The Bookshelf: May 17, 2017

Trib+Water is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of water studies. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.  

JUNK RAFT: An Ocean Voyage and a Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution

by Marcus Eriksen

A naturalist and environmental activist chronicles his 2008 ocean journey to draw attention to the blight of plastic waste in the world’s oceans. Accompanied by a fellow activist and sailor, Eriksen sailed from Los Angeles to Hawaii on the Junk, “a raft made from plastic bottles, with thirty old sailboat masts for a deck and a Cessna 310 airplane as a cabin.” The author sought to attract attention to this growing problem by imitating the path taken by trash routinely dumped into the ocean, where it is “shredded and pulverized” into microplastics. Eaten by unwitting birds and fish who mistake it for nourishment, it enters the food chain with disastrous consequences, which the author describes graphically.

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.