New exhibit outside nature museum dives deep into ocean plastic
Sandra Abma | CBC News | Posted: July 31, 2018 7:27 PM | Last Updated: July 31, 2018
Ocean Plastics Lab, created in Germany, on display outside Canadian Museum of Nature until Aug. 12
A travelling interactive exhibit now on display outside Ottawa's Canadian Museum of Nature lets attendees take a deep dive into the plastic waste threatening the world's oceans and marine life.
The Ocean Plastics Lab was created in Germany as part of a G7 Action Plan in the fight against marine pollution, and debuted in Italy in 2017.
It's housed in four shipping containers loaded with hands-on scientific equipment, interactive video players, and of course, lots and lots of plastic garbage — bottles, bags, toys and fishing equipment — found on beaches and dredged from the sea.
The travelling exhibition is free and designed to engage curious young minds about marine pollution. The lab has toured major capitals in Europe and the U.S., and will be on display in Ottawa until Aug. 12.
"This is about eight million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year," said Julia Schnetzer, a scientist with the project who estimates that a shipping container's worth of plastic is dumped into seas and oceans worldwide every two seconds.
The consequences are devastating for marine life and vegetation.
"When plastic bags are floating in the ocean, they look like jellyfish to turtles, and turtles eat them," said Schnetzer, adding that the turtles become sick and unable to dive, making them easy prey.
And Schnetzer said waves of plastic bags are ending up in the stomachs of whales, essentially starving them to death.
Much of the plastic is so small it's invisible to the human eye, and the long-term effects of fish and algae gobbling up the microplastic is still not known.
Schnetzer said children are often shocked by what they discover at the lab. She hopes that visiting the exhibition inspires them to reuse and recycle more, volunteer for clean-up operations, and perhaps pursue a career in finding solutions to the problem.