Image courtesy of Greenpeace

The SF Chronicle reports this morning that many of those convenient plastic bags we use every day are somehow making their way to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, say to marine biologists.

According to the California Coastal Commission, the patch has been growing tenfold every decade since the 1950's, paralleling the rise of ocean debris worldwide.

After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the use of plastic grocery bags earlier this year with the problem of ocean debris in mind, a slew of state bills were written to limit bag production, said Sarah Christie, a legislative director with the California Coastal Commission. But many of the bills failed after meeting strong opposition from plastics industry lobbyists, she said, with dangerous consequences.

Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, says sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. The petroleum-based plastics take decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they can appear as feeding grounds."These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs," Chabot said. "It doesn't pass, and they literally starve to death."

Greenpeace researchers investigating what they called, "The Great Trash Vortex" wrote that the problem was much worse than they had anticipated. A Greenpeace report found that at least 267 marine species had suffered from some kind of ingestion or entanglement with marine debris.

Chabot said if environmentalists wanted to remove the ocean dump site, it would take a massive international effort that would cost billions of dollars, but that is unlikely, he added, because no one country is likely to step forward and claim the issue as its own responsibility. This is truly a growing global problem, but there are ways that we can help keep our trash from fouling the seas:

- Limit your use of plastics when possible. Plastic doesn't easily degrade and can kill sea life.

- Use a reusable bag when shopping. Throwaway bags can easily blow into the ocean.

- Take your trash with you when you leave the beach.