The Literature Haystack

When I decided to do my paper on plastic waste in New Zealand’s marine environment, I naively imagined I would be overwhelmed with the number of sources of research data and statistics on this global problem.  It features readily in popular science magazines, on the internet and in the global news.  The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is well publicised, as are images of trash littering the beaches and oceans, birds and marine life wrapped in rubbish, or graphic autopsy images showing the plastic waste in their stomachs that has caused them to starve to death.  Surely there is a lot of research to back this up?  

And so it was disappointing when researching this “popular” topic that reliable data sources on the questions I was wanting answered were few and far between – and in some cases absent altogether.  How much plastic waste was New Zealand producing, and how much was ending up in the sea?  What damage was this doing to our very special marine and birdlife?  What had New Zealand put in place to reduce the pollution problem and was it having any affect?

Frustratingly, while searching the resources through the Massey library, a lot of articles around the plastic waste issue were from 20-30 years ago – hardly constituting “current” data.  Looking at the reference lists on the few recent articles that I did find was useful – although interestingly the articles that these authors referenced in their research, were the same ones I had found from the 80s and 90s.

Avenue number two was the old fall-back to Google, many articles in the popular press exist on the subject and I hoped that some for these would give their references. The National Geographic website mentioned one large study happening by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, but it had yet to be finalised or published.  An article in the New Zealand Herald talked of a journal article which sounded perfect – only to find the Massey Library didn’t have free access.  And so the frustration increased, but with perseverance (and a couple of wines) I finally had a few articles to work from for part A.  

The last piece of my formidable detective work was to find the opposing side – part B of my quest.  But who opposes reducing pollution? Surely no-one.  But looking deeper, the question isn’t about not doing anything, but about doing more.  A possible view some people in New Zealand may have, is that as long as we recycle our rubbish we are indeed doing enough - and so I hunted - but that illusive article still hides from me stating what improvement recycling has made to the marine environment. 

What I started out thinking would be a nice orderly pile of journal articles to sort through, like logs evenly piled up (think Jenga), quickly become the veritable “needle in a haystack” that only Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher could tackle.  So now, with a slightly smaller stack of articles around me than at first expected, I sit down at last to write my first draft…

The Bucket List

Here we go…

Wow, my first blog.  I’ve always kind of cringed when my mother told me about hers and the ones she was reading.  I guess I always thought they were just for people bragging about their travel adventures or showcasing their latest knitting achievements.  I hadn’t really considered that they could be useful to the scientific or academic fields, however after listening to the lecturers from Stanford University explaining why writing is so useful in formulating ideas and delving into your thinking by putting a voice to all the data you accumulate, I can see now the usefulness.  As well as a means to communicate and collaborate with fellow scientists.

So why am I here? This is paper number five towards the thing at the top of my bucket list… my science degree.  Bucket list you say?  It’s not the usual reason people give for studying, but it has a long story behind it I won’t bore you with today.  Let’s just say, it is something I never got to do when younger and has been an ongoing upset that it had yet to be achieved.  But yes, I do have all those other cliché reasons; it’s time for a change in career, I want to better myself, I want to learn new things, and I want to help society.

At the end of my university journey I hope to be working in the water treatment industry, providing safe drinking water for communities around the world.  Water is our most precious resource needed for drinking, cooking and sanitation, and one that for many reasons; climate change, pollution, poverty, geographic location, war; is not readily available to all.  To this end I’m working on a Bachelor of Science while still working full time, focusing on environmental science, and perhaps civil engineering at a later date.  

I tend to have always worked alone, which I why distance study works well for me, so this paper will be a challenge with the group assignment.  The most useful skill I will gain in this paper however is learning to collaborate with others which will be necessary when working on projects, potentially overseas, in my chosen field.  Though I can write well (personal opinion?), my reading skills need a little work, so I’m looking forward to learning how to effectively read reference material, find the relevant information and consolidate it. 

So let’s get started…