The spill has now reached every area of the world’s oceans and tidal zones. According to researchers, it is killing at least a hundred thousand marine mammals a year, two million birds, thousands of turtles and countless fish and other creatures. It is likely that the spill is reducing reproductive rates in almost every kind of marine creature. It is permeating the entire food chain in the sea and on the land. New and more serious effects on human health are being discovered continually – from cancers to neurological disorders to sexual function and reproductive problems and more.

This most widespread and deadly threat to wildlife, human health and the environment is not what politicians discuss, what the media commonly reports or what most people think. Yet its documentation is clear. There is little question about its effects. Especially important, it is by far the most actionable of all major environmental issues.

Why is the global oil spill unknown by the great majority, and why is virtually nothing being done to even contain it, much less cure it?

Consider for a moment the possibility that plastic – not climate change or deforestation or even oil spills – is the most serious environmental threat facing mankind, and that it is both more immediate and far more actionable.

Are we wrong to give top priority to reducing our carbon footprint, and to focus so much effort, investment and regulatory fervor on fighting climate change? Why is so little political and governmental attention being paid to the research documented threats of plastic?

You can now view the complete route of Paddle 2010 on Google Earth. Click here to open the map: paddle_2010.kmz (16.13 KB)

If you don't already have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can get the latest version from here: http://earth.google.com

Plastic Free Ocean Facebook Page, Twitter and YouTube Channel are now live. Be among the first to "like" and "follow" the cause and Paddle 2010, and subscribe to the Plastic Free Ocean YouTube channel. Click on the links at left. If you have specific comments or suggestions, please use the "Contact Us" form.

Help us spread the word and support the cause by urging your friends and associates to visit www.plasticfreeocean.org to learn about the most serious and immediate threat to human health, wildlife and the environment.

Practically, it's so difficult to do sometimes.
I go to the gym and there's something gross in the drinking fountain, so I buy a bottled water. I'm traveling in an airport and really thirsty, so I purchase a big bottled water to stay hydrated on the plane. I'm on the go in the summer, running a bunch of errands, and run into a Starbucks to grab some water so I don't melt. In case you haven't heard the rhetoric, plastic bottles are bad.

Plastic-filled ocean - a 100% human-caused disaster

The disposable plastic bottle symbolizes waste and litter around the world. But it is not just plastic bottles and careless littering that threaten to turn the oceans from life sustaining to life threatening.

Bottles and bags. Discarded toys, product packaging and cheap holiday decorations. Household and industrial waste of a thousand kinds.