Teenager finds ‘holy grail’ Lego octopus from 1997 spill off Cornwall coast

[AlexB23]

Plastic can last a long time in the ocean. A container fell off of a ship almost 30 years ago, containing thousands of Lego pieces. But, on the bright side, people can recover the plastic from the ocean. Here is the article link: Teenager finds ‘holy grail’ Lego octopus from 1997 spill off Cornwall coast

Short summary of the open-access article by The Guardian (<20% in length, for fair usage reasons):

A 13-year-old boy, Liutauras Cemolonskas (cool name by the way), along with his family, have discovered a rare Lego octopus on a beach in Cornwall, England. This octopus is one of nearly 5 million Lego pieces that spilled into the sea from a cargo ship in late 1997 during a storm. Approximately 352,000 flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords also went overboard. The octopuses are particularly prized as only 4,200 were onboard the ship. Liutauras and his family have been collecting these Lego pieces for two years, alongside numerous fossils, and had been searching for this elusive find. Tracey Williams, a beachcomber, started the Lego Lost at Sea project to help locate these plastic pieces and has discovered two octopuses so far. She believes that recent high tides and strong winds have helped unearth more Legos from the shore. The family's discovery has sparked Liutauras' interest in finding one of the 33,941 dragons that also went missing. Beachcombing for Legos began as a fun activity but has opened Liutauras' eyes to the vast amount of plastic in the ocean.

 

[DaisyDay]

I didn’t know that Lego even made octopi. Learned something new today!

 

[AlexB23]

I didn’t know that Lego even made octopi. Learned something new today!

Me neither. Lego probably makes everything, it seems.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

I didn’t know that Lego even made octopi. Learned something new today!

I have several of them from sets I got as a kid in the '90s. None of them came off a sunken ship though.

 

[AlexB23]

I have several of them from sets I got as a kid in the '90s. None of them came off a sunken ship though.

That is pretty cool that you had a Lego set a while ago. I was not into Legos until 2011 or so, cos my former friend never shared his, and he was a spoiled jerk, so my brain automatically connected Legos to that bad experience that I had in the 2000s. Glad my parents and I broke up friendship with that guy. He was into geology also (had his own agate polishing machine), and he wanted to take a bunch of rocks out of the landscaped yard at my parents' old house in Minnesota. Yeah, the rocks were only a few cents a piece, but him hiding them showed his character. My former friend's father was a bit of a racist, and made a comment about my skin color when I said that my favorite color was brown cos chocolate is delicious. That is when the friendship ended (2009 or so), and my parents broke contact with these folks. I will pray that God forgives Jared and his father.

 

[DaisyDay]

That is pretty cool that you had a Lego set a while ago. I was not into Legos until 2011 or so, cos my former friend never shared his, and he was a spoiled jerk, so my brain automatically connected Legos to that bad experience that I had in the 2000s. Glad my parents and I broke up friendship with that guy. He was into geology also (had his own agate polishing machine), and he wanted to take a bunch of rocks out of the landscaped yard at my parents' old house in Minnesota. Yeah, the rocks were only a few cents a piece, but him hiding them showed his character. My former friend's father was a bit of a racist, and made a comment about my skin color when I said that my favorite color was brown cos chocolate is delicious. That is when the friendship ended (2009 or so), and my parents broke contact with these folks. I will pray that God forgives Jared and his father.

Some people who were jerks as kids do grow out of it. Here's hoping...

 

[AlexB23]

Some people who were jerks as kids do grow out of it. Here's hoping...

Hopefully, but I live far from him now.

 

[IceJad]

Plastic can last a long time in the ocean. A container fell off of a ship almost 30 years ago, containing thousands of Lego pieces. But, on the bright side, people can recover the plastic from the ocean. Here is the article link: Teenager finds ‘holy grail’ Lego octopus from 1997 spill off Cornwall coast

Short summary of the open-access article by The Guardian (<20% in length, for fair usage reasons):

A 13-year-old boy, Liutauras Cemolonskas (cool name by the way), along with his family, have discovered a rare Lego octopus on a beach in Cornwall, England. This octopus is one of nearly 5 million Lego pieces that spilled into the sea from a cargo ship in late 1997 during a storm. Approximately 352,000 flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords also went overboard. The octopuses are particularly prized as only 4,200 were onboard the ship. Liutauras and his family have been collecting these Lego pieces for two years, alongside numerous fossils, and had been searching for this elusive find. Tracey Williams, a beachcomber, started the Lego Lost at Sea project to help locate these plastic pieces and has discovered two octopuses so far. She believes that recent high tides and strong winds have helped unearth more Legos from the shore. The family's discovery has sparked Liutauras' interest in finding one of the 33,941 dragons that also went missing. Beachcombing for Legos began as a fun activity but has opened Liutauras' eyes to the vast amount of plastic in the ocean.

Man Lego brings back memories. It's nice he found a rare piece but all that is going on in my mind when reading is microplastics. Small pieces breaking off and eaten by marine life. Then the plastic get stuck in the fishes which we in turn eat and hey presto we just poisoned ourselves indirectly.

 

[AlexB23]

Man Lego brings back memories. It's nice he found a rare piece but all that is going on in my mind when reading is microplastics. Small pieces breaking off and eaten by marine life. Then the plastic get stuck in the fishes which we in turn eat and hey presto we just poisoned ourselves indirectly.

Lego bricks are awesome. Microplastics is an issue where we defiled the Earth forever. There is nothing we can do about microplastics, except reduce our plastic usage, and make sure plastic does not end up in the oceans.

 

[IceJad]

Lego bricks are awesome. Microplastics is an issue where we defiled the Earth forever. There is nothing we can do about microplastics, except reduce our plastic usage, and make sure plastic does not end up in the oceans.

Yes that's a big WE. The world is not going to care as long as there is money to be made and the poor to be exploited. The sad reality of things. But hey at least there is one less plastic octopus in the ocean now.

 

[AlexB23]

Yes that's a big WE. The world is not going to care as long as there is money to be made and the poor to be exploited. The sad reality of things. But hey at least there is one less plastic octopus in the ocean now.

Woo, one less plastic octopus in the sea. But yeah, we need a reduction in plastic before 2050. The poor will always be exploited, and late-stage capitalism is relentless, cos we live in a fallen world.

My post on potential plastic reduction agreement: Countries consider pact to reduce plastic production by 40% in 15 years

 

[Pommer]

Some people who were jerks as kids do grow out of it. Here's hoping...

Oh, in many ways, I haven’t, and am generally “okay” with most of it.

 

[AlexB23]

Oh, in many ways, I haven’t, and am generally “okay” with most of it.

Well, as long as your are nice to others, and apologize, then that is okay. I can be quick to judge sometimes.

 

[DaisyDay]

One reason why plastics don’t degrade in the ocean is because they are protected from the UV light. Styrofoam encased in cement stays good for a very very long time.

 

[RileyG]

One reason why plastics don’t degrade in the ocean is because they are protected from the UV light. Styrofoam encased in cement stays good for a very very long time.

Interesting.

 

[RileyG]

It’s horrifying to think about how many plastic is in the ocean. The fish eat it, and we eat the fish which gets into our bodies. Wonder what the long term effects are.

 

[SimplyMe]

It’s horrifying to think about how many plastic is in the ocean. The fish eat it, and we eat the fish which gets into our bodies. Wonder what the long term effects are.

It is even worst than that, as we are now finding micro-plastics pretty much everywhere now. This includes in rivers and lakes, which is both used to water livestock which later will be eaten, not to mention even into various plants that are used as either feed for animals or for humans. For example, microplastics have been found in honey and beer -- places you wouldn't expect to find microplastics.

Granted, the issue is still the worst in the oceans (to include microplastics are now common in sea salt) but they exist pretty much everywhere now, with most humans having some amount of microplastics in their body (something like 88% of all people).

 

[RileyG]

It is even worst than that, as we are now finding micro-plastics pretty much everywhere now. This includes in rivers and lakes, which is both used to water livestock which later will be eaten, not to mention even into various plants that are used as either feed for animals or for humans. For example, microplastics have been found in honey and beer -- places you wouldn't expect to find microplastics.

Granted, the issue is still the worst in the oceans (to include microplastics are now common in sea salt) but they exist pretty much everywhere now, with most humans having some amount of microplastics in their body (something like 88% of all people).

Yikes! That's a scary thought. I'm not entirely knowledgable so I wonder how long these micro plastics last in a human body.

 

[AlexB23]

We got to use water filters that can remove microplastics.