A Deep Problem
Lynn M. Hanna
During the past fifty years I have used and discarded countless plastic bags. The realization that they have not yet decomposed, and many are swirling in a giant gyre in the ocean, affecting the habitat, is alarming! I recently learned discarded plastic bits are not only swirling on the surface, but equal or denser concentrations of plastic bits are suspended in a band about 600 to 2,000 feet below the surface. Animals mistake the plastic for food, creating intestinal problems among other things. This quilt, partially made of discarded plastic bags, carries the message of plastic density in the ocean.