The Coming Tsunami of Trash

Oceans provide food, transportation and beauty – and a place to hide trash. Yet the trash is more obvious, particularly plastic, which takes more than a century to degrade and piles up as small islands in some parts of the world. Ocean pollution exemplifies the “tragedy of the commons,” when a public resource gets abused by many and protected by none. The 1994 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea prohibits abuse, but enforcement is minimal. Privatization – or establishing property ownership – should create incentives for protection, according to columnist Niall Ferguson, yet most pollution occurs just offshore, in waters controlled by nations. Ferguson urges a decrease in the use of plastic, particularly for unnecessary packaging. Referring to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The City in the Sea, Ferguson suggests that human disregard for the environment will lead to hellish conditions in the future. – YaleGlobal