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#9 Final Infographic

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Civic Action Assessment of Issue

1. As a citizen of this country I know that I can continue to voice my opinion for passing laws to protect the ocean. Also I will continue to expand my knowledge of plastic pollution and recycle when I can.

2. I have learned that civic responsibility is important especially in our democracy today. I definitely care deeply about this problem because of what the ocean and marine life mean to my life, but at the same time I haven’t actually supported this cause so I need to act on this.

3. Yes I feel that the Pacific garbage patch is part of my obligation because I consume many plastic materials and could be more efficient with my resources as I am not using them in a sustainable way. I also feel like the government needs to care more about this issue because we cant hide it forever.

4. No unfortunately I have not volunteered yet as I felt there weren’t a lot of options that directly related to the plastic and trash in the ocean.

5. However I am planning on doing beach cleanups in the future and also plan on attending demonstrations or events that could potentially expand my knowledge of this issue.’

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Executive Action Assessment of of Issue

Trump

President Trump’s view on the pacific garbage patch was not directly addressed, however his stance on the environment is Americans have long been told that our country is running out of energy, but we now know that is wrong. America’s energy revolution has produced affordable, reliable energy for consumers along with stable, high-paying jobs for small businesses—all while dropping carbon emissions to their lowest level in 25 years. American energy policy must balance environmental protection with economic growth in order to encourage innovation, discovery, and prosperity. I kinda agree with his statement because I agree that the main issue is resource use. If we used our resources in a sustainable matter than we wouldn’t have as big of an issue.

The Department of the Interior

The Department of the Interior manages public lands and minerals, national parks, and wildlife refuges and upholds Federal trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and Native Alaskans. Additionally, Interior is responsible for endangered species conservation and other environmental conservation efforts. 

There mission is to conserve and manage the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people, provides scientific and other information about natural resources and natural hazards to address societal challenges and create opportunities for the American people, and honors the Nation’s trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities to help them prosper. Yes this does relate to my issue because the ocean is a public area that is in need of help.

Secretary of the Department

A fifth-generation Montanan and former U.S. Navy SEAL Commander, Ryan Zinke built one of the strongest track records in the 114th Congress on championing sportsmen’s access, conservation, regulatory relief, forest management, responsible energy development, and smart management of federal lands. It is hard to tell if he is suited for this job because his credentials are solid however the website talks about him being a Navy SEAL which proves he has great qualities, however it doesn’t really state much about his environment protection mentality.

The program that relates to the pacific garbage patch the most is the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. They focus on monitoring and improving the oceans. 

Review

While I found a little on my topic I was mostly disappointed as I feel like the plastic issue in our oceans just isn’t being looked at in more depth. While the problem is not easily visible the consequences still affect us and will have a tremendous negative impact if not looked at.

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Legislative Action

Desaulnier

As a former member of the California Air Resources Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Mark is a proud champion of policies that protect the environment and address climate change. He is a firm believer that strong and forward-looking energy and environmental policy is not the enemy of economic growth, but a key driver of growth, innovation, and competitiveness. Moreover, rigorous environmental enforcement and oversight is necessary to ensure proper protections of the health and well-being of all Californians.

Unfortunately I could not find any bills about the garbage patch but with his care for the environment I think there will be support in the future.

Harris

Kamala’s main mission is fighting for the rights of all communities in California. Since taking office, she has introduced and cosponsored legislation to raise wages for working people, reform the broken criminal justice system, make healthcare a right for all Americans, address the epidemic of substance abuse, support veterans and military families, and expand access to childcare for working parents. While all these are important topics she does not directly address the plastic issue that occurs in our oceans. 

Two bills that she cosponsored which aren’t directly about the garbage patch but do relate to protecting the waters.

S.31 Cosponsored  — West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2017 S.3481 Cosponsored  — A bill to amend the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to disclose certain activities relating to climate change, and for other purposes.

Feinstein

Senator Feinstein has a long history as a champion for the environment and a staunch supporter of programs to fight global warming. However the only two main concerns were global warming and environment. While she probably realizes the problem with the amount of plastic in the ocean, she doesn’t acknowledge it in her environmental page.

Her main contributions to the bodies of water in California

Lake Tahoe Restoration - Passed two bills to preserve and restore this treasured natural resource, a total of $715 million in federal funds to match investments by California, Nevada and local authorities. Negotiating public-private purchase of 16,500 acres of salt ponds along the San Francisco Bay - the largest such wetlands restoration project in California history.

Senate Bill 756

This bill is asking if NOAA and the president should take more aggressive actions to combat the marine debris in our oceans.Yes I do think the should be doing more because this is a serious problem but its not getting enough attention because its not easy to see. If a trash pile the size Texas was dropped on California, the people would make it a bigger deal.

Twitter 

One thing I found from twitter was a tweet by UN environment. They were talking about the plastic pollution in the water and how it affects the value of natural resources provided by the ocean. It posses a health risk to both human and marine life. This article is definitely focusing on those who care about the environment. This article was significant to me because I was thinking about the oceans natural resources that also are affected.

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State Action

Lawmakers 

Caterine Baker 

Baker believes that we have a responsibility to preserve and enhance our parks and open space, protect biodiversity, and keep our air and water clean. That’s why she voted to protect our open spaces, and voted to do our part in fighting climate change. She has supported banning the sale of products that use micro beads, which harm environmental systems such as water and sea life (AB 888). While there isn’t a specific statement about the garbage patch she seems very environmentally progressive.

Steve Glazer 

A lifelong environmental advocate, he led efforts that raised hundreds of millions of dollars to permanently protect open space in California and 25 other states. One of his governing principles is to incorporate environmental protection as part of every decision. However I could not find specific legislation that he has supported.

Bills

ACR 246, Calderon. World Oceans Day. 

This measure would recognize June 8 as World Oceans Day, and would declare that the Legislature intends to act decisively in 2018 in regard to passing legislation aimed at reducing plastic pollution in California rivers, beaches, and ocean, and would further declare that the State of California is determined to seek additional ways to curb plastic pollution on those waterways and beaches, and in other natural spaces and communities. This measure confused me as I wasn’t sure why it is only June 8th.

AB 888 The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 

This prohibits any person, in the course of doing business, from knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without giving a specified warning, or from discharging or releasing such a chemical into any source of drinking water, except as specified. This law prohibits a person from selling a plastic product in this state that is labeled with the term “compostable,” “home compostable,” or “marine degradable” unless, at the time of sale, the plastic product meets the applicable ASTM International standard specification. Yes I agree with this because the greatest problem in the pacific garbage patch is the micro plastic which can’t be seen but still impacts the environment. This addresses that issue and i’m glad to see support like from Catherine Baker.

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The 3 Ps Assessment: Parties, Political Interest Groups, and PACs

1. The Political Parties

Republican: There was nothing when I searched both “garbage patch” and “Pacific Garbage Patch”

Democrat: There wasn't a direct article on the Garbage Patch however they did state their main goals, “keep America’s public lands public, strengthen protections for our natural and cultural resources, increase access to parks and public lands for all Americans, protect native species and wildlife, and harness the immense economic and social potential of our public lands and waters”.

Libertarian: There was also nothing on the pacific garbage patch from the libertarian group.

Green: The Green Party surprised me the most as I felt they were the group who would definitely have something about the garbage patch, however there was nothing when I looked it up.

Peace and Freedom: Unfortunately there was also nothing on the issue on this website either. 

Overall I agree with the democrat party which is not surprising because I generally agree with their ideas. Also they value the wildlife and environment which definitely works with me.

2. National Interest Group

A. Ocean Champions

B. The first national organization of its kind focused solely on oceans and ocean wildlife.

C. Our goal is to develop a broad, bipartisan base of supporters from which to cultivate political champions for ocean conservation in the U.S. Congress and in key states. Ultimately, the aim is to create a political environment where protecting and restoring the oceans is a priority of federal and state governments.

D. This group endorses all laws intended to help the ocean and the marine life

E. Capitola California 

F. No from what I've researched there is no volunteer options as this group focuses more on creating a powerful political group.

G. Im overall impressed by the amount of legislation and laws this organization has helped pass with their influence. 

3. California Interest Group 

A. Clean Water Action California 

B. Clean Water Action is an organization of one million members working to empower people to take action to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and to make democracy work for all of us.

C. The Clean Water Action group puts a heavy emphasis on the differences that each and every member makes. They focus on rebuilding and making a direct change. Not only do they work on individual projects they also use political methods to make changes in the government. 

D. The Clean Water Action group does not specify on one 

E. Oakland California

F. Yes, there are volunteer opportunities as this group focuses a majority of its group on empowering the people so they realize they can actually make a change. 

G. Im most interested in this group having over a million people but still being in Oakland.

4.Compare

     When comparing the two websites they both do a great job, however since the Ocean Champions only focuses on making their organization bigger they don’t have a lot of extra moving parts. Compared to the Clean Water Actions group which wants to have a lot of community involvement. Overall the Ocean Champions has a more organized design.

5. PAC

A. Waste Management

B. The PAC contributions to Federal Candidates include $53,000 or 37 percent to the Democrats and $90,566 or 63 percent to the Republicans.

C. The Republican PAC’s were the groups given more compared to the Democrat PAC’s. After looking at Waste Management INC in more depth their data shows they’ve raised around $500,000 and spent less than $400,000. This PAC also does not have any debt.

D. This PAC also leans toward the Republican side as the contributions from this PAC to federal candidates is 54 percent Republican and 46 percent Democrats.

E. This past year there were nearly 300 donors of over $200. The highest donor was Dianne Mcsweeney, who donated $1,500.

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Constitutional Issues

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/467/752/#tab-opinion-1955627

1. The name of the case was Copperweld Corporation v. Independence Tube Corporation.

2.  This case was decided on June 19, 1984.

3. The Pittsburgh firm Copperweld and the Chicago firm Independence Tube were clashing. It held that a parent company is incapable of conspiring with its wholly owned subsidiary for purposes of the Sherman Act (sec 1). They couldn’t be considered separate economic entities. 

4.The decision was about the Sherman Act stating every contract combination in the form of trust or conspiracy, in restraint of trade among the several states is declared illegal.

5. This case challenged Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

6. After 6 months the decision was 5-3 for Copperweld Corporation.

7. This case was a major US antitrust law case about subsidies.

8. I’m very uninformed about economics and the weight that many decisions carry so my answer is not very strong. However I do agree with the Supreme Courts decision because Copperweld held that separate incorporation was not enough to render a parent and its subsidiary capable of conspiring.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/podcast/june14/mw126-garbagepatch.html

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Troy Kitch

In this article the author sits down with Dianna Parker of the NOAA marine debris program about what the pacific garbage patch really is. She starts off by explaining how the patch isn’t a patch that one might think of as easy to grab. Instead the trash is mostly made up of micro plastic

The audience is for those who are aware of the garbage patch but don’t know much about it. 

There is not much bias as the article presents mostly facts over opinion.

The significance in this article is about the difference that people can make as this issue spurs from our decisions and is very savable. 

I do agree with the majority of this article as I think this issue could be resolved if the mass amount of people truly wanted to. It starts with us and it could easily end with us.

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Media Assessment of Issue

1a. MSNBC https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/garbage-patch-clean-group-deploys-huge-device-collect-ocean-plastic-n907776

This article by MSNBC was a solution to clean up the garbage by Boyan Slat. He is a 24 year old innovator who founded the organization Ocean Cleanup. With his 35 million in donations his plan is to create a long floating boom of 2,000 ft. It will stay in the ocean for over 2 years and the group hopes to collect the majority of the trash. However this seems like a great plan, there are still concerns of how all the trash would be in this massive boom and not just around it. Also the trash problem wont stop unless we put an effort into educating our youth about the importance of the ecosystem. That is why I agree with the statement about how this massive boom could be a short solution but would it really be impactful if the entire ocean continues to gain immense amounts of trash.

1b. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/climate/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm

In this article by Livia Albeck-Ripka, she explains how the pacific garbage patch has actually over four to sixteen times bigger than what people originally assumed. The plastic and debris in the ocean has not only been dissolving into micro plastic-a plastic that has been disintegrate over the years in the ocean and now so small that are hard to see. While the plastic may not be visible compared to giant pieces of plastic the micro plastic is eaten by our fish and marine life; this plastic not only kill them but is also transferred into our food web. Another point this article talks about is that the ‘patch’ isn’t really a patch due to the plastic being spread around so much. This article has an audience for people who want to be informed on the truth of our garbage crisis, this article also doest present a lot of bias as it mostly gives facts. I agree that not enough people have been aware of this topic and it needs to be dealt with through a global scale.

1c. Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/09/08/massive-boom-hopes-to-corral-pacific-oceans-plastic-trash.html

Very similar to the MSNBC article this article from Fox news goes over the pacific garbage patch and its continuing problems that may be fixable due to the massive boom from the Ocean Cleanup organization. With both articles being written on the same topic and having the same source “ Associated Press’ there isn’t much difference as they both display the facts given and there isn’t much room for biases. This article also goes into depth about how the trash problem is so big that we bring in over 9 million tons of plastic annually so the long beam might be a great solution now theres still the constant flow.

2. Although being on different sides of the political spectrum, the MSNBC and the Fox New articles were very similar almost unable to tell which was which. Compared to the New York Times article which was strictly fact about the Pacific Garbage Patch and was presented to give the information it was definitely my favorite article. The other two were presenting only one side of the case and leaving it open for interpretation so it did not appeal as much.

3. I agree with all the articles on how the issue is much larger than just a one time solution and that there need to be steps taken beyond just direct clean up. As I feel the massive boom is a great idea, I also think there need to be more ways to make an influence on youth because they are the future and if they understand the gravity of this issue they can make a substantial difference.

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Conceptualizing the Issue and Assessing Types of Action

1. I chose the Pacific Garbage Patch because I've heard of the issue but I have never researched it enough to see what kind of impact I could have.

2. This is an issue because as of now there are over 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing over 80,000 tonnes. This plastic not only impacts marine life but also  other species including humans as garbage contaminates the entire food chain.

3. One step to improve this issue would be educating youth so they know what can be recycled compared to thrown away.

4. The groups I follow include: Plastic Ocean, the Ocean Cleanup, Plastic Pollutes, EcoWatch, Oceana. I followed these groups because in their bios they state how they are dedicated to protect the ocean and limit plastic contamination. One quote that stood out to me was  “Acetaldehyde in plastic bottles might migrate into the soda. The FDA regulates this kind of potential chemical contact”, this stood out to me because it shows that plastic not only affects our oceans but also ourselves.