The Environmental Edit Weekly

Good morning. Today is Tuesday, March 24^th, 2026. As the weather starts to warm up, we transition into spring and eventually summer. For spring break and summer break travelers have their hearts set on the beach and the ocean. While travelers enjoy the beautiful and refreshing characteristics of the ocean many neglect the reality of the cleanliness of our oceans. Human waste comes in many different forms from wrappers from your favorite snack to pill containers from your local retirement home. Today’s newsletter explores the waste within our worlds’ water and focuses on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Large buildup of waste can be found all over the world, however, no buildup pile is as big as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located between Hawaii and California and is so large that it is nearly impossible to obtain an exact measurement of its sheer size. While close to impossible to measure, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to cover 1.6 million square kilometers and is hundreds of feet deep! This area is twice the size of Texas and nearly three times the size of France. So, I guess you could say everything is bigger at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; false. The majority of the patch is made up of small plastics and materials that together make up its colossal size. Plastics, which make up most of the waste, do not biodegrade and instead, they photodegrade. This means that the plastic does not naturally decompose and instead it is decomposed by the sun. The process of photodegradation can take centuries, and little action has been taken to reduce the number of plastics outputted into industries. How does this affect the environment? By leading to water pollution and the disruption of marine ecosystems. Plastic and waste that is freely floating in our ocean’s waters can enter the habitats of marine organisms, who can mistake this plastic for food, suffocate, and die. Microplastics can enter systems within marine organisms and the microplastics can make their way up the food chain where humans may consume microplastics in the seafood that we eat. In other words, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch does impact you, significantly.

The US-Isreal war on Iran is impacting the environment in ways that the world is unaware of. While American news is justifiably preoccupied with rising gas prices and uncertainty of stocks during the war, the environment is suffering to a similar concerning extent. Conflict in the Middle East has already led to 5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted in the first few weeks of the war. Missile strikes, attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure, and other war strategies are collectively contributing to the acceleration of climate change. These greenhouse gases being emitted are trapping the sun’s heat in Earth’s atmosphere causing our planet to heat up. While I could go on and on about the effects of climate change- we’ll save that for another week.

How many pieces of microplastics (5 millimeters in length) does the average American eat per year?

A. 80,000

B. 28,000

C. 18,000

D. 50,000

Correct answer at the end of the newsletter!

This week’s tip is simple! Decrease your dependence on single-use plastics. Next time you go to the grocery store be sure to bring eco-friendly reusable bags to decrease plastic waste. Other ways may include recycling plastics properly and supporting the growth of the bioplastics industry- invest now, trust me. You could also regularly use silverware and glassware as alternative to plastic cups and plastic cutlery. While you may not think this will make a difference, if you share these tips with colleagues, together we can make a change.

It truly is time to ‘wrap up’ our dependence on plastic ‘wrappers’ and shift towards environmentally friendly alternatives. Well, that will do it for this week’s edition of The Environmental Edit. The answer was D. Make sure to share this with friends and family and as always, Tuesdays for a greener tomorrow!