Human Interest

His sequel to The Blue Planet will focus not only on the marvels of sea life but also the threats to it. The naturalist explains why plastic pollution, climate change and overpopulation are problems too urgent to be left to ecologists

In 1998 Charles Moore, an oceanographer, was sailing across the North Pacific when he made an unwelcome discovery.  “As I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic,” Moore wrote in Natural History magazine. 

The problem is staggering, and it'll get worse if we do nothing.

SOLUTIONS to the massive garbage “islands” floating off Thailand start at the individual level, but government policy and regulation is also needed, officials and environmentalists have said.

If tests of the 100m-long barrier that collects rubbish on the sea’s surface are successful, it could be deployed at a larger scale in the ‘great Pacific garbage patch’

Naturalist says experience making second series of BBC show revealed devastating threat posed to oceans by plastic

Behavioural evidence suggests marine organisms are not just ingesting microplastics by accident but actively seeking them out as food

Henderson Island, part of the Pitcairn group, is covered by 18 tonnes of plastic – the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world

The company says it's committed to recycling, but a new Greenpeace report says that's not enough.

Taiwanese firm Formosa Plastics that owns the plant says it will pay $500m towards clean up and compensation

A Plastic Ocean is an adventure documentary shot on more than 20 locations over the past 4 years. Explorers Craig Leeson and Tanya Streeter and a team o