Giant Pacific Garbage Patch

[Rock_of_Love]

Have you guys heard of this?? It was on my local news this morning because a local research facility is heading out to study this thing further. Basically becasue of ocean currents, garbage - mainly plastic - has collected into a patch some say twice the size of Texas, some say the size of the US. I saw one story where these guys said they were travelling in the ocean through this thing for an entire week - it was just that huge!!

They are finding that fish and birds are injesting these plastics thinking they are food, and, of course, it is effecting the entire food chain.

There are tons of videos on YouTube and you can google it...I was amazed.

One of Many Videos

Makes you think twice about using plastic...but its everywhere!!!

 

[kas baby]

I would just like to add something I recently heard about... its a movie called the 11th hour. I think it came out in 2008... I haven''t watched it, only seen trailers online, but I guess its basically about how we''ve trashed the earth--but-- we still can make big changes and turn things around. I know I am proud to know that my campus community is making big strides to be more sustainable... the recycling bins are always being used

we even added on a special environmental sciences minor department to accomadate and speed up this neccesary transtion in thinking and acting

I am certainly going to try and watch that movie and see what some of the experts have to say ... and, if anything, leonardo dicaprio is the narrator

 

[Selkie]

A guy named Charlie Moore has been working on this for a while. I work for a marine research organization in SoCal, and plastic debris is my boss''s main interest, so we''ve been involved in some of the work. A lot of the plastic breaks down into smaller transparent fragments, so when you''re out in the gyre it doesn''t necessarily look like a huge floating trash dump. But when they filter the water, they come up with huge amounts of small plastic membranes and fragments. Some plastics release chemicals that mimic hormones, so they may disrupt the endocrine and reproductive systems of the animals that ingest them. Not to mention the potential threat to humans.

An additional problem that we''re studying right now are pre-consumer plastic pellets. These are the tiny pieces of plastic that manufacturers use as the raw material to make plastic goods. You''d be very surprised at how many of these turn up on beaches. Right now we''re trying to figure out the geographic distribution of these in California, and to see if we can locate hotspots where they are coming from. It''s very interesting work.

 

[kas baby]

wow Selkie!! your work sounds very interesting-- and critically important as well. two green thumbs up for that

we try to do our part... energy efficient light bulbs, recycling, compost, organic gardening, carpool ... the big problem though- from what I can see- is that people are mainly ignorant to the information. So many people are unaware that small changes in lifestyle turn out to be a big deal for the environment.

 

[Rock_of_Love]

Date: 7/30/2009 1:45:04 PM
Author: Selkie
A guy named Charlie Moore has been working on this for a while. I work for a marine research organization in SoCal, and plastic debris is my boss''s main interest, so we''ve been involved in some of the work. A lot of the plastic breaks down into smaller transparent fragments, so when you''re out in the gyre it doesn''t necessarily look like a huge floating trash dump. But when they filter the water, they come up with huge amounts of small plastic membranes and fragments. Some plastics release chemicals that mimic hormones, so they may disrupt the endocrine and reproductive systems of the animals that ingest them. Not to mention the potential threat to humans.

An additional problem that we''re studying right now are pre-consumer plastic pellets. These are the tiny pieces of plastic that manufacturers use as the raw material to make plastic goods. You''d be very surprised at how many of these turn up on beaches. Right now we''re trying to figure out the geographic distribution of these in California, and to see if we can locate hotspots where they are coming from. It''s very interesting work.

Are these the "nurdles"??? I think they were talking about those in the video.

I did see the Charlie Moore stuff, too...very interesting. I''m so glad there are folks working on this, so, a HUGE THANK YOU to you!!!!

 

[innerkitten]

Ugh, I''ve seen a few pictures and it really bothers me. It''s probably the thing that has really got me thinking more about packaging lately. I''ve become so much more aware about what''s recyclable biodegradable and reusable when I shop.

 

[Selkie]

Date: 7/30/2009 8:57:22 PM
Author: Rock_of_Love

Are these the ''nurdles''??? I think they were talking about those in the video.

I did see the Charlie Moore stuff, too...very interesting. I''m so glad there are folks working on this, so, a HUGE THANK YOU to you!!!!

Yep, nurdles! Love that name. A few weeks ago, my boss and I went out with a guy from the Orange County DPW who surveys the stream channels monthly for the amount of debris (all of it, not just plastics) that could potentially get into the ocean. That was an eye-opening experience, just to see even in dry weather the vast quantities of trash that escapes or gets dumped into the ocean. We filled up about 3 giant plastic trash bags from a single 100-ft long section of one stream.