Boyan Slat was born in the Netherlands in 1994. He was interested in Science and Engineering from a young age. When he was 14, he (along with help from some Delft University of Technology students) launched 213 water rockets.
Adidas is one of the biggest names in the sports shoe business. What isn’t as well known is that they are also very committed to reducing the amount of plastics consumed.
Human beings use a lot of plastic. Plastic is cheap and convenient and can be used in almost everything. This plastic addiction has led to big problems for the environment, especially the oceans.
By now, we all know that plastic is bad for the environment. Besides the damage to marine life who mistake it for food, the chemicals that can be released into soil and groundwater (and then move up the food chain), a new study shows that when plastics are exposed to sunlight, they release greenhouse gasses.
Plastic in the ocean is a problem. It’s no mystery that fish, seabirds, and turtles all eat it, and often become ill or even die. Coral also eats it, but the mystery is why they do so. For a long time, scientists thought that coral ate anything they could reach, but new studies have found that coral might prefer plastic.
What’s the biggest obstacle to cleaning up our oceans? It might be the sheer volume of the job. Scientists say that there are 269,000 tons of plastic debris floating on the surfaces of the
world’s oceans.
