malnutrition, unhealthy offspring and death. Evidence suggests that the entire food chain may be affected, sincemillions ofmicro-plastic bits are consumed by tiny sea creatures, which are eaten by bigger fish or birds, and so on. This "toxic Trojan horse" effect extends to air and land, as well, since plastics pervade so much of our lives and often leave toxic traces behind. The author is an impassioned, fiercely inquisitive writer, detailing the many unorthodox ways he's managed to get these issues into the news and in peer-reviewed science journals. His account is chilling, but with an underlying message of optimism: If human behaviors change, we can still save the oceans, and ourselves.

Fast-paced and electrifying, Moore's story is "gonzo science" at its best.

Kirkus Reviews