Our epic girl this week, Annie Leonard, has us thinking about the “stuff” we buy and how it is “trashing the planet, making us sick and we are not even having fun.”  The team at go GIRL global has also been buzzing about all of the plastic containers, packing material and plastic bags this “stuff” gets carried around in. You may know that plastics don’t decompose and can live on for a long time in our environment. Did you know that in the last few years, scientists have discovered that unbelievably large amounts of plastics are ending up in the ocean? It’s piling up in enormous patches that change daily in size and location, depending on currents. There is good scientific data about the Pacific Ocean plastics problem, which has become known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” This is really a friendly term for an alarming pollution crisis with wide reaching impact for all of us.

Here are a few videos to learn more about the global issue of plastics in the ocean.  It’s not a happy story but an important one.   Start here and get ready for an eye opening account from 2009 when Oprah Winfrey first started trying to tell the world. 

The second video features a team of amazing women scientists working with Project. Kaisei, which is a Japanese for “ocean planet.” At go GIRL global we want to feature innovations and solutions along with each global issue we raise.  We applaud the team at Project Kasei for being dedicated to developing new technology, and for their work to get major corporations like Coca Cola and Lush Cosmetics involved in funding solutions.  Since your the next generation of scientists and community leaders, we hope you will be inspired to strive for sustainable, healthy solutions the global challenges of our time.