On October 13 Annapolis Green and Trash Free Maryland presented an interested crowd information on how much plastic is in the Bay and in the oceans. Bottom line: A lot and it's not good.

The big problem is not so much what you can see -- discarded bottles, plastic bags, etc., it's what's very small or microscopic because marine life mistakes it for food.

Our speakers included Julie Lawson of Trash Free Maryland whose two-week Trash Trawl this summer found plastic in all 60 samples collected throughout the Maryland portion of the Bay.

We also heard from Maryland Delegate Clarence Lam, who is also a medical doctor. Stiv Wilson of the Story of Stuff Project discussed microbeads and California's and Maryland's legislation to stop the sale of products containing this senseless and dangerous project. Click here to see a great video about this.


We invited long-distance ocean sailors Dee Smith and Matt Rutherford to talk about their own experiences with plastic debris in the ocean.

Dee said that in his 35 years of ocean racing he has seen the degree of marine debris grow exponentially. During his most-recent Trans-Pac race this summer (from California to Hawaii), almost all the boats had to stop and remove plastic from their keels and there were collisions with debris from the Japanese tsunami. Many of the Trans-Pac boats, as they return to the mainland, are conducting surveys of the marine debris. | read more

Matt Rutherford, who just returned from a discussed his findings during debris surveys of the Pacific and Atlantic as part of his Ocean Research Project. His most telling quote about plastic being ingested by marine life was this: "We are eating our trash." Matt made an passionate plea for all of us to do our part to reduce the use of plastic so that it does not end up in our waterways.

We were pleased to bring this topic to the attention of the Annapolis community.