You’re eating thousands of pieces of plastic every year. Yes, we know, we’re coming across as horrible whiners (or perhaps prophets of doom and gloom) this morning, but: It is sadly rare that CNN succeeds in making us think. But a CNN report (video and accompanying text) from Midway Island — who some among you will recall from the epic Second World War battle that took place there — has us wondering how difficult it would really be to remember not to lose a non-recyclable coffee mug, just for starters. “Standing on the island’s remote shoreline brings a calm and humility — until you look down at your feet. On the beach lies a motorcycle helmet, a mannequin’s head, an umbrella handle, and a flip-flop. They didn’t fall from a plane or off a ship, and there aren’t any civilians living here who could have left them behind. They were washed in with the tide, most likely from China or the US, thousands of miles away — part of an enormous plastic garbage patch, spinning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which you probably contribute to. And these are just the bits of it we can see.” Wait ‘til you get to the part that tells you how much plastic you’re eating every year if you eat shellfish. Read: Plastic island: How our trash is destroying paradise.