I only just heard about what is called "The Great Garbage Patch" this week. It's a massive floating dump in the Pacific made up of plastic that collects and malingers, growing daily and destroying sea life in its path.
It's the size of 2 Texases (some say 2 continental North Americas) as of now (2008). A heaving mass of junk stuck in the Pacific gyre, a system of currents that provide the right conditions to magnetise all of the plastic debris chucked into the Pacific from land and ships.
So how is it I have only heard about it now? I keep up on environmental news, I always read the NYTimes science sections, National Geographic, eco blogs - the types of publications that should be covering this type of thing.
After all, the great garbage patch is massive: physically, environmentally and symbolically.
And scientists have been studying it for years, so why the lack of coverage, and action to get rid of it?
Maybe because it's hidden - the parameters of the great garbage patch start about 750 miles off of US shores and inhabit chunks of the Pacific rarely traveled by non-cargo ships.
Maybe because it's insidious - much of the plastic that makes up the patch has been broken down into tiny fragments that look like plankton, thus coining a phrase used by many oceanographers that it is like a massive sea of plastic soup. The marine life actually thinks the plastic fragments are plankton and ingest them regularly - thus killing off many animals. And for those that survive, ensuring plastic works its way into our food chain.
It's a massive, awful reminder of just how problematic the proliferation of plastic is. And with an estimated 80% of the garbage patch waste coming from land (i.e. the US) and 20% coming from passing ships, it seems criminal that such dumping practices have not been caught and punished.
It's also another reminder that the only way plastic can ever have a safe and useful place is when it's recycled and reused. The minute it is disposed of, even in sensible ways, it becomes an environmental hazard either leaking chemicals into the ground or polluting our oceans on a scale that seems unfathomable.
Plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic food containers - they are a convenience, not a necessity, and have a huge environmental cost and health costs that are just now being understood.
More importantly, why is there no international body regulating massive, global problems like this? Can't we find a collective way to start to clean the mess up? Can't we prosecute and heavily fine ships that dump and land side dumpers? What's the point of governments if they don't deal with issues like this?
Learn more:
+ Alphabet Soup: A Look at Pollution in the Ocean (video part 1)
+ Alphabet Soup: A Look at Pollution in the Ocean (video part 2)
+ World's biggest garbage dump: plastic in the ocean (video)
+ Great garbage patch info site
+ The world's rubbish tip (in The Independent)
It's the size of 2 Texases (some say 2 continental North Americas) as of now (2008). A heaving mass of junk stuck in the Pacific gyre, a system of currents that provide the right conditions to magnetise all of the plastic debris chucked into the Pacific from land and ships.
So how is it I have only heard about it now? I keep up on environmental news, I always read the NYTimes science sections, National Geographic, eco blogs - the types of publications that should be covering this type of thing.
After all, the great garbage patch is massive: physically, environmentally and symbolically.
And scientists have been studying it for years, so why the lack of coverage, and action to get rid of it?
Maybe because it's hidden - the parameters of the great garbage patch start about 750 miles off of US shores and inhabit chunks of the Pacific rarely traveled by non-cargo ships.
Maybe because it's insidious - much of the plastic that makes up the patch has been broken down into tiny fragments that look like plankton, thus coining a phrase used by many oceanographers that it is like a massive sea of plastic soup. The marine life actually thinks the plastic fragments are plankton and ingest them regularly - thus killing off many animals. And for those that survive, ensuring plastic works its way into our food chain.
It's a massive, awful reminder of just how problematic the proliferation of plastic is. And with an estimated 80% of the garbage patch waste coming from land (i.e. the US) and 20% coming from passing ships, it seems criminal that such dumping practices have not been caught and punished.
It's also another reminder that the only way plastic can ever have a safe and useful place is when it's recycled and reused. The minute it is disposed of, even in sensible ways, it becomes an environmental hazard either leaking chemicals into the ground or polluting our oceans on a scale that seems unfathomable.
Plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic food containers - they are a convenience, not a necessity, and have a huge environmental cost and health costs that are just now being understood.
More importantly, why is there no international body regulating massive, global problems like this? Can't we find a collective way to start to clean the mess up? Can't we prosecute and heavily fine ships that dump and land side dumpers? What's the point of governments if they don't deal with issues like this?
Learn more:
+ Alphabet Soup: A Look at Pollution in the Ocean (video part 1)
+ Alphabet Soup: A Look at Pollution in the Ocean (video part 2)
+ World's biggest garbage dump: plastic in the ocean (video)
+ Great garbage patch info site
+ The world's rubbish tip (in The Independent)
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