2025 Norway Sea Kayak Expedition
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The aim of the 2025 Norwegian Sea Kayak Expedition is two-fold: I will attempt to paddle the entire Norwegian coastline from its borders from Sweden to Russia, an appr. 2200 Miles journey, plus, I attempt to build the first-ever complete data-set of the state of the Norwegian coastal waters and beaches in regards to plastic pollution, by collecting data on microplastic pollution in both the water column and the littoral zone along my journey along the entire Norwegian coast.​
For this, I have teamed up with the Citizens-Science and Beach Clean-Up organization "Rydde", a department of the Norwegian Enviromenmental Agency, to collect and share the data and to actively assist in beach clean-up operations along the Norwegian coast.
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Micro-, Nanoplastics & Marine Littering
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A growing body of the 958 revieved papers of a scientific literature review about marine litter points to the imminent, life-threatening and irreversable impact of plastic marine litter on the health of both humans and marine life.​
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The existence of macro- (>1 mm), micro- (>1mm) and nanoplastics (>0.001 mm) are intertwined: The unsightly plastic bottle on the exposed pebble beach will soon be grinded down by wind-, wave energy and UV exposure to macro-, and then microplastic. The third and final evolutionary step of this plastic bottle, which the human eye interprets wrongly as the disappearance of the plastic bottle, is its transformation by the means of fragmentation into nanoplastic particles.
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From here, the nano- and microplastics find their way into the human body, predominatly through the food chain, e.g. by the way of eating seafood, and also through the lungs.
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“The revelation that the human body is full of microplastics is the
most dominant health and environmental stories of our time.”
Rick Smith, President Canadian Climate Institute
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Micro- and nanoplastics have now been found in human brains, human placentas, and are embedded in the fatty plaque that clings to the walls of our blood vessels, heightening the risk of a premature death by cancer and heart attack or stroke by factor 4,5 due to the inflammatory traits of microplastics.
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10 Facts about Microplastics (click on each point for source/paper)
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1. Appr. 10% of all litter ends up in the ocean.
2. Plastic litter is non-degradable
3. Lost fishing gear accounts for appr. 20% of marine litter
4. The first study about marine litter was published in 1978
5. 94 % of plastic litter ends up on the seafloor, 5% in the water column, 1 % floats on the surface
6. Both plastic production and plastic litter increased 7-fold between 2004 and 2007
9. Micro- and nanoplastics fragment into tiny pieces, and eventually merge with the soil and sand on beaches or the seafloor, making it impossible to separate and collect
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10. Microplastics have been found inside human cells, and transfer between cells during cell division
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Micro-Plastic and Marine Litter Information and Science Reviews:
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Overview/Literature Review Marine-based Micro-Plastic
Rydde, a both Citizens-Science and Clean-Up Tool (Norway)
How to minimize Exposure to Mircoplastics
​The Marketing Stunt of Plastic Recycling
"Fishing for Litter" Initiative
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© 2024, marcusdemuth.com
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