Blue Planet II’s latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a disastrous effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.

Though it seems now that the world couldn’t possibly function without plastics, consumer plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s;   the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.

We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don’t really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

And it’s not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning to the same degree as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don’t have to remake our planet energy system.

This is not a problem where we don’t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag----when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.

In recent years, car manufacturers (制造商) have been put under pressure to invent a vehicle that is both cheaper to run and better for the environment.

One of the first ideas that car manufacturers tried was to replace engines which run on fossil (石化) fuels with electric motors. Unfortunately, these vehicles had several disadvantages and they didn’t sell very well. The problems were that the batteries of these electric cars ran out very quickly and took a long time to recharge.

However, car manufacturers have improved the concept. This is where the hybrid car, which has both an electric motor and a traditional petrol engine, comes in. The electric motor never needs to be recharged and it is much better for the planet than a traditional car.

In a hybrid car, the engine is controlled by a computer which determines whether the car runs on petrol, electricity, or both. When the car needs maximum power, for example, if it is accelerating or climbing a steep hill, it uses all of its resources (资源), but at steady speeds it runs only on petrol. When slowing down or breaking, the electric motor recharges its batteries.

Hybrid cars are better for the environment because they have a much smaller engine than a traditional car. Also, hybrid cars on the market are made using materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber, which makes them extremely light. Both of them mean that they use less petrol than normal cars, so they produce less pollution.

Of course, hybrid cars aren’t perfect; they still run on fossil fuel and so pollute the environment to a certain degree. However, they may be the first step along the road to cleaner, ‘greener’ cars. Car manufacturers are already working on vehicles which run on hydrogen giving off harmless water vapor. It looks like we might be heading in the right direction.

Only 366 North Atlantic right whales are left, representing a shocking 8% decline in a single year and the lowest number in about 20 years for this famous species. Human impacts—specifically fishing nets and ship strikes —remain the biggest threats to the survival of this species in eastern Canada and the United States.

North Atlantic right whales have been in decline since 2011 when the species was at an estimated 481. In the past decade, it has decreased by 30%. Recent research shows these threats are affecting their overall health with less energy to devote toward growth and reproduction (繁殖), and body lengths reducing over the past four decades. Researchers estimate there are fewer than 100 breeding (繁育的) females alive and more than 86% of identified whales had been entangled (被网困住) at least once in their lifetime.

There is still hope: in 2021, scientists tracked 18 mother-kid pairs, a number that is cause for optimism—though still well below the annual average of 23 pairs from the previous decade.

Industry representatives, government agencies, and organizations, including WWF, gathered in October 2021 at the annual North Atlantic Right Whale Association meeting to discuss and arrange right whale conservation efforts in the US and Canada.

“It’s going to be challenging, but everyone involved in right whale conservation believes we can create an environment where right whales can bounce back,” said Chris Johnson, the global leader for WWF’s Protecting Whales and Dolphins initiative. “However, it’s going to take significant investment and the greatest urgency and commitment to create conditions where we prevent entanglements and collisions with ship in the whales’ critical habitats.”