Plastic Waste Within our Waterways

 Hey Everyone!

Hope your spring 2021 semester is going well! I met with Matt today and we discussed the possibility of looking at the types of waste that enter our oceans and local ecosystems. I watched an interview with Dr. Phil Landrigan and it had me thinking about the impact pollution has on our ecosystem in Phoenix. I wondered how much waste was accumulating in the canals, ponds, rivers and lakes that our wildlife live in. 

My plan is to find several waterways within the city that I can visit on a regular basis, and identify the type of waste present. I will track the type of waste, collect and properly dispose it, and return to the same place (at an unspecified amount of time) to see how much refuse has accumulated since the last visit. 

A few random facts:

-150 million tons of plastic currently in our oceans

-10-12 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year

-More than 80% arises from land based sources

Research-Great Pacific Garbage Patch

I've been doing some research on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its effects on the ecosystem. The first thing that stood out to me was:

"There are five major gyres: two in the Atlantic Ocean, two in the Pacific Ocean, and two in the Indian Ocean. Gyres act a bit like whirlpools, pulling objects from their edges to their centers. This causes anything in the water to accumulate. All five ocean gyres have garbage patches in them." (Blackwell)

I was surprised to learn that there isn't one garbage patch, there are multiple. The largest of the garbage patches is located in the Pacific ocean, off the coast of California. "The patch contains about 79,000 metric tons of plastic trash, with perhaps 1.8 trillion individual pieces." (Blackwell). I would like to delve deeper into how this amount of trash affects the local ecosystem. As I read through articles and begin to think about my research question, I'm thinking about how this same issue affects the local ecosystems within Phoenix. What issues have come from birds and/or plants that have been exposed to trash and debris in the canal.

Here is an idea of the size of the Garbage Patch in the Pacific:

Blackwell, Amy Hackney. "Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch." Gale Environmental Studies Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Gale In Context: Environmental Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CXRNIL252565088/GRNR?u=mcc_main&sid=GRNR&xid=22fb776d. Accessed 19 Feb. 2021.

Spring 2021 Semester

 Hello All-

Hope you all had a great winter break. It didn't feel like long enough! While on break I did a lot of hiking, eating and relaxing. I hiked Devil's Bridge in Sedona over the break and loved it. Sedona has such amazing hiking trails! (Attached is a photo from Devil's Bridge)

This semester, I am wanting to change gears a bit and focus on something environmental. A few ideas I discussed with Matt and Josh were contamination in urban ponds and the damage the great pacific garbage patch has on the local ecosystem. I'm hoping to gather some additional information and begin thinking of a research question to address the impact on the ecosystem. 

Excited to be back and looking forward to working with you all again!