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Mario Aguilera / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
SEAPLEX researchers encounter a large ghost net with tangled rope, net, plastic, and various biological organisms during a 2009 expedition in the Pacific gyre. Matt Durham (seen wearing a blue shirt) is pictured with Miriam Goldstein.
The amount of plastic trash in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased 100-fold during the past 40 years, causing "profound" changes to the marine environment, according to a new study.
Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego found that insects called "sea skaters" or "water striders" were using the trash as a place to lay their eggs in greater numbers than before.
In a paper published by the journal Biology Letters, researchers said this would have implications for other animals, the sea skaters' predators -- which include crabs -- and their food, which is mainly plankton and fish eggs.
The scientists also pointed to a previous Scripps study that found nine percent of fish had plastic waste in their stomachs.
The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- which is roughly the size of Texas -- was created by plastic waste that finds its way into the sea and is then swept into one area, the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone, by circulating ocean currents known as a gyre.
NOAA
This map shows the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone within the North Pacific Gyre.
The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition, known as SEAPLEX, traveled about 1,000 miles west of California in August 2009.
A statement on Scripps' website said the scientists had "documented an alarming amount of human-generated trash, mostly broken down bits of plastic the size of a fingernail floating across thousands of miles of open ocean."
Scripps graduate student Miriam Goldstein, SEAPLEX’s chief scientist, said that plastic had arrived in the ocean in such numbers in a "relatively short" period.
Dec. 29, 2007: NBC's Kerry Sanders reports on a huge mass of garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean that is killing marine life and growing larger each day.
"Plastic only became widespread in late '40s and early '50s, but now everyone uses it and over a 40-year range we've seen a dramatic increase in ocean plastic," she said. "Historically we have not been very good at stopping plastic from getting into the ocean so hopefully in the future we can do better."
Jim Leichter / Scripps Institution of Oceanogra
Researchers found fish larvae growing on pieces of plastic, such as the one above.
Sea skaters -- relatives of pond water skaters -- normally lay their eggs on flotsam such as seashells, seabird feathers, tar lumps and pumice. The sharp rise in plastic waste had led to an increase in egg densities in the gyre area, the study found.
"We're seeing changes in this marine insect that can be directly attributed to the plastic," Goldstein said in a statement.
She told BBC News that the addition of "hundreds of millions of hard surfaces" to the Pacific was "quite a profound change."
Samples taken by the scientists showed how marine life, such as small velella pictured above, lives alongside pieces of plastic.
"In the North Pacific, for example, there's no floating seaweed like there is in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic. And we know that the animals, the plants and the microbes that live on hard surfaces are different to the ones that live floating around in the water," she added.
A garbage patch has also been found in the Atlantic Ocean, lying a few hundreds miles off the North American coast from Cuba to Virginia.
Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who said he coined the phrase the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," told msnbc.com by phone that the only solution was to switch to using biodegradable plastic and let the plastic gradually disperse.
"We can't clean it up. It's just too big. You'd have to have the entire U.S. Navy out there, round the clock, continuously towing little nets. And it's produced so fast, they wouldn't be able to keep up," he said.
Ebbesmeyer said in 10,000 years scientists might find a layer of plastic in the ground and use this as evidence of "the plastic people."
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Study: Plastic in 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' increases 100-fold
- US charity's gift to UK troops: $2 million for 'sanctuary'
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- UK jails 9 members of sex gang who 'shared' teen girls
- Heathrow chaos: Travelers spend longer in line than on jets
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
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The amount of plastic trash in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased 100-fold during the past 40 years, causing "profound" changes to the marine environment, according to a new study.
I guess eventually hundreds of years from now our bodies will have to assimilate plastic as another element necessary in our bodies, just like minerals.
Plastic is here to stay, and even while it does many useful effects, it also has some real harmful ones. But we have survived millions of years, and have adapted. It remains to be seen what happens to future generations of animals and humans with "plastic" as a required health element.
"Plastic is here to stay."?? With so many alternative resources available to use, instead of plastic, I wonder if we can afford to make it.
M Johnson,
So many alternative resources available to use instead of plastic? Name three.
Before plastic, everything came in glass.
The difference between a conservative and a liberal is--a conservative accepts status quo and want no change, (see Revolutionary War.) The use of petroleum based products came about by innovation--as will it's replacement.
"Plastic is here to stay" - assuming that a human industrialized society as we know it is here to stay (and it isn't) AND assuming that WE are here to stay (unlikely on our current trajectory).
Industrialized society is expanding to formerly 3rd world nations, and increasing in others. These societies, especially China, are increasing oil demand at a time when oil deposits are being depleted (peak oil is here, NOW). Plastic products require fossil fuels for their production. Peak oil has already hit, and we will be forced to find alternatives for energy eventually. The chaos this is going to cause to established societies will be severe. Plastic manufacture will become more costly as the byproducts of the fuel industry begin to decrease due to decreasing economically feasible (extraction and refining cost money) petroleum deposits. As the Arabs say - "My grandfather rode a camel. My father drove a car. I ride in a plane. My son will ride a camel".
Plastic is also here to stay assuming we are here to stay. Eventually, not necessarily 100 years from now or 1000 years from now, but certainly within 1,000,000 years from now, the odds are very high against us, and most other species as we now know them, existing. Major extinction events happen. The dinosaurs werent the only creatures to experience sudden mass extinction. Think of meteor impacts like natures eraser for the planetary chalkboard.
Assuming we DO survive - we simply will not EVER evolve to a point where we as an organism utilize, much less require plastics as an essential component of life! Such evolution takes millions of years for single celled organisms to evolve. Complex organisms such as birds, mammals, fish, etc. Can not evolve such fundamental changes, because we do not reproduce at a rate like bacteria. Single celled organisms are where fundamental chemical evolutionary changes occur, and then those organisms carry those changes along as they evolve into multiple-celled organisms.
The fossil record indicates that Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa appx. 250,000 years ago. Assuming that on average, a new generation is created every sixteen years (a couple years beyond sexual maturity), that means that there have been approximately 15,700 generations of Homo sapiens since we first show up in the fossil records. Compare that to bacteria, that produce a new generation on average every 10 minutes. It takes bacteria approximately 3 to 4 months to create that many generations. Evolution happens very quickly in single celled organisms for this reason. Thats why we have new strains of flu to contend with every year. Because of the evolution rate.
Long story short, complex organisms existing NOW can not evolve to utilize plastics in biological metabolism. Complex organisms can evolve to slow environmental changes such as temperature, food types and availability, etc. But not to extreme and rapid changes in the environment.
Plastics are not a natural part of the environment and require labor and resources to create. Once man no longer has the capability to create plastics, or man is reduced in numbers sufficient enough to make extraction and organization of these resources not possible, plastics will go bye bye. Our current way of life is not sustainable long-term (and I am talking about more than 100 years). I personally wish I could be around long enough to see civilizations return to pottery and glass, unbleached paper and string, locally made, and burlap sacks.
Looks like all that plastic is creating a lot of additional habitat. I think George Carlin expressed it best:
Only if people just recycled..... Or bought glass only products..... or aluminum products.....
StrengthIn Numbers - You don't know what your talking about. You are just regurgating the liberalist propaganda. Stop abusing the keyboard.
LOL, The picture's caption says "Matt Durham (seen wearing a blue shirt) is pictured with Miriam Goldstein."
Look at the picture closely, Who's wearing the Blue shirt?
Appears that all three people are wearing a blue shirt,2 the same exact color and the other wearing a Dark Blue shirt....................RLOL
Some biologists have that these floating plastic islands kill larger marine life while allowing others to become prolific; some of the prolific have the potential to become disease carrying mutators. Some of the elder garbage dumps inland have some forms of bacteria that have become adept at eating away at plastic, allbeit slowly and not known to accomodate sea water.... yet. Some of the problem may care for itself, but it's going to take time and none know the outcome of what will proliferate at the cost of others.
What's certain is that this has been a known, ongoing problem for decades; I still remember when pictures of the first plastic island surfaced and was as large as a yacht, people proving they could walk on it. In all probability it couldn't be avoided as even without dumping storm surges and other happenstances would've dredged out plastic garbage as well as it would take the cooperation of all nations to not dump any into the ocean... nations still can't agree on not killing whales, much less any else.
Transformation is always in progress but this is one that is directly linked, no questions about it, to mans activities. Now we've to wait and see what the fall out is..... . There are some bizzare links on this; look up the man who lived on a plastic island for months, etc.. . The implications are all across the board.
Blake big business doesn't WANT us to recycle. Individuals have to find their own way to do so. If recycling were WANTED there would be a deposit on EACH and EVERY container sold from mayonnaise to motor oil.
We haven't even gotten that far with aluminum cans and bottles.
In the end, after we extinct ourselves, there will still be life on the planet even if it is limited to bacteria, viruses, pigeons, rats and roaches. [sigh]
the words of a song go something like this.....
Industrial Revolution nobody wins, Industrial Revolution brought nothin but sin, Industrial Revolution we're in for a fall, Industrial Revolution is killin us all......
Wake up folks even the dumbest of animals don't shyt in their own nest.
denver
Glass, wood, metal, paper, cardboard and fabric to name a few.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6833227_environmentally-friendly-plastic-alternatives.html
Why not go out there, scoop it up and recycle it?
Wow, wendy breeze - thats pretty scary when scientific fact is called "liberal propaganda" I weep for my country if there are too many numbskulls like you. I suppose you would prefer to believe the sun revolves around the earth as well. I guess Gallileo was a liberal spouting propaganda back in the day. Not that I am in the same genre as Gallileo - but I suspect you think anyone who places any kind of weight in the value of scientific thought is a leftist! Sad sad days indeed...
Wendy Breeze, you wrote:
Enlighten us with your conservatist knowledge, O Wise One. Refute ONE point made by Strength in Numbers. Just one!
Willowbrook, you wrote:
Who will finance this effort? Government or daring venture capitalists like Bain Capital?
Relatives of modern man have been around much more than 250k years. All of us currently living have eaten particles of plastic that's perhaps caused more appendix removals but generally is just passed; it's not ever going to be included on the 'can use this' list biologically for animals or mammals, nor fish, etc... . There's only a rare few bacteria that digest it, same as there's rare species that live and feed off iron, oceanic volcanism, and the like.
What's termed 'going green' may work if it's mandatory to seperate your trash, thus recycling plastic. However, this also requires fossil fuels as it's catchy to say 'go green' but the same aren't invested in it, nor is it $$ feaseable. Instead of doing what Brazil has with corn, for me to 'go green' driving means investing 20+K$$ in a car, double that for solar panels for my home, and since I'm not a celebrity and the same that haven't invested in greener, cleaner technologies have sold out my and others jobs to overseas, 3rd world wage earners, it doesn't seem likely it's going to be in my budget anytime soon.
Just the other day an article was on about gasses trapped in ice crystals; Alaska alone, in a decade or so of perfecting, has enough to fuel America for the next 500 years or so conservatively, 1000 years was touted. So, use what you have while working on better, but do indeed work on it and when it does become feaseable, affordable.... then utilize it. Right now, don't become distracted on the BS and bring our jobs home - WE need them.
This island has become so massive that the only thing to do would be to burn it and drop it to the bottom of the sea and that in and of itself has implications that aren't good. As in my first post, none saw fit to do anything about it and perhaps given the number of nations and continents involved perhaps none could... it's a tribute to how man is and thinks, to $$ and all else.
If it is the size of Texas, seems a good place to put pedophiles and rapists on with some spears for fishing and tents; saves $$ and we no longer have to support them. They could farm, cook, etc... and if a nasty storm happens about, well.... that's life.
Only a naive fool would wish that. I bet you think we would all get along in tribal communes growing organic veggies and that there would be no violence if your wish came true.
Here in Jacksonville Fl there is a significant portion of housing that is apartments. But apartments here don't participate in recycling. For shame.
If U add conservatives to the rapists & pedophiles on the floating trash heap, I'd be in favor of that. If they dont believe pollution is a problem than they wouldn't mind living on it.
It's always someone else's problem isn't it? Just throw the plastic in the garbage then who cares what happens to it. Well here we are! The environment thanks you each time you don't recycle! Thankfully my city forces you to recycle or pay through the nose for trash services. Gosh, it's so hard throwing the plastic products in the recycle bin! Oh, my poor arms ache from doing so!
denver bill 2
Glass
Tin
Aluminium
The new plant based plastic bottle used for Desani Water which is biodegradable helps too.
The difficulty is that this trash doesn't just come from us. They could stop NYC and other places from dumping garbage out to sea. The south american countries and all those islands are much worse. Have you ever been on one of the beaches not combed clean with tractors pulled sweepers in the morning? Mexico no doubt helps. Any place where cleanliness is not deeply rooted in the culture and trash is thrown around with abandon contributes to this kind of problem. Instead of passing out money to buy more stuff to throw around maybe we should use the money to clean things up. How about a something useful, a department to control dirty neighborhoods. Heavy fines, etc for being slobs.
denver bill 2
That should have been that the desani bottle is 100% recycleable
and don't forget the old stand by Paper. Society before the last 60 years managed to get along quite well without plastic. Things weren't as cheap and people hadn't yet developed the everyone must have piles of junk syndrome. Our biggest problem is the addition to cheap stuff and the fact that we can't get the rest of the world, even in our general area to change thier habits and clean up. Instead of throwing billions at every crony fly by night "green" energy idea, we'd be better off developing cheap ways to recycle glass and require more recycling by everyone. If you want to back "green" energy fine, just offer one billion dollar prize to the company that has a proven, profitable form of it. Competition, jobs instead of giving money to loser supporters of politicians.
If the plastic and the rest of the junk in the ocean is so bad, why doesn't someone go out there with some big ships and clean it up? Why wait until it reaches the US shores or somewhere else?
Instead of using ships to kill dolphins, maybe the Japanese should get their act together and get their cr*p out of the water???
While this is a subject to be concerned with, I'm going to keep MY eye on Fukishima reactor #4. You know, the one that might collapse and could cause an ELE? If anyone here hasn't looked into what's current at Fukishima, you need to. Because the media isn't saying squat. Not here, not in Canada, and not in Japan.
@ David, witha little thought was put into it, it could be done. One of the cheaper ideas would be for ships already passing through to catch a net full, and drag it to port, to be dropped at the recyclers. (Positioning a plant, on/near the dock.) Plastic doesn't weight that much, so it ought to be worth the pull. There is a big business in recycling. We already pay people to pick up our recyclables here on dry ground, why not pay passing ships?
Wendy Breeze
Only in America is something like this political. What was written apparently was so above your capacity to comprehend that all you can come up with is an insulting and pointless response. The only thing it did was demonstrate a level of ignorance that has become pervasive in our divided cuulture. Have another tea.
WHyt doesn't it surprise me that the generallly COnservative types are either for this or at least not alarmed by it? I'm waiting to read one of these geniuses post - why don't we gather it up and throw it in the ocean.
Wendy Breese why so churlish towards strength in numbers? too many ideas? Or is one one too many?
need to hire molly maid and send her to the convergence zone
Hemp products.
Leave the trees.
Create jobs to clean this up, funded by money from taxes of legal cannabis sales across the United States. This tax alone would create billions of dollars, and jobs.
I don't see why those idiots at green peace couldn't clean up the mess. Don't they have a fleet of hippies sailing around the pacific harassing Japanese fisherman? Maybe its time they actually make a difference. They can clean it up and dump it at one of those nuclear waste sites in Japan.
One man's garbage is another man's paradise. Floating objects in the ocean become microcosms. Trash is unsightly to humans and plastic rings dangerous to sea animals but there is a flip side.
Kate; I agree about the dolphins as well as whales... I also have an immense problem with the rhino horns, elephant tusks, etc... . The only thing is that this plastic island has been allowed, by all, to become the size of Texas. That's not going to be cleaned up. At best, it may become a study of sorts, a habitat for the heinous or for expiditous researchers, reality shows that indeed suck, or something of the like.
Rather than worry what to do with it, we should focus on the why's, whom's, and what to do now. This is multi national, nations and peoples that will never see eye to eye yet the same end result. People are people, and again storm surges and such cannot be helped. Perhaps every nation can add jobs by enforcing recycling, garbage seperation, be honest about such and utilize technology we have to do so without further polluting or doing so minimally; lesser of two evils as it is.
Again, devil's advocate here, but some marine biologists have seen some positives to this floating heap; not that it begs for more and continued ignorance, abuse but is a unique shelter for some. The best solution is for people to not be so consumed by time constrictures, by what's easy and thoughtless, to be responsible and make good choices, have the means to do so but we're so far away from that it's almost out of permanent reach. Trees are not an infinite resource. Yet, there are so many paper products combined with waxes that can replace plastics, as well as many plastics just not being necessary, just cheap, that it's ridiculous. Getting every nation on board isn't possible. While this merits interest, it's just not going to change, nothing will be done.... in America, we can't even cooperate enough to have an economy, jobs, and agree on where we're heading and/or how to get there. Other nations?
Just as sold out and irresponsible to their citizenry. Doesn't seem even close to right that other animals have to suffer, to change, to be obliterated because human animals have thumbs and supposedly some brain. What we really have is enough greed that enough isn't enough for the few such as the Mellons, Rockefellers, etc... . We are due for change, and no matter how ugly, I hope to see it in my lifetime.
By a show of hands, how many people want their laptops made of glass, aluminum, cardboard or fabric?
Irepsond Have you ever heard of cancer? That's what happens when make make friends with plastic.
As long as we use a "mammon" (money) based economy, it will have to be "cost effective" before anyone would even think of raising a finger to do anything about it. When we remove money from the equation, AND people start doing what is right simply because it is right, virtually anything could be accomplished... But until then, people will remain slaves to the almighty dollar, yen, mark, yuan, etc....
denver bill--I don't think that anyone is advocating get rid of all plastic right this second, but a large proportion of it is used for throw-away items and items that could use substitute materials.
patrick demarco--Plastic inside fish we eat is bad. (It's also bad for the fish, and other animals.) Some types of plastic leach endocrine disrupters, while most (maybe all) have not been entirely researched.
Denver,
If the products work, why not? I really don't need shiny stuff to make me happy. Why not attempt to make parts of a laptop from something besides plastics? Why is it always "all or nothing" with you guys?
Humans may just go extinct swimming in pools and under mountains of our own waste. Doesn't sound like we are a very smart species.
Virtually every ship that crosses the oceans throw all their waste into the sea, be it human, empty food packaging, bilge water, bunker oil waste etc. and have done so for centuries. Out of sight, out of mind. Cheap disposal. No maritime laws against it let alone enforcement.
flnobody at # 1.13, you respond to Denver's request for a substitute for plastic by identifying "Glass, wood, metal, paper, cardboard and fabric to name a few."
Which one of those substances would you prefer your computer's plastic case, keyboard and mouse be made?
Which of those substances would you want your plastic desk lamp, clock, phone and stereo to be produced from?
And your petroleum based footware - glass slippers, maybe? Ever heard of vinyl siding? Oil-based.
Isn't it ironic that "Plastics" (remember that one word line from The Graduate movie), which came into existence as the ultimate substitute for almost all other materials, is now having those same materials sugested as substitutes for plastices ???
What goes around, comes around --- at right now, it's circling around the Pacific basin.
dburcar
If U add conservatives to the rapists & pedophiles on the floating trash heap, I'd be in favor of that. If they dont believe pollution is a problem than they wouldn't mind living on it.
I'm usually conservative and 60-70% of my refuse is recycled. In Chicago which is majority democrat ,have many that treat the world as a garbage dump.One size doesn't fit all.
God the Liberals are really "OUT THERE" telling the conservatives what they think and feel about the world and the environment. Never stating a fact. and of course calling everyone idiots that don't agree with them. what happened to the days when we could actually have a debate or discuss the issues...oh never mind you are right. Sorry if I offended you by not agreeing with you. What was I thinking? Better get back in line and follow the Sheeple.
We have one giant recycling plant.....it's called a volcano. We didn't import these materials from the far reaches of the universe. They came from the Earth. Why not put it back? In prehistoric times widespread active volcanos destroy and create everything right? I can't comprehend why we don't throw all trash into an active volcano. It can eat anything and everything. Look at the Lord of the Rings. They had a bad ring that was ultra evil. What did they do? Throw it in a volcano. Problem solved. Am I wrong? I think it's a fantastic idea. What can survive molten magma? Ummm......that would be nothing.
@dissapointed - Volcanoes already spew out more than enough toxic gasses without us throwing our garbage into them. D'UH!
El Gallo; why wouldn't you want to see the end of the World, when it eventually comes (for us anyway)? You are going to die eventually - why not go (out) big instead of with a whimper?
Wendy; don't quit your day job - you will never be on Meet The Press.
Graham; since this is (or at least was, until the recent invasion of conservatives) a liberal news site - you are the one who had to go "OUT THERE" to arrive here. Who goes around to enemy sites just to confront those they oppose - oh, that's right, GW Bush does in order to steal oil.
Swen; damn you - got me side tracted on George Carlin videos for an hour... bless your heart.
While we are arguing about south carolina and gay marriage ban, were killing the planet with plastic...yay us.
Going to need a fleet of trawlers...to fix this..I think?
You must be arguing with yourself because the ban took place in NORTH Carolina.
Too expensive to clean up now. The ocean will have to take care of it itself, probably by passing through the bodies of sea creatures or sinking to the bottom.
We should incinerate or recycle all trash. Forget burying it. We could have industrial incinerators with exhaust scrubbers take care of most of it instead of filling up landfills. We could even use the heat to generate power.
If the plastic and the rest of the junk in the ocean is so bad, why doesn't someone go out there with some big ships and clean it up? Why wait until it reaches the US shores or somewhere else?
The Japanese have the money and resources to fix this - someone needs to make them clean it. Instead of using ships to kill dolphins, maybe the Japanese should get their act together and get their cr*p out of the water???
I guess I'd better get started.... Hey Mom! Got a few trashbags and an airplane?!
Sincerely, Aurora age 13
Sounds good, though using the heat to generate power would simply make the incinerators a little bit more energy efficient, it wouldn't generate any kind of surplus power.
Seems to me the plastic has spawned a proliferation of base life that fish and other aquatic animals can live on.. Who is to say that the sudden explosion of life in this trash is a bad thing? Different does not always mean bad. It amazes me that if a person starts a forest fire it devastates the ecosystem, but if lightning starts a forest fire, it is natural and should just burn because it is a part of the cycle of life.. Seriously? The fact is, biologists don't really know what the impact is in the bigger picture.. Perhaps ocean life was on the decline before we started studying it, and this plastic is allowing all ocean life to flourish.. Perhaps this indeed IS killing the ocean, but I can promise you one thing, humanity doesn't have a CLUE which way this will go.. The ONLY thing we know is that the garbage has changed things. Quit assuming you know if it is a change for the better or the worse.
kate- fyi the debris from the tsunami is a separate issue. this plastic floating out there predates the Japan issue.
YouTube - Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Charles Moore- Plastic Ocean
dave- PLASTIC TRASH ISLAND DISASTER
Davek have you ever heard of invasive species?? I would guess that a bunch of plastic in the oceans, which is indeed very unnatural, is worse than the "NATURAL" alternative of clean trash free ocean.. Just a hunch.. But go on beleiving science is always wrong, and cannot future events. Oh wait it can.
We are not only killing the planet with plastic. We are killing the planet PERIOD.
What he said is scientific. He is making a hypothesis. Your statement is a scientific hissy fit.There is no emotion in science or guessing.
DaveK--I say the same thing on a post above this, but plastic inside fish we eat is bad. (It's also bad for the fish, and other animals.) Some types of plastic leach endocrine disrupters, while most (maybe all) have not been entirely researched.
Kryss, no doubt chemical pollution is a major negative. Mercury and lead is definitely a bummer. But just on the issue of foreign objects floating in the water, that is interesting to study the affects. We can do better on how we make things. We will always have pollution in the oceans. It is certainly worth studying the effect of non toxic materials in the ocean.
So the difference between a conservative and a liberal (progressive) on this issue is pretty apparent:
The liberal says, "We have to do something. The governments should get together and clean it up, no matter the cost!"
The conservative says, "Excuse me, Mr. Gates (or some other rich person with too much money and not enough ideas, or at least not enough trusted people to implement new ideas), I want to start a whole new industry of recycled Ocean plastic construction materials. I was wondering if you'd be willing to invest a billion dollars so that we could build a fleet and put a few thousand people to work. It'll be hard work, no doubt, but the pay could be great, and if we market the thing just right, I know a load of liberals who would gladly pay twice as much for recycled construction materials than they would pay for regular construction materials. Heck, half the nation wants the government to clean that patch of plastic up and nothing good come of it, so imagine their glee when they can tell all their friends how eco-fabulous their new Ford Oceanus built almost entirely of recycled ocean plastic is, or how they will jump up and down with envy over the Jones's outdoor kitchen built atop a deck of ocean plastic, or how they will all shop using their recycled ocean plastic bags while pushing recycled ocean plastic carts, or how..."
Lu, I can only guess your sarcasm is almost too subtle to catch. Isn't a hoot how conservatives are falling all over themselves demonstrating how much more capably private capital can exploit this treasure trove of free resources for the benefit of everybody? Yeah, I can't even keep up with all that individual initiative kicking butt out there in that wide open ocean.
And of course to add insult to irony, it was the complete exploitation of free underground oil that allowed the generation of so much waste at a profit in the first place. Make it and sell it cheap enough to be thrown away so another one can be sold. AND THEN, mine the free thrown away stuff for more material to make it all over again.
Now, if only the Koch brothers could just scrape together a couple of bucks, we could be outta this recession before Romney could say "failed policy", "repeal Obamacare" or "job creators" one more time.
I'm gonna hold my breath until private industry takes this show on road.
Thanks for the laugh, Lu. You certainly demonstrate what a house of cards the whole "private-industry-gets-stuff-done" mantra is by carrying its arguement to its logical extreme
There is a guy from the UK who turns plastic into fuel for his ultralight airplane.
What we need here is an economic incentive to put this trash to use. Any ideas?
Greentimer,
Actually, there was very little sarcasm there.
Nothing is free. Everything requires work. And people who work wish to be paid for the value of their labor because labor takes time. There is nothing wrong with this system, and I guarantee you've enjoyed the benefits (and the pitfalls) of the work-and-be-paid-for-the-value-of-your-labor-over-time system in your life, so the en vogue hatred of money and the rich thing you have going on is actually very ironic and insulting, whereas there is nothing ironic or insulting about nobody having had the right idea and initiative to take advantage of the ocean trash YET. You may not have been paid as much as you believe your labor was worth in your lifetime, you may not have had big ideas that took off and benefited everyone or discovered opportunities to your advantage, but I know you love your computer and probably your ipad and your iphone and your prius and your fabric grocery bags, etc., and those things all cost you LABOR, not money... Labor over time. Right now there isn't enough to labor at for everyone, but to create more opportunities for labor requires worthwhile ideas, initiative and money. You scoff at ideas that solve multiple problems, while ignobly wanting solutions to those problems, because those solutions will necessarily be implemented by people who have money and initiative, meanwhile unless you work(ed) for the government, you work(ed) for someone who had an idea, initiative and money. That is literally the way it is, whether you like the arrogant idea/money-havers or not.
Private industry does get stuff done better than government does. In fact, government requires private industry to actually do the stuff that needs to get done, government is just there for the oversight and to foot the bill, ultimately by spreading the cost to everyone (or at least the top 50% who own the wealth). So, if the governments of the world were to get together to clean up this problem, it would really be private companies built by the Koch brothers et al taking the initiative, to get the paid government contracts to actually do the dirty work... and then things would cost four times as much, even though the same amount of actual labor is being done.
I agree with you that the waste is bad (and if you knew me at all, you would know I live a pretty green lifestyle, but you don't know me, so I forgive you your pith). As far as mining the thrown away stuff and making use of it again goes, it makes much more sense to mine it privately, it conveniently piling up there in the ocean without much regulation like it is, then to do anything else with it--it especially makes more sense than allowing the governments of the world to "take care of it", as it would then require red tape and hoops and bread and circuses and regulators (for everything including the regulators), and a whole lot of people would be paid not to work and make anything of actual use to anyone, but to be bureaucrats who will often grant contracts to the favorite bidder rather than the lowest bidder, who will often look the other way when the very rules they are meant to enforce are broken because they are being granted favors as well, who often spend more hours playing on their computers and iphones and ipads than doing anything at all productive (though government employees are not the only ones who are paid for time served alone as opposed to value of labor over time, but I digress), who often feel they are under-compensated for their "labor" and don't see why they should have to labor at all, and complain ad nauseum that everything would be easier for them if there was just one more government office that was in charge of form 240-1100B-2012, and even who sometimes will use the opportunity to have coke and prostitute parties, to smuggle drugs into the country, or to just make a video so that they can win the bonus of the month for making the video to win the bonus of the month by making a video, but that's no big deal to the liberal, because at least the trash is getting cleaned up and government is doing what government should do... or is it?
If five US Bombers drop atomic bombs at the same time, the heat would melt and sink the junk.
All the worlds countries should ban together and clean it up.
I read somewhere it would be like picking up all the litter in the US five times, so good luck.
colecokid,
Not good luck, but rather good habits. Have you ever travelled the highways in Canada. They look pristine compared to ours. That's not due to good luck.
Note to scientists: When you travel out there to study this stuff under a taxpyer-funded grant, why don't you bring back a boatload for disposal?
You can't expect them to do anything meaningful, on your dollar. bill
Ya, they can dump it all in the yards of the CEO's who manufacture plastics too.
I said good luck picking up our trash in the ocean. I personally never litter. If everyone had my habits then everything would be pristine. The ocean is already messed. It would be several 1,000's of boat loads btw. littering shows lack of intelligences and disrespect for others.
Humans ,one wants help from everyone else,the other wants to send out trawlers burning tons of diesel fuel and then the rest throw another piece of junk in the trash can instead of recycling. Wake up and think how many cans and bottles and other objects get junked rather than recycled it starts with the consumer and should end with the consumer disposing of it in th appropriate manner.
Watch Penn and Tellers show bull@!$%# they have a show about recycling and the truth about it, its kind of hyped up but eye opening, the only thing worth recycling is metal. when it comes to recycling paper, people should know that thats the biggest scam, there are forests upon forests strictly grown for paper production, trees that grow very fast and self sustaining, trees that wouldnt be there if there wasnt a need for paper, so saving the trees is a bunch of bull. we have plenty of trees that a grown for paper. thats just one of the things i found out. there are many more things to learn about recycling and such. However, im not saying dont take care of the planet and litter and stuff. just know where your garbage and recycling goes. dont just blindly throw your plastic in a bin and feel good about it. Also, the new plastics coming out are made from corn and soy, Petroleum products are going away. Newer plastics degrade quickly and disappears quick.
Yeah, I've seen their show too. And they're WRONG a lot of the time.
Take their episode on organic foods - they tried to base it on TASTE, for gosh sakes! They don't know anything about the dangers of GMO's or pesticides. They think the deal is about taste.
So they disingenuously base their arguments on false logic to start. They're wrong about this too, although plastics are generally only good for one recycled life. After that, they're turned into pellets that we send to the Chinese who in turn, use to make more crap that our environmental laws refuse to admit into this country precisely because it's so toxic by the time they're done mixing it with other chemicals to make it stable.
They don't bring anything back because these are tiny particles floating/suspended in the ocean. You would not see any actual plastic if you went out to these giant "patches" of trash. The story wouldn't get any attention and the scientists wouldn't get much support outside of their field if they told the truth.
The lemmings have to realize that the salinity of the ocean is very damaging to most objects including plastics. These break down into tiny particulates in a relatively short period of time.
These stories are akin to saying that there are visible patches of mercury floating around the oceans
Paul
Another tebagging bigot who thinks science is a liberal plot to undermine good teabagging wisdom. Facts not good enough for you, huh? This country is in a world of hurt.
What would be meaningful in your view?
It's due to the fact that was have nearly 10 times the population of Canada.
Next time you are in texas, grab a shovel and scrape every square inch of the surface of the whole state.. Bring all your friends though, because after about 50 years you MIGHT have 1/1,000,000 of the job done.. Sure, we could put a few million boats out there with nets to filter out all the plastic.. and life.. and then... wait, where do we put it all? Canada sounds good, put it there..
Scale is something that eludes most people.
colecokid If you smoke you litter, if you eat you litter where do you think all your trash goes? Mars.
Simply put. I will have to disagree with you on the paper recycling issue you talked about.. What does it take to cut down trees? Oil (and lots of it), trees of course that are big enough, and money to pay workers. Have you ever considered that we save resources overall by recycling paper instead of having to go back out cut down more trees, refine more cellulose into paper.. Or to just recycle the damn paper we already have?
Ursamajor where I live trash goes into a land fill, we don't call it littering. Throwing stuff anywhere else is littering. If someone has to pick up after you or fish your trash out of the ocean I would say that's littering.
El Gallo,
What is your proof the ocean degrades harmful aspects of plastics quickly enough for it to not be a problem?
Paul - yeah - like puttting a man on the moon - the interstate highway system, the Hooove Dam - alll Lib hoaxes.
If five US Bomers drop five atomic missiles in the middle of the junk, t would melt it and sink it.
Maybe some mutation will come along and a plastic eating seaworm will evolve and proliferate. Then when this mutation peeks above the water and sees all the plastic on terra firma? Ooops, there goes all our high tech lifestyle. Or maybe I should have said, burp, there went all our high tech. The worms grew legs and ate all our laptops and cellphones.
Too early. I need some more coffee.
You related to Blondie? That'd make a great song, kind of a sequel to her 1980's "Rapture"!
That or the next Michael Moore movie...
I will admit I am a global warming/climate change skeptic, but there is no excuse for this type of mess and something needs to be done about this. Instead of debating climate change, why are we not trying to work together to clean this up?
I was a skeptic but evidence has converted me. It's the answers to the problems that I have issue with.
Lowering your carbon footprint is the right ends but the windmills, solar panels, electric cars don't seem to be the means.
Let the market dictate the price of energy and the people will decrease their usage automatically. Just look at the common aluminum can of today vs 20 years ago. There is not enough material used now to make if worth recycling without a subsidy.
For me, the issue is not so much climate change. I think that will happen, just because the evidence supporting it far exceeds the evidence against it. But it is only a symptom of the same kind of behavior that is causing the plastic garbage to accumulate in the oceans. We humans have a tendency to think we can dump unlimited amounts of waste into the environment, because the world is so big and our little behavior can't affect it. Time and again we have been proved wrong. CFCs destroy ozone. If we build a smoke stack high enough it will disperse the mercury and sulfur and go away, but instead it just is spread over a greater area. Kind of a out of sight/out of mind mentality. Dumping plastic into the waterways is no less inexcusable than dumping large amounts of CO2 (or whatever else) into the air. Same thing, in my opinion.
Whether it is climate change, pollution, or just plain trash... the world would be a much better place if we just attended to our own business first. My grandmother put it this way, clean up your own hells half acre first, once you have cleaned that up then you can move on to the parcel next to you. We cannot clean up the planet but we can clean our own space. The more efficient we are in using what we use, the less trash we generate: trash like CO2, Plastic waste, or anything else.
I find it very said that individuals who scream about the need to protect the environment, the need to protect health and fight obesity, protect free speech, and so on, are the first to be seen thowing their McDonalds hamburger wrapper out the window of their Escalade...
Look at the grocery carts next time you are in the supermarket. Filled with cases of bottled water, and soda bottles. Myself I don't understand the concept of Bottled water. It's the biggest ripoff there is. Your tap water is every bit as clean. If you're that concerned about the chemicals in your water, buy a water purifying system. You will save money as tap water is much cheaper than bottled, and it will help with all the trash that's being tossed out every year.
I rarely drink soda, and the water I bring to the gym and have at work and such I use reusable bottles. They are easy to clean, and reuse time and time again.
People are just plain lazy. They don't want to spend the 10seconds it will take them to wash and refill a bottle. They would rather just buy a .10(value) of water for $1.50 and throw it away when it's empty.
Recycling needs to be more enforced, and the products used to produce new items.
I totally agree with you. When I see people buy bottled water by the cases, all of the drinks in plastic bottles, many products that were previously packaged in paper or metal that are now in plastic containers, i wonder where all the empty plastic is going.
If many of the bottled drinks were packaged in cardboard like milk use to be in., it would eliminate tons and tons and tons of plastic waste. Laundry products, pack in cardboard, take out food, use cardboard. Those are a just a few areas that we can eliminate millions of tons of plastic. You can probably add many products to this list.
Too many trees cut down you say? A little known secret is that hemp is a sensible, cheap replacement for cutting trees down. There is an interesting story behind the trees vs hemp involving The Hearst family business. For anyone interested in reading a short article about why Hearst family led the crusade to ban on growing hemp, go here: http://altahemp.com/hempinfo.html.
I too always use a refillable container for my take-along water and only recycle it when it breaks. I We can recycle out cans and other metal containers and get paid for the scrap. Why not have a plastic recycle collection point? I do my best to recycle my used plastic products, metal cans, anything else I can. I also use the County recycle days to get rid of empty containers that held toxic materials such as paint, cleaning products, insecticides, old computers, etc.
While I'm not a fanatic about recycling, I try to do my part to leave the world in a little better shape for the generations that come after us.
Yes, we do need plastic but not in the amounts we are now using it. There are other alternatives, let's start using them before it is too late.
As for garbage already there, forget about cleaning it up, it can't be done:
We can all start small. Instead of throwing away your plastic water bottles, reuse or recycle them. Teach our children to be responsible and respect our earth. Teach them how to choose alternative measures instead of more trash being added to the "disposable" lifestyle that we are living.
This is a symbol of the times and what the future will hold. As the world population and affluency explodes these problems will only get worse. It's going to be a race to the bottom to see what turns this planet into a cesspool,
This is one of many symbols of the times. Remember, the United States is the only country to put men on the moon .... and they left a junk car there. By now it's probably covered with tickets and up on blocks because the wheels have been stolen.
LOL DB! That's funny!!
Efforts should be made to clean it up. Am I the only person to notice that the picture at the top identifies somebody by wearing a blue shirt, and all 3 people in the picture have blue shirts on?
no, the other blue shirt. The one with the blue shirt that is on the boat is the one that they are talking about, the one wearing a life jacket and looking at the water
Because people who are skeptical of global warming are the same people who want to get rid of the EPA and other ENVIRONMENTAL regulations. Cleaning the trash up isn't the problem its getting people to stop throwing the trash everywhere. I live in anchorage alaska. Every year we have a city wide trash pick up after the snow melts. Every year the trash seems to get worse. I clean up the area around my apparatment complex every once in a while. Same @!$%#, cigarrete buds, plastic bottles, bear bottles, random pieces of plastic and paper. People tend to keep their own personal proterty clean but they don't seem to give a damb about anything else.
Too bad you haven't found a dictionary in that trash. Maybe you need to have a city wide clean up before the snows come, so you won't have to clean up your trash after the snows. EPA and other environmental regulations have nothing to do with ignorant people and their careless ways.
Wonder how much of this crap are residuals from Cities like NY that used the ocean as their dump? How much of this stuff is tsunami trash?
It would be interesting to know how much of this trash comes from what Country. Either having an EPA is ineffective, or this is someone elses mess.
@Paul, I think domewars is talking about the litter that people toss around after it starts snowing. In an area where there aren't thaws between snowfalls, you get layers on layers of snow, which hides layers and layers of litter until the snow melts and it all becomes visible. I seriously doubt they let trash accumulate during the warm season and then don't bother to clean it up until after the snow melts as you implied with your rather snarky comment.
Domewars,
For those who don't think the denial movement is politically motivated from the right, here's something from the pen of Sen. Lugar:
Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change.
I know that this article is about plastic contamination, but they all tie in together. Plastics are oil derivatives, oil does not want regulations, big money is being spent to keep EPA and other regulatory agencies at bay, Republican congressmen (and some Democrats too) know who floats their boat and so fall in line behind their masters. I guess they figure that even if they are destroying our planet it won't happen until after their deaths, and since they don't believe in re-incarnation what does it matter. And it seems that since they are so self-centered they could give a rats-ass less about what their grandchildren will inherit.
Just a thought. In America over the past 50 or so years, we have developed a culture where we are wont to scream "Somebody should do something about this." When we say that what we are really saying is "Anybody but me should take responsibility." There is a word for that attitude: hypocrisy.
We say the problems are too big, we need more regulation -- more government. NO! The problem is small.. In the words of that great philosopher Pogo "We have met the enemy and it is us."
The solution is personal reponsibility. Start with controlling the amount of trash you personally generate, then reduce, recycle, reuse, dispose properly whatever trash you have left, then whether it is your street, your park, your wilderness trek, or wherever else you go, take a minute and pick up a little trash and dispose of it properly... you will make a world of difference even if it is just in your own little corner of the world.
Wars, Famine ,Religion Greed, Envy, Nukes, Desease. All pose a threat to us, but idiots drinking bottled water will be the death of all of us. The oceans will die. Then we will die. Drink out of glass. Geeeeezzzz.
Ban bottled water. Bring glass back. Milk jugs, ketchup bottles. Laundry soap. All of that was sold before plastic. How about refillable laundry soap jugs. Why is everything use once and throw away. Soda in glass tastes way better than sodas in plastic. Plastic is also absorbed in your food when you microwave it.
Leroy,
I agree 100%, but do you think the oil lobbyists would let any such legislation see the light of day? Doubt it.
u totally right leroy...
yet it all eventually boils down to people's attitudes...but people find it easier to blame corporations and the "fat cats", instead of making an affort to NOT purchase things that are plastic.
Doing the right thing:::What can I do? Be Aware....Let your voice be heard until you have no voice left..We have become so self-centered as a Society...we still want our cake and eat it to....."fear".....We are to many unless we are one voice we will perish by our own sword.....Become aware, please.
Well then we just need to get Glass Company lobbyists in the game. BTW containers made of glass are heavier than plastic so freight will be heavier, meaning more fuel consumption, meaning oil companies will still benefit. Its all in how you look at it.
You realize glass is one of the most impervious "man made" materials, right? Dump glass in the ocean and it will drop to the bottom and in a half billion years someone will dig it out of a desert and marvel at what this ancient artifact is.. the plastic on the other hand will break down after a few dozen years.
PLus you need to realize that plastic containers make up a tiny fraction of all the plastics.. If you eliminated plastic as a material for making things, you would have to replace it with something else.. wood, glass, metal and other resources that are scarce and expensive would have to replace the plastic. That would mean the price of everything you buy would go up by an extreme amount. Cars would cost 100's of thousands of dollars, and would be produced in FAR fewer numbers as labor to build them would get into the extremes. Inflation would jump so fast and far that the middle class would be extinguished and the "99%" would learn what it TRULY is like to be the "poor" vs the "rich".. You would have most people who couldn't afford a loaf of bread (in it's wooden package) let alone a TV (which wouldn't exist without plastics) or a car. Poverty unlike anything this generation has ever known. The "1%" would be able to feed themselves and even put food on the table. Quite simply, the economy would crash unlike anything in history.
It is easy to say we should do away with something, it is something else entirely to actually look at what it would take to actually do it, and what the sacrifice would be..
"the plastic on the other hand will break down after a few dozen years.
You're freaking hilarious.
People would simply go back to the old ways of storage and buying only what they need when they need it, that's obvious you twit.
I hope we all just go extinct and let Mother nature reboot. We suck.
If you feel that way, then by all means.. Show the rest of us how it's done... Be the first volunteer in decreasing the human population, and pitch yourself off the side of a cliff.
Personally, in general I like people. I think people are pretty neat to be around, and thus I would hate to see people go extinct. You, on the other hand, don't seem to like people very much, yourself included.
If every self-hating person like you would just go off themselves, I'm sure it would put a nice little ding in the next census report, and would also clear a lot of this useless rhetoric that you and your ilk like to spew from the internet.
Blow a wad "War Beast" [great name!!] Speardog has a clear & evident point. The majority of "humans" and their "condition" overall SUKK - TOTALLY SUKK.
If it was all so "peachy", as evidenced in a name like WARBEAST! we wouldn't have the crap that has YET TO SURFACE !
Keep your eyes open WarBeast! There's lots of @!$%# out there and I'm a 1000% optimist to boot!!
There is a mighty big difference in thinking there is work to be done to improve the world and wishing death upon the entire human species. Do I think that that everything it peachy? Nope... Do I think we should all go the way of the dinosaurs? Nope.
Quite often, I've found that people who spout off such slogans as "death to the human race" and the like, are generally unhappy people who don't like themselves very much. To be honest, I don't have much empathy or consideration for people who wish everyone on the planet would drop dead.
As far as my screen name is concerned, since you seem to want to read into it. The only thing "evidenced" by my screen name is that I enjoyed an obscure little horror flick called "Death Machine" and I thought the name of the killer robot therein, WarBeast, was nifty. Nothing more than that.
Plastic is a double edged sword, on one hand innovation and technology has used plastics in millions of products but on the other it is used for things like plastic bottles, bags and tons of other short shelf life products that end up in our landfills, rivers and obviously in our life supporting seas. Our very existence for our future as a species on this planet may require conservative and recycling measures to curb the amount of waste that the world population is churning out. The de-composition of many plastics is close to 300 years and new innovated products that can replace these short shelf life plastics are needed. Indian Hemp grown as an Industrial crop for bio-diesel, make up, cattle feed, PLASTICS, paper products, vitamins, rope, and too many products to list could be trial tested for many new plastic needs. With the intention of new designs aimed at quicker composite breakdowns and a faster bio-degradable product, this would be well worth the investment for today and tomorrow. Good Day!
Indian hemp???? Midwest, didn't you know that hemp used to be mandatory for all people with land to cultivate? But then the government outlawed it and thus the cotton industry grew.
I agree, though, that hemp is a more than viable option to replace our petroleum based plastics. You can make just about anything out of the stuff-- heck it's even a food supplement and more healthy than a lot of the stuff we eat now!!
I used to go through 5 cases of bottled water a month. Then I bought a big 2 liter bottle and just refil it everyday from the tap. I don't miss the smaller bottles, i'm saving a $hitload of money, don't have to recycle, and I'm positive they aren't finding their way to the ocean. It is actually a time saver to refill a bottle than to go to the store and lug all those bottles.
I find it ironic that plastic water has taken off so big. Looking at most suppliers of plastic bottled water you find that almost all are filled from municipal water supplies. Instead of a five gallon water jug, working crews are electing to purchase cases of water all in the name of convenience. We have an obesity problem folks...BAN ALL PLASTIC REMOTES!
Many do not have the luxury of getting safe drinking water from their tap.
There is a simple solution, outlaw plastic containers world wide. Let the UN do it.
I really believe they should put a deposit on plastic bottles that way it would force people to take them back to the store for recy. when i walk my dog we see a lot of plastic water bottles everywhere but you really never see a plastic pop bottle because some one is going to get .10 for that one, so why hasn't anyone figured this out yet???
I actually LOL when I read "100 fold". we are nasty people. no other animal can do that. Are plastics made from Hemp biodegradable? YES you can make plastic from hemp...
Guaranteed that the GOP will dismiss the importance of this data. After all, there is a Plastics Lobby contributing to their campaigns. I can here it now... "This 'plastics patch' is the delusion of a bunch of liberal scientists that want us to wreck our economy."
You gotta love humanity. Wait until the Japan tsunami trash shows up on our shores. Wonder if it will be left on our beaches or a cleanup will be attempted. With the wealth of the many countries involved you would think we could make ships that could "harvest" (for want of a better word) this crap and burn it in their engines.
any idea how toxic burning plastic is? The amount of oil used to produce a water bottle would fill about a third of it but you dont get much fuel from them...
We can talk about plastic ending up in the oceans of the world till we stop making it.. However, no one seemes to talk about the countries of the world's military chemicals ending up the oceans.. Wepons of Mass Destruction.. Nobody seems to want to admit it or report it.. What's more harmful?? This stuff destroys everything from the top of the food chain downward.. Global Warmimg.. ?
Oh GREAT - just add MORE *&^%$#@ @!$%# to the pile - you just had to do that, now ?? [sarcasm here! - yes, "we" are trashing everything EVERYWHERE!]
Since nature has been kind enough to concentrate all of this garbage for us, the least we can do is go harvest it. These harvester ships can be (at least partly) powered by the trash, and the international community can jointly finance these harvester ships. It is just a matter of the world working together while also using their heads at the same time. - Rick Carter
(Gee, I guess it is also a matter of them using their hearts at the same time, too. Oftentimes that is where the problem really lies.) - RC
Yes harvest and turn it in to floating legos. Make a giant lego island and move a bunch of people there to live on it. Or a lego resort island.
According to BBC, harvsting it isn't a viable idea. Most of it is broken down into fingernail size chips and to strain it you would also be straining out the small organisms living throughout the mass. Would end up with one big dead spot on the surface.
But wait, a group of wallstreet entrepreneurs have come up with a great idea. They say the best case scenario would be to keep throwing plastic into the ocean until enough of it conglomerates and gels into PLASTIC LAND.......complete with rides and slides for the kids. Round trip fares include 7 days and nights at Wonder Plastic Hotel with two free meals daily of snackyplast deadfish burgers and pvc chips. They plan to start development soon and you can prepurchase your tickets ahead of time by just sending $1,000 per person in cash to ....................
Bah BS, we all know man can't cause damage to his environment, just as any Republican. Everything man does is God willed. :)
Amen, Jeff because we all know that no democrat would ever do anything to foul the earth, would they.
They wouldn't. Thanks for agreeing. :)
drink beer, problem solved!
Companies who manufacture plastic should be taxed to help pay for the health problems their products have created, not to mention clean-up and recycling of the products. In the meantime, if you have children, grandchildren you MUST instill in them the importance of environmental activism and stewardship. They will not be able to eat money!
So in other words you want us to be taxed, you do realize taxing companies NEVER works, they pass these costs on to the consumers who in turn pay increased prices which pays the corporate taxes for them. Why is it people never seem to grasp the logic of this?
Lynyrdsky,
Even if that cost is passed on to consumers, it should be. People should be paying for the mess they're making, or it will be left for their children.
I went deep sea fishing last year and caught a tuna. While cleaning out the fish, I noticed all of these different colored pellets inside the fish and asked the crewman who was helping what they were. He said the pellets were plastic that the fish had ingested.