New exhibit outside nature museum dives deep into ocean plastic

A travellinginteractive exhibit now on displayoutside Ottawa's Canadian Museum of Nature lets attendees take a deep diveinto the plastic wastethreateningthe world's oceans and marine life.

The OceanPlastics Lab wascreated in Germany as part of aG7 Action Plan in the fight against marine pollution, and debuted in Italy in 2017.

It's housed infour shipping containersloaded with hands-on scientific equipment,interactive video players, and of course,lots and lots of plastic garbagebottles, bags, toys and fishing equipmentfoundon beaches anddredged from the sea.

Thetravelling exhibition isfree and designed to engagecuriousyoung minds about marine pollution. The lab has toured major capitals in Europe and the U.S., and will be on display in Ottawa until Aug. 12.

"Thisis about eight million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year," said JuliaSchnetzer, a scientist with the projectwho estimates that a shipping container's worth of plastic is dumped into seas and oceans worldwideevery two seconds.

The consequences are devastating for marine life and vegetation.

New exhibit outside nature museum dives deep into ocean plastic

8 years ago

Duration 0:40

The Ocean Plastics Lab, created in Germany, is on display outside Canadian Museum of Nature until Aug. 12.

"When plastic bags are floating in the ocean, they look like jellyfish to turtles, and turtles eat them," said Schnetzer, adding that the turtles become sick and unable to dive, making them easy prey.

And Schnetzer saidwaves of plastic bags are ending up in the stomachs of whales,essentially starving them to death.

Much of the plastic is so small it's invisible to the human eye,and the long-term effects offish and algae gobbling up the microplastic is still not known.

Schnetzer said childrenare often shocked by what they discover at the lab. She hopes that visiting the exhibition inspires them to reuse and recycle more, volunteer for clean-up operations, andperhaps pursue a career in finding solutions to the problem.