Explora America del Norte Book

Rubber ducky, you're the one, you make science so much fun …

In 1992, a container ship en route from Asia to North America spilled 12 containers overboard ' including one containing 28,800 floating bathtub toys: yellow ducklings, green frogs, blue turtles and red beavers. "The most floatable of all floatable objects" -- made of plastic, not rubber -- were now adrift in the ocean currents. Tracking Trash uses this and a similar spill of Nike sneakers (which also float) to introduce the ecological problems of plastic debris and the vast ocean garbage patches. A second, interlinked problem is that of "ghost nets" ' giant abandoned fishing nets that continue to catch and kill sea creatures although no one is using them.

The book focuses on oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer and five other scientists/researchers who have worked on these problems with many volunteers, including children, playing important parts in data collection. It's a great book to educate and inspire middle grade and older children, with a serious and inspiring tone. It shows the importance of gathering accurate information to understand the problem, the importance of educating the public, the dedication of the scientists, and their creative problem-solving, some involving technology. The book is attractively designed and well-illustrated with photographs, maps and charts. Two of the photographs show animals that have died from ingesting plastic or being caught in a net ' and obviously the book's subject matter is disturbing, but I found the book well-balanced between the seriousness of the problems with the energy and care being exerted to solve them.

Note: Although this book (2007) states that "There is no organism anywhere on the planet that can digest plastic" in 2016 scientists discovered bacteria digesting plastic waste, and as of September 2018 (as published in Quanta) similar plastic-digesting bacteria were discovered to be thriving in the ocean's garbage patches, which have formed their own ecosystems. So this book might also be a great starting point for learning about evolution, ecosystems, and the continually changing nature of nature. It might also be good to discuss whether absolute negative statements are appropriate in science ' Wouldn't it have been more true to say: "We don't know of any organism right now that digests plastic?"

P.S. I learned (although not entirely from this book) that "flotsam" and "jetsam" are actually legal terms in marine law ... with definitions much too complicated to state here, but basically, flotsam is floating debris from a ship or its contents, and jetsam is material that was deliberately jettisoned (thrown overboard) from a ship, usually to lighten its load.