Learning English

Inspiring language learning since 1943

The story…

Britain’s lost Lego

Learn language related to…

the beach and the ocean

Need-to-know language…

wash up – be brought to land by the waters of the sea or a river

shoreline – coastline, area where land and water meet

off the coast – in the sea, away from the land

ocean currents – continuous movement of ocean water

tide – regular rise and fall of the sea

Answer this…

How long can plastic last in the ocean?

Transcript

Tracey Williams can spot a piece of Lego where others just see seaweed and sand. The pieces that wash up here tell a story that’s been unfolding in wave after wave for the past 25 years.

One piece became thousands. Flippers, boats, even sea rocks that were then colonised before washing ashore.

Some are common. This is the rarest. Tracey has seen just two green dragons in 25 years.

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
So, there were over 33,000 dragons on this ship.

Andrew Plant, BBC reporter
And presumably, along, you found most of the pieces along, along the shoreline yourself, but you've never found one of these.

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
I've never found a green dragon.

Andrew Plant, BBC reporter
Tell me about the green dragon.

Tracey Williams, beachcomber
So, back in '97 our next-door neighbour found one of the green dragons, and then this week a beach cleaner here in North Cornwall [England] found one so, and that's it – so, the green dragon.

Twenty-five years ago, this ship lost 62 containers 20 miles off the coast. One was full of five million pieces of Lego.

Where it washes up now has told scientists much about the ocean currents, but also about how plastic in our oceans can last not just for decades, but hundreds of years.

Claire Giner, 2 Minute Foundation
So, all of these bits here that are less than half a centimetre are considered a microplastic, and eventually these will break up into smaller and smaller pieces and become nanoplastic. We have no way of measuring how much is out there in the oceans and how much is coming in on every single tide. But if you ask anyone that looks at the beaches and looks at the microplastics, they will tell you just how many thousands of bits there are.

There is now a worldwide community using social media to map new finds.

Tracey has even written a book of what's been washed up.

Finding that first Lego brick, the start of her piecing together how plastic stays in our seas, and always hoping in the seaweed, somewhere, a green dragon will finally surface.

Did you get it?

How long can plastic last in the ocean?

Plastic can last in the ocean for hundreds of years.

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