Giant garbage patch floating in Pacific
October 22nd, 2007An enormous island of trash twice the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii.
Chris Parry with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco said the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has been growing a brisk rate since the 1950s, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
The trash stew is 80 percent plastic and weighs more than 3.5 million tons.
"At this point, cleaning it up isn't an option," Parry said. "It's just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues."
Parry said using canvas bags to cart groceries instead of using plastic bags is a good first step to reducing reliance on plastics, the newspaper said.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Apr 23, 2009 |
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Sorry, not buying it. Let's see more supporting data. If this was for real enviro activists would've long since blown the whistle...
Let's get all thet plastic and convert it back into petroleum so we can afford to heat our homes and drive our vehicles again!
I am definately dubious.
Perhaps they need to elaborate on it a little more, otherwise it sure sounds a bit strange.
ha ha, GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out!
http://www.latime...ll.story
Wants to take credit for the garbage patch.
So I did a search with google maps, starting in California, and moving towards Hawaii, with satellite image view, at closest possible magnification. I found it, right where they said it would be. My coordinates for the trash "island" for google maps are 33.394759,-124.969482 plug these in and you can see it...looks more like a mass of floating trash than a real island, and appears to be about 2 or 3 miles in diameter, not the "2 times the size of Texas", but still very worrisome. It's really not surprising since it is a known occurence that cruise ships and container ships regularly dump their trash and sewage in the open ocean.
I agree there needs to an effort made to clean this up.
Remember, people used to believe the earth was flat. This is a serious problem with the ecological health of the Pacific ocean and needs to be taken seriously. Check out the LA Times from July 2006 for a comprehensive look at the problem. This is not propoganda to get us to stop using plastic: this is a VERY serious problem that is a direct result of our shameful conspicuous consumption of products that are detrimental to our environment. Unfortunately, we are being held "over a barrel"- of oil, that is.
And if you don't believe that, just go and try to purchase anything that isn't packaged in plastic.
So the next time you complain about high gas prices or global warming remember: everytime you
waste petroleum or a petroleum based product (like: throwing a plastic garbage bag away instead of recycling it) you are only contributing to higher gasoline prices and the degradation of our enviroment. Mother nature is not happy, and she's letting us know in the only way she knows how.
1. check out the videos on youtube. search garbage patch pacific ocean
2. The reason the garbage is concentrated in one area is due to the ocean currents that draw all the plastics and keep them in this huge circulating gyre.
3. You can see videos online for "evidence," but it is difficult to see satelite images due to the size of the garbage that floats just beneath the surface... if you watch the video you will understand. It is difficult to see from a distance and much of the plastic has been broken down to small pieces and looks like plankton which is a concern for the sea life.
4. To those who are skeptic because they have not seen this mentioned in the mainstream media, I have seen it mentioned on the Colbert Report.
1. check out the videos on youtube. search garbage patch pacific ocean
2. The reason the garbage is concentrated in one area is due to the ocean currents that draw all the plastics and keep them in this huge circulating gyre.
3. You can see videos online for "evidence," but it is difficult to see satelite images due to the size of the garbage that floats just beneath the surface... if you watch the video you will understand. It is difficult to see from a distance and much of the plastic has been broken down to small pieces and looks like plankton which is a concern for the sea life.
4. To those who are skeptic because they have not seen this mentioned in the mainstream media, I have seen it mentioned on the Colbert Report.
http://hubpages.c...e-Patch-
http://hubpages.c...e-Patch-