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Whale burps found on Lake Superior shore
If you're unclear on what a whale burp is, you're not the only one. Often misconstrued to be connected in some way to whales (and I wonder why that is... ), whale burps are actually purely environmental--no whales necessary. They don't look too unlike rubberband balls. Except they're made up of pine needles, bird shells, twigs, and other natural debris... as well as a disconcerting unnatural item: strands of plastic.It's believed that these bad news balls form when strands of plastic roll around with natural debris.
And they've formed and come to shore in Duluth, Minnesota.
A Lake Superior beach sweep in 2010 yielded thousands of pieces of plastic items. Volunteers collected the plethora of garbage, but there's clearly more where all of that came from. This particular plastic appears to be the kind often used in contruction, in silt fences, for example.
I spent a week this past summer on Lake Superior. After watching the sunset on those ostensibly sparkling clean shores so many nights in a row, it breaks my heart to know that the lake's pollution is now rolling up on the shores.
[Thanks, Treehugger]
[photo by Ben Britz]
Filed under: Activism, Learning, North America, United States, Ecotourism, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
stvbrgl Jan 22nd 2011 8:47PM
This stuff is everywhere. There's places in the ocean where currents keep piles of it together. All types of plastic. No one wants to clean it up til it comes on shore. We should start analyzing this stuff for various things. Bar codes, expiration date codes, whatever u can find, and use that to find out where it came from.
royacarpenter Jan 22nd 2011 8:47PM
I think this treehugger is really confused. It's kind of hard to watch sunsets on Lake Superior from Duluth, a city about as far West on the lake as you can get. In case the author hasn't figured it out, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Every day. Don't worry about anything washing up on the beaches in the near future. Mother Nature has solved that problem for the next few weeks. And if you believe in global warming you should go to Duluth. It's supposed to be 19 degrees below zero tonight, which is warm compared to 46 below in International Falls a couple of days ago.
Treehugger 1 Jan 22nd 2011 9:35PM
Mr. Carpenter -
Elizabeth Seward did not say she was in Deluth watching sunsets - she said she was watching on Lake Superior.
You could use some tree hugging and sunset watching to calm your inner person.
Wbischo Jan 22nd 2011 10:24PM
He didn't say he stayed in Duluth, he said he stayed on Lake Superior. The whale burps came ashore in Duluth.
Jimmy Jan 23rd 2011 1:58AM
But it's BECAUSE of global warming that we are experiencing these record low temperatures.
Elizabeth Jan 22nd 2011 9:10PM
Hey Royacarpenter,
Just to clarify, I spent a week this past summer on Lake Superior, the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P. of Michigan. The sunsets are beautiful up there.
sunny Jan 22nd 2011 9:10PM
How silly to quibble that the person did not see the sunset. You don't have to be in one spot to be able to see the sunset. Maybe they did not see the entire thing, but I'm sure you can still tell when it turns to dusk. lol.
Sternberg Jan 22nd 2011 9:19PM
The story is probably fiction, like a lot of those things are. These authors create distrust of the Environmental Movement every time they get found out.
vc Jan 22nd 2011 9:27PM
Well from Brockway Mountian in Copper Harbor you can watch both the sunrise and sunset from the same location and nothing but lake superior either way!
billdubya Jan 22nd 2011 9:36PM
Royacarpenter will grasp at any little thing to rationalize and justify his habit of throwing plastic trash in the lake.
Jim Jan 22nd 2011 9:45PM
Can you people read? Royacarpenter said, "Duluth, Minnesota, NOT Michigan or anywhere else. In the ocean, most plastic debris comes from land fills along the waters edge in inlets and bays. This I have seen. I'm Not an enviromentalist by no means, but everyone should try their best to recycle all things that can be recycled. It's just plain sensible. Most cities and towns pick up your recycled items and even if they don't, you should take them to the recycle center.It isn't that hard to do.
bren Jan 22nd 2011 10:13PM
Its not about the dam sunset ,its about plastic and trash washing ashore!!!
bren Jan 22nd 2011 10:14PM
damn!!!
Tomme Jan 22nd 2011 10:20PM
Lets put in a big pipeline and ship the water to the west where its needed. They dont need or use all that water there anyhow.
Toad Lips Jan 22nd 2011 10:43PM
No chance pal....you should have thought about how much water you would need out west before you let 30 million people live in a desert in CA
T.D. Jan 23rd 2011 12:21AM
You leave OUR water alone. It belongs to Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state. You westerners got to put up with what you do have, and quit wasting it.
qq4lbfm Jan 23rd 2011 1:58AM
Many years ago California decided that they needed the water from the Columbia River. They told (didn't ask) Oregon to take the necessary property under eminent domain so that they could build their aquaduct. Oregon told them to pound sand. All California cares about is California and they expect everybody else to care about them also. I wish they'd all stay in California instead of californicating the rest of the country.
Nicole Jan 23rd 2011 2:19AM
Says the people who don't actually know how many crops they eat are from Ca.
64c0dc00 Jan 22nd 2011 11:06PM
How convient for the nasty stuff to collect and stick together in one place...to me that would be an incentive to clean it up, it certanly wouldn't be very hard. Then it can be disposed of PROPERLY, and then waite a while for the next round of filth to colllect and clean that up...they probably took a couple of years to get like that, so for a couple of years it should look SO much cleaner. It would help if people would just STOP littering.
Aphidavis Jan 22nd 2011 11:16PM
They should outlaw whales along with sweet things and other delicious foods and guns and politicians who lie.