With man-made toxins and materials remorselessly killing the planet, whether from burning fossil fuels or dumping pollutants in the air and water, there are few areas on Earth left where man's dirty footprint can't be found. Our damage can be seen even in the deepest point of the Earth's oceans, the Marianas Trench, a 35,849 foot deep chasm in the western Pacific, where a record-breaking deep dive found a plastic bag and candy wrappers.
Explorer Victor Vescovo spent several hours at the bottom of the trench where they found four new species of crustaceans:
"The team believes it has discovered four new species of prawn-like crustaceans called amphipods, saw a creature called a spoon worm 7,000m-down and a pink snailfish at 8,000m.
They also discovered brightly coloured rocky outcrops, possibly created by microbes on the seabed, and collected samples of rock from the seafloor."In a poignant note, the article says that researchers are looking at the tiny creatures brought up from the depths of the Trench to determine if they contain microplastics. They're just trying to survive and our casual reckless neglect as we go about our lives is poisoning them.
BONUS: Meanwhile, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are now the highest in human history.
(photo: World Wildlife Fund. Plastic debris floating in the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch)
