Plastic Debris in The Great Lakes-Austin Wallace

There is growing concern amongst scientists and ecologists about the dangerous levels of plastic concentration in the great lakes. While protecting our oceans from this threat is often more prevalent in the public eye, The ocean's are very large, and so don't suffer the same level of impact that the enclosed great lakes do. There is an estimated 9887 metric tons of plastic and micro plastic in the great lakes right now.

While the concern for our oceans is greatly justified, we can not neglect to take care of all our planets ecosystems, water or otherwise. It is unfortunate that this problem has become so overshadowed and dismissed in the way that it has, but we must work together to protect the unique ecosystems that exist in our great lakes.

This reminds me of how, during the oil boom, many people neglected the fact that it was doing irreparable damage to our ecosystems. That however was due to ignorance of facts that had not been discovered yet. These facts HAVE been discovered, so there is no longer an excuse to neglect this problem.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X1630981X