Trash Vortex: How Plastic Pollution Is Choking the World's Oceans
()
About this ebook
Danielle Smith-Llera
Danielle Smith-Llera grew up in coastal Virginia, hearing unforgettable tales about her Mexican and Irish ancestors. She first moved overseas to teach in international schools in Hungary and Brazil. Life in the U.S. Foreign Service has taken her around the world to live in India, Jamaica, Romania, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Washington, DC. She loves sharing stories—fiction, nonfiction, and a mixture of both—in classrooms, museum exhibits, and, of course, books.
Read more from Danielle Smith Llera
The Powhatan: The Past and Present of Virginia's First Tribes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Revolutionary War: A Chronology of America's Fight for Independence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cherokee: The Past and Present of a Proud Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaul Revere and the Midnight Ride: Separating Fact from Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImmigration in America: Asylum, Borders, and Conflicts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Presidency of George Washington: Inspiring a Young Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFukushima Disaster: How a Tsunami Unleashed Nuclear Destruction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hunter Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHate Crime in America: From Prejudice to Violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExploring the Judicial Branch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chumash: The Past and Present of California's Seashell People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Iroquois: The Past and Present of the Haudenosaunee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetsy Ross and the U.S. Flag: Separating Fact from Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Look at a Black Hole: How a Photograph Solved a Space Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Che Guevara's Face: How a Cuban Photographer's Image Became a Cultural Icon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Are Eating Plastic Every Day: What's in Our Food? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrogs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Exploring the Legislative Branch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Power Salute: How a Photograph Captured a Political Protest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMars Rover: How a Self-Portrait Captured the Power of Curiosity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLunch Counter Sit-Ins: How Photographs Helped Foster Peaceful Civil Rights Protests Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDouble Helix: How an Image Sparked the Discovery of the Secret of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cheeky Chiller: A Zoo Animal Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Trash Vortex
Related ebooks
Summarized & Analyzed: "A Long Walk to Water" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJoey Pigza Swallowed the Key: (National Book Award Finalist) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Noggin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When You Reach Me - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Same Inside: Poems about Empathy and Friendship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsk Me No Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sounder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rhyme Schemer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdon of No Worries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo, You Want to Become a National Board Certified Teacher: Workbook & Evidence Manual Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Literature Help: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eleven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wanderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On My Honor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bud, Not Buddy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJulie of the Wolves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5R Is for Rebel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So B. It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Breadwinner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Touching Spirit Bear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBud, Not Buddy - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Nancy Farmer's "The House of the Scorpion" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Children's For You
The Dark Is Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Number the Stars: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fever 1793 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witch of Blackbird Pond: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Graveyard Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amari and the Night Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bridge to Terabithia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twas the Night Before Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cedric The Shark Get's Toothache: Bedtime Stories For Children, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Wild: Warriors #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coraline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The School for Good and Evil: Now a Netflix Originals Movie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Dolphins: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over Sea, Under Stone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alice In Wonderland: The Original 1865 Unabridged and Complete Edition (Lewis Carroll Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little House on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Garden: The 100th Anniversary Edition with Tasha Tudor Art and Bonus Materials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTerrifying Tales to Tell at Night: 10 Scary Stories to Give You Nightmares! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Shadow Is Purple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of My Heart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tikki Tikki Tembo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crossover: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Trash Vortex
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Trash Vortex - Danielle Smith-Llera
Cover
Chapter One
A SURPRISE AT SEA
Captain Charles Moore felt the wind across the north Pacific Ocean die to a whisper. A few weeks earlier, it had filled the sails of the Alguita, pushing the white 50-foot-long (15-meter-long) sailboat west from California to Hawaii in the 1997 TransPacific Yacht Race. He carried a trophy for third place and was enjoying brisk winds pushing him and his crew back home to California — until now. Moore had scanned weather reports and turned the Alguita’s bow southeast. It had entered an expanse of ocean that was as still as a painting.
Sailors usually try to avoid the north Pacific Ocean. The weather there is not too stormy or unpredictable, but too calm. Legends tell of desperate sailors waiting so long for wind that they had to conserve drinking water by drowning their cargo of livestock. Sailors and scientists now understand that this quiet expanse of ocean is the center of a gyre (pronounced JI-er), a whirlpool that is thousands of miles wide. Powerful currents flow around the outer edges, like rivers through the ocean. Driven by the wind and Earth’s rotation, the currents sweep west across the Pacific Ocean and up the coast of Asia. Then they move east across the ocean, down the west coast of North America, and west to begin the cycle again.
Captain Charles Moore and his research sailboat, the Alguita
The water encircled by the currents turns clockwise sluggishly. Moore’s modern sailboat was equipped with diesel engines, a system to make seawater drinkable, and a radio to call for help. Even so, a detour across these calm waters would haunt him. It would convince him that the ocean held a danger so great that it threatened the survival not only of his crew, but of organisms all over the globe.
On August 8, while standing on deck, Moore saw something unexpected. Here and there, odd bits and flakes speckle the ocean’s surface,
¹ he later wrote in the book Plastic Ocean: How a Sea Captain’s Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans. He was disturbed because the objects were plastic. He said it looked as if a giant salt shaker has sprinkled bits of plastic onto the surface of the ocean.
² Each day he scanned the water and found that No matter the time of day or how many times a day I look, it’s never more than a few minutes before I sight a plastic morsel bobbing by. A bottle here, a bottle cap there, scraps of plastic film, fragments of rope or fishing net, broken-down bits of former things.
³ For seven days the Alguita traveled more than a thousand miles with Moore noticing that They were always there: plastic shards, fluttering like lost moths in the surface waters of the deep, remote ocean.
⁴
Moore returned to Alamitos Bay, California, where he had spent his youth swimming, surfing, and sailing in the Pacific Ocean. By the 1980s, he wrote, pollution of many kinds made residents think twice about eating a fish they caught off the pier.
⁵ Now he wrote that he could not stop thinking about all those miles and days of plastic. Over the decades we’d gotten used to the sight of trash on the beach, by the roadsides, and in riverbeds, of shopping bags fluttering on fences and branches.… But something seemed very wrong about this plastic trash in the mid-Pacific.
⁶ He wanted to know why it was there.