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The thought of all of those containers (containing who knows what) falling into the ocean feels so gross from a pollution standpoint.

Batteries, harsh chemicals - just dissolving into the sea water. Bleh

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It's even worse when they fall off close to shore. Last year a small number of containers (around 5 I think) fell off a ship not far north of the Netherlands, close to a very vulnerable and quite rare ecosystem of small islands and tidal plates that are partially submerged during high tide. It's a home for all kinds sea life, birds, a resting area for migrating birds, etc. Some of these containers apparently had stuff like small plastic beads in them, hundreds of thousands of them, which somehow escaped from the container and washed down on the shore. You can imagine how impossible it is to ever clean this up, and what the risk is to wildlife...

I feel like caring about things like this and prioritizing care for the environment should be one of those few things we all can agree needs to be addressed immediately. Sadly, it isn’t.

That is some of the least bad stuff lost in the ocean.

Centuries of sewage. Sunken ships, including nuclear submarines. Unexploded bombs. Chemical weapons. Nuclear waste.

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