The True Scale of Ocean Pollution

Today we're investigating the many different ways the ocean has been polluted, using a book I've been reading lately, The Swarm by Frank Schatzing, as my guide!

Join me in the wonderful world of dumping all your problems into the ocean, where nuclear submarine, mustard gas, sulfuric acid, and heaps and heaps of trash are only the tip of the iceberg.

Follow me on Twitter @theatlaspro

Special thanks the @StefanMilo for lending his voice to author of The Swarm Frank Schatzing!

Check out the interactive map of chemical weapons dumping here:

"Deliberate Thought" by Kevin Macleod

Sources / Further Reading:

[nnioax]

I'm from Kazakhstan, specifically Mangistau region. We have a lake named Qoshqar-ata a few kilometers away from Aktau. It was used during USSR period to dump radioactive waste with no precautions, and now people have to deal with a literal boiling pot of radioactive clay water. The worst part is - the city is growing towards the lake and it is now on a walking distance. The state is covering it with concrete and locals are planting haloxylon trees, but it will still remain radioactive. How are we supposed to live love laugh at these conditions.

[kenzarezyarifin]

I remember when I was a kid, the river in the backyard turns red, I thought it's filled with blood like in a horror movie, turns out there's a new factory releasing untreated pollutant straight to the river. Fortunately I didn't touch the river, but all the grass next to the river just vanish.

[Jeemus.]

It's a nice touch to use all the old educational films! Demonstrates just how long we've known about these problems but live at the mercy of a system that allows those with money and power to destroy our world.

[FacePalmEXE]

Just a small factual error at 9:10 : Australia DOES actually have a nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights, Sydney which has been in operation since 1958.
It's not for power generation however, It's mainly used to create isotopes for medical/industrial use and research.
I used to drive by there pretty frequently. :)

[halords]

as a geology student that is currently studying pollution in our environmental science class, im definitely thankful for Atlas Pro for covering this topic in depth, giving us more info than we can learn from class

but what im really thankful for is him reminding me that their true name is "no-no germans"

[Dzzxxx]

As an oceanographer, this is entertaining and well-showed! Covers all the basics about pollutants in oceans, the categories, their effects and also the worries that lie within the unknowledgeable, uncertain future. However, some of the list that probably i can add two pences are:

1. Plastic wastes are more dangerous than people thought, and the culprit is microplastic. Microplastic isnt just threatening due to its size, but it can also bonded with chemicals that suspended in the ocean, some of which is toxic. Microplastics also have detected to carry pathogen bacteria due to adsorption and bioaccumulation.

2. Even worse than micros, there is a new category, called "nanoplastic". Yes, it is a NANOSCALE plastic fragments, in which can bioaccumulate in the food web, and eventually reach human consumption. Further study required on this, but i'll bet that this will be a concern on late decade.

3. Human efforts sure is a main factor to mitigate this such as cleanup, but never forget, that ecosystem services can do a lot to us. Coastal ecosystem such as mangroves, seagrasses, and even salt marshes can act as a "sinking" ground for microplastics, heavy metals, and even carbon due to photosynthesis (called sequestration). The latter, even currently proposed as a main tool in CoP26 to combat CO2 emission. These so called "Blue Carbon ecosystem" are potential swiss army knifes for our solution. So, a movement for mangrove, salt marshes, or seagrasses restoration should have a weighted support too!

Here are some sources (some includes paying, sorry to say...) for my two pences:



Microplastics:

Blue carbon ecosystem:
Govindasamy, Chinnavenkataraman & Arulpriya, M. & Packiasamy, Dr. Ruban & Francisca, L.J. & Ilayaraja, A.. (2011). Concentration of heavy metals in seagrasses tissue of the Palk Strait, Bay of Bengal. Int. J. Environ. Sci.. 2. 145-153.


Tang, J., S. Ye, X. Chen, H. Yang, X. Sun, F. Wang, Q. Wen, and S. Chen, 2018, Coastal Blue Carbon: Concept, Study Method, and The Application to Ecological Restoration, Science China Earth Sciences, 6(6): 637-646.

[KDRulz]

I was not at all aware of the chemical weapons disposed to oceans, it is shocking to say the least.

[dervakommtvonhinten]

even before watching, thumbs up for a 37 minute video. most youtubers would have split that in 3-4 parts by stretching it just a bit to reach the 2 ad threshhold.

[ktrnch]

Cleaning ocean plastics may be the easiest part, but you got to be careful and don't support companies that promise a large scale automated operation. Like using nets to sweep ocean surface, or filtering top layer of beach sand with a machine like it were crops. These operations decimate entire ecosystems and fall on a side of greenwashing.
Right now, cleaning plastics requires a ton of manual labor, but it's worth it!

[gregoryhouldsworth]

21:06

Atlas Pro: "Damn, I can't say the word 'Nazi' without getting demonetized. How do I get around that?"
Intern: "Just bleep out the word?"
Atlas Pro: "I've got a better idea."

[Smd]

Thank you for this. This was very informative. When I clicked on the video, I expected it to be about plastic waste. I didn't realise there are barrels of nuclear and chemical waste all waiting to be released in to our waters.
What you said about how we treat danger caused by our own governments vs enemy governments is so true!

[SkateWeeb.]

Good lord Caelan, thanks for the enormous amount of research and work you put into your videos. Your videos are incredibly informative and well made. Lots of love from the Netherlands <3

[cameliamelillo]

Ahh yes! Those other team seas videos fell short... very short. Good initiative of course, but the lack of in-depth information about the source of trash in the ocean was quite upsetting. This is more like it!! Thank you!

[aidangorrell]

A friend gave me The Swarm as a gift a few years ago and it became one of my favorite books. It’s truly one of the best works of sci-fi ever

[Graffititude]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It is a very sad topic, but one I feel should be prioritized. I loved how you broke it down into categories!

[zachpalmer]

Don’t feel sorry that you feel the videos have been “depressing.” I’ve really loved the recent series because you do an excellent job at informing regular curious people how we create problems as a society and arm us with the knowledge to inform others to hopefully make a change. I’ve personally loved the purpose of the recent videos

[Slaking_]

Really is the cruel irony of all environmental activism. You can raise awareness, watch your own waste, protest, and donate as much as you want.

But if your government, and government's in other countries don't care enough to take action whatever you do won't make a noticeable impact.

[TheGeographyBible]

Man, humanity can really suck sometimes

[TheAnakinn]

The Swarm is one of my all time favorite books, so I'm glad it's known outside of Germany! It takes some time until the story progresses and has a lot of subplots, which can be exhausting at first but all the plots are designed to really make the reader think about so many things. So glad you used this book as inspiration for this great video!

[willyreeves]

most of the micro plastics that are in the oceans and water ways are from ... laundry. yup washing clothes made from nylon, acrylic, polyester, and every other manmade fiber. most of the remainder is fishing nets and lines broken down to very small pieces.