Image: Sea birds mistake marine litter for food and will even feed pieces of marine debris to their chicks. As a result, chicks starve to death. All that’s left after some breeding seasons are decaying carcasses containing all types of marine litter.

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Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, wants to “reverse . . . [the] alarming quantities of rubbish thrown out to sea [that] continues to endanger people’s safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.” In addition to a ban, public education is certainly needed—especially in schools. From the United Nations Environment Programme:

“Marine litter is symptomatic of a wider malaise: namely the wasteful use and persistent poor management of natural resources. The plastic bags, bottles and other debris piling up in the oceans and seas could be dramatically reduced by improved waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives”.

“Some of the litter, like thin film single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased-out rapidly everywhere-there is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere. Other waste can be cut by boosting public awareness, and proposing an array of economic incentives and smart market mechanisms that tip the balance in favor of recycling, reducing or re-use rather than dumping into the sea,” he said.

Of course Glenn Beck shouldn’t be taken serious, but his obtuse attitude towards efforts to remedy the problem of marine debris is ignorant and embarrassing.  In this video, Glenn Beck demonstrates why he’s a Fox News snake oil salesman and not an environmental manager.

Image found here. Video via Gawker.

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