{"id":469,"date":"2018-09-18T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T09:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/exetermarine\/?p=469"},"modified":"2018-09-18T10:00:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T09:00:39","slug":"scientists-at-sea-podcast-sail-against-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/exetermarine\/2018\/09\/18\/scientists-at-sea-podcast-sail-against-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists at Sea Podcast: Sail Against Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/scientistsatsea\/sail-against-plastic-with-flora-rendell-and-lowenna-jones<\/a><\/p>\n

Show Notes<\/h2>\n

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Guests – Flora Rendell<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lowenna Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sail Against Plastic started as an idea to simply undertake a sailing expedition, over just a few months it developed into an Arctic mission to investigate unseen pollutants, namely microplastics <\/a>and noise pollution<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are a collaborative expedition hoping to unveil and reveal the invisible pollutants of the arctic\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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The Sail Against Plastic team. Photo credit – Ben Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Why the Arctic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is well documented that plastic debris has been circulating around our oceans via 5 ocean gyres<\/span>. It is now thought there maybe a sixth gyre<\/a> that carries plastic up into the Arctic circle. Recent discoveries supporting this theory have shown that plastic has been found in sea ice<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAs sea ice melts that could be opening up more microplastics that have been trapped in that sea ice\u2026 it shows that we\u2019ve been influencing the world for a long time\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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A selection of plastics found on mainland Svalbard. Photo credit – Ben Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A view from the Blue Clipper: Photo credit – Ben Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These pieces of plastic aren\u2019t necessarily what you would expect, while there plastic bottles and bags found in these areas, there may be an even greater prevalence of microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic debris resulting from the breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not these big large pieces of plastic, it\u2019s not a floating island<\/a><\/span><\/i>\u00a0that we\u2019re going to find\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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At the time of recording, the team<\/a>, a diverse group of scientists, artists, environmentalists, photographers and videographers, were just a few days away from setting sail on the Barents Sea<\/a> from Svalbard <\/a>aboard the Blue Clipper.<\/p>\n

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The team’s manta trawl, used to collect microplastics. Photo credit – Ben Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u201cI think the main thing is making issues that are so strongly linked to humans\u2026 making you feel emotive about them… through art and through film, people will feel emotive about it and will care, we hope\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd make it relevant to people in the UK and Europe and connect communities that are halfway across the world that have similarities and can work together to find a solution to our crazy plastic addiction\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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