Help Stop Water Pollution

Water pollution doesn't just effect marine life, it effects us as well. Help stop water pollution and save the animals and ourselves.

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Water Pollution Ideas Part II

1. Choose earth friendly products for your lawn. Runoff from lawns make up a large portion of water pollution in your local area. I recently saw a wide variety of lawn care products that don't harm your environment on my last trip to a Home Depot.

2. Buy things in bulk! When you buy things in bulk it reduces packaging (both in cost and material) so you make your wallet and the Earth happy all at once!

3. Buy local! This will actually cut down on plastic packaging by a lot, believe it or not! Many of the people who sell their produce at farmer's markets reuse plastic bags and store their products in baskets, so as not to create more plastic pollution. Local food also tastes way better because gross pesticides aren't sprayed on the plants. (This also prevents agricultural runoff which the second leading cause of water pollution.)

4. Use rechargeable batteries. Not only will you save money by not having to constantly buy batteries when the old ones die, the chemicals won't be released into the environment. 

5. If you live near a lake or ocean and like to go out on the lake, don't use a motorized boat! Instead, use a kayak or a canoe. It's a pretty good workout and emissions from the boat don't end up in the water. 

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Water Pollution Ideas

There are many things that the average person can do to help water pollution. Here are just a few ideas to help you get started:

1.) Use canvas bags rather than plastic or paper bags when you go to the store. Many retailers such as Target and Brookshire's offer a discount for each bag used when you use these kinds of bags.

2.) You can also make your own gift bags out of canvas for presents! Resale shops often sell canvas bags for one or two dollars and when you decorate  them for the person receiving the gift, it becomes all the more personal. You might even mention to them that they could use the bags for shopping!

3.) Reuse plastic water bottles or get a stainless steel water bottle. Many public places also offer free water from water fountains for the public to use. The water's perfectly fine!

4.) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Believe it or not, there are places all over the United States that you can go to where your old plastic or paper products can be recycled.

5.) Instead of buying books, CDs or DVDs new, buy them used! There's nothing wrong with many books, CDs or DVDs at places like Half Price Books. The only thing wrong with them, is that they're half price! Who doesn't like a bargain?

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NRDC Save BioGems Urgent Alert: Stop Shell!

Tell Interior Secretary Jewell to Close the Polar Bear Seas to Oil Drilling!

Help keep shell out of the arctic and sign this petition that will be sent to Secretary Jewell to persuade her to stand up for the polar bears in the area that will be effected!

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Greenpeace made this presentation out of trash that they pulled from the trash vortex. Although creative, this work is haunting as it serves as a reminder that animals are being harmed by these everyday items that we throw into the ocean.

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The trash vortex

The trash vortex is an area the size of Texas in the North Pacific in which an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of natural plankton, along with other slow degrading garbage, swirls slowly around like a clock, choked with dead fish, marine mammals, and birds who get snared. Some plastics in the gyre will not break down in the lifetimes of the grandchildren of the people who threw them away.

The trash vortex is a massive 'trash dumpster' in the Pacific Ocean, where masses of plastics, glass objects and other various trash items have gathered. This is causing many of the animals in the area to become negatively harmed by the trash present in their homes.

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These animals have both been effected by plastic pollution. Everyone can help to make these problems virtually disappear.

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NRDC: How it affects you and your family

Millions of animals die every year due to plastic pollution in the water. This sad reality could be changed with just a few simple efforts from you and your family to help save these animals.

[ecowatchorg]

Coal Transporters Held Accountable for Contamination of Local Waterways

BNSF Railway, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the largest coal transporters in the U.S. It is responsible for hauling an average of 480 open-top rail cars carrying coal through Washington daily. Each rail car loses an average of 500 pounds of coal dust per trip.

[environmentalillnessnetwork]

Question: Why aren’t hazardous materials simply covered so they won’t blow off trains while they are being transported?

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These issues are never easily solved. However they are a constant  problem both to fish and to humans. Arsenic, Uranium and Mercury are making their ways into the water and diets of these fish (and ultimately ours). Why would we continue to let this kind of behavior continue when it hurts not only the environment but our future generations?

[environmentalillnessnetwork]

A renowned Alberta water scientist is urging the federal government to take action after he discovered deformities in fish in the Athabasca River downriver from oil sands developments bear a striking resemblance to ones found in fish after spills in U.S. waters.

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From the article: "He included photos of fish from the Athabasca with two tails, bulging eyeballs and gaping sores."

While water pollution does indeed effect marine life, it also effects the human population. Because people don't want to eat fish that are mutated (understandably so), the economy is suffering as a result. 

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http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/infographic-the-unbelievable-scale-of-marine-trash.html

These people are doing amazing things on educating the public about many ecological issues (not just water pollution), so head on over and check them out!

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From:    http://www.tuskagency.com/blog/2010/4/

"Bringing attention to ocean pollution, Surfrider Foundation teamed up with Satchi & Satchi LA to create “Catch of the Day.” Simply and brilliantly, they collected actual rubbish from beaches around the U.S., packaged it like food, and left it on display at farmer’s markets. It’s site-specific, appropriate, impacting, meaningful, shocking, and an actual consumer insight into the very act they’re in the middle of. Someone about to buy fish from the same ocean as the trash in their hands can’t help but be at least a little more enlightened as to how pollution isn’t someone else’s problem."

One of many artistic representations of how water pollution doesn't just effect marine animals. Do you want this showing up in your sushi?

[ecowatchorg]

Manatees Dying in Record Numbers from Toxic Algal Bloom

More than 460 dead manatees have been documented in the first three months of this year—an alarmingly high number. It has already topped the number of manatees that died all of last year. What’s going on here?

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Nine EASY ways to use less plastic. These are things that everyone can do to help get rid of water pollution for good.