Pacific Trash Vortex! Wow! I had no idea it was this bad!

[mickus]

Wow! An amazing story of this terrible menace. Too bad we don't have Jacques Costeau anymore to do one of his wonderful stories of this problem. With so many tv outlets, it should be an opportunity to spread the word. In the meantime, we should all rethink our use of plastics and their consequences.

 

[Thadmn]

As I recall somebody balked at the idea of dropping a net and picking up all the garbage because the problem is so much bigger than that net........Lao-Tzu said it best "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Without correcting the root cause, the problem will continue to get worse but through education, if we can get the "culprits" to stop, then perhaps we would be on the road to recovery one full net at a time. The reality is to do nothing but educate, does not make the problem get better. It simply stunts the growth.

That would be me.

If it was possible to scoop this up, which it is not, being that it is twice the size of Texas, where would you like to put it?

 

[mikerault]

To eat an elephant you start with a single bite. By recycling the plastic we not only remove it from the ocean we prevent more oil from being used.

Mike

 

[ScubaSteve]

That would be me.

If it was possible to scoop this up, which it is not, being that it is twice the size of Texas, where would you like to put it?

I personally do not think that leaving it in the ocean is the solution. If that is the case, what is the point of changing anything. Just keep going as we are and perhaps we can time is o the day we have no more ocean surface because of the crap floating in it with the very same day we cut down the last tree on the planet....and maybe it can be when we cut the fin off the last shark in existence. Not to be overly dramatic but the reality of it is, if we do not try to correct the problem, all we are going to do is stunt it. So rather than saying ignore it, we need to solve the problem. I do not have the answer....I just know that to ignore it is the wrong answer.

 

[Thadmn]

I personally do not think that leaving it in the ocean is the solution. If that is the case, what is the point of changing anything. Just keep going as we are and perhaps we can time is o the day we have no more ocean surface because of the crap floating in it with the very same day we cut down the last tree on the planet....and maybe it can be when we cut the fin off the last shark in existence. Not to be overly dramatic but the reality of it is, if we do not try to correct the problem, all we are going to do is stunt it. So rather than saying ignore it, we need to solve the problem. I do not have the answer....I just know that to ignore it is the wrong answer.

First read the 2nd half of my 1st post on page 6, so you'll know that I agree.

However:

You need to have a plan before you can do something about it. The stuff has to go somewhere. The original poster to this thread said it was twice the size of Texas and 10 meters deep. I have several friends who work or used to work for NOAA and they think that there could be some exageration involved (ie. Al Gore with global warming) If the area is truly that big, and if it is supposed to be as dense as is indicated by the picture shown, it would be clearly visible by satellite. That picture in the beginning of the thread, looks like it could have been taken in any town's garbage dump after a good rain.

Yes, there is absolutely plastic garbage floating around in the ocean, and I definitely agree that its a bad thing. I just think that to solve this we should try to reduce the amount of things manufactured in disposible, one time use, plastic containers. How do we do that?.....Quit buying the things that are. If manufacturers keep making $$, they will keep producing. How do we convince all the countries and people who really don't give a rat's ass?.....That's the problem.

On the other hand, there are good (life saving) things that are one time use plastic products out there. Medical products are one example. These things are usually burned rather than recycled for obvious reasons.

 

[ScubaSteve]

First read the 2nd half of my 1st post on page 6, so you'll know that I agree.

However:

I knew there was someone that said "Don't bother..." (paraphrasing because I could not remember the exact text) so I apologize for not remember the whole post. I suppose deep down then we do agree. I do agree that you need to stop the problem quickly. But, to start with ONLY educating just makes the problem of what to do with the "land mass sized floating dump" bigger when we actually get around to addressing it. Perhaps a large scale removal cannot happen until a formal "large scale" solution is designed but I do think things need to begin almost immediately on both fronts....but I do know it is unlikely and why it is unlikely....I just think it is a shame that it happened AND that we cannot correct it.

 

[scubadrewvideo]

I have several friends who work or used to work for NOAA and they think that there could be some exageration involved (ie. Al Gore with global warming) If the area is truly that big, and if it is supposed to be as dense as is indicated by the picture shown, it would be clearly visible by satellite. That picture in the beginning of the thread, looks like it could have been taken in any town's garbage dump after a good rain.

I do not work for NOAA nor am I a scientist....But I believe it is safe to say that I am the only one in this thread that actually been there, seen it and am going back again in June to shoot a documentary.
My experience is that the majority of plastic particles are small enough that no satellite would be able to see the "Garbage Patch". If it was visible by Satellite then it would be way too late.
The part that bothers me are the claims of exageration. This is not a debatable subject...there is no natural plastic cycle of which to argue...so why equate this with Global Warming. We should not be debating whether the reports are 100% accurate as to the actual quantity.....thats like debating a news story of a shooting murder as being false because the reporter was wrong with regard to how many times the guy was shot...does it really matter? The fact is he is dead regardless of the bullet count! So why argue the exact current amount of plastic...the fact is....There is tons of plastic choking our oceans and if we dont act now to stop this problem then you all better enjoy your petrolium free Tuna melts while you still have them.

 

[Gdog]

I agree, and the more public awareness that can be had the better. For starters, we must all make sure everyone we know of is aware of this. The more pictures, articles, ect, the better. Whatever we can do to get it in the public eye. Hopefully that can somehow start conversation on how it can be dealt with, and the urgency of the matter. Also, we must all make sure that we all STOP using plastic whenever possible. Again, as was said above, a bite at a time.

 

[bluebubble1995]

Twice as big as Texas and not one aerial photo? This is a bunch of hoohah.

 

[scubadrewvideo]

Twice as big as Texas and not one aerial photo? This is a bunch of hoohah.

Did you even read what I wrote? Do you really need the problem to be severe enough to be seen by an aerial photo for you to believe it? What evidence do you have to support your "hoohah" claim, because I have evidence to the contrary.

This is the BS that I am referring to...Statements made by people that have ZERO experience in the matter, yet think they know it all!!!

Sad!

Unless you have factual data to support your claims then please keep them to yourself!