Pacific Ocean’s Plastic Island
Floating in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean is one lasting human legacy we can’t be proud of at all – a giant floating island of garbage.
It’s known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Eastern Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex. But no matter what you call it, it’s pretty disgusting.
The floating island of rubbish is a collection of marine litter in the central North Pacific estimated to be about the twice the size of the state of Texas. It’s mainly composed of plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the current of the North Pacific Gyre.
It’s huge but – so far – it’s not visible from space.
Basically, the garbage patch has formed over time as a result of ocean currents moving waste to one location. Once the garbage gets to the central North Pacific location, it doesn’t really move much (that’s the way the ocean currents work).
Some Stats
Impact On Environment
Even though we always talk about how plastic doesn’t disintegrate in landfills, it does break down into smaller and smaller pieces when it’s floating in the ocean. However, it only breaks down in size, not content – so once plastic, always plastic.
Once the plastic pieces become small enough they can be mistaken for zooplankton and actually be ingested or eaten by aquatic organisms – which means they can enter the food chain and may end up back on your dinner plate.
Whether they ingest the tiny pieces of plastic directly or by eating another animal that has previously ingested the plastic, there are several kinds of creatures that are affected: jellyfish, sea turtles, albatross, etc.
The floating debris can also absorb organic pollutants from the seawater, which makes them even more harmful to wildlife that may ingest them.
Cleanup
In 2008, Richard Owen, a building contractor and scuba dive instructor, formed the Environmental Cleanup Coalition to address the issue of the pollution of the North Pacific. The ECC plan calls for modifying a fleet of ships to clear the area of debris and form a restoration and recycling laboratory called Gyre Island.
Related Stories:
People are seeing change all over the world. Arctic sea ice is melting earlier and forming later. Glaciers are disappearing. Heat waves, storms and floods are becoming more extreme. Insects are emerging sooner and flowers are blooming earlier. In some pla
Pilot your customizable airship across the globe in pursuit of a mysterious cabal all the while searching for your missing father in Nostalgia. Nostalgia is a Role-Playing Game from Ignition Entertainment that follows in the footsteps of the classic RPGs recently brought to the Nintendo DS, Final Fantasy III and IV.
With Valentine's Day fast approaching, we've put togther a list of the top 10 romantic flicks you should be watching!