700,000km Wad of Trash Floating in the Pacific Ocean

700,000km Wad of Trash Floating in the Pacific Ocean, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

This shouldn't be too surprising, but the lack of surprise doesn't

make up for the lameness of its existence. Yep, it's a giant floating

wad of refuse the various Pacific ocean currents have picked up and

gathered toward the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Wikipedia entry

for the "Great

Pacific Garbage Patch" explains that "The patch is characterized

by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other

debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific

Gyre."



It goes on: "It has been estimated that 80% of the garbage comes from

land-based sources, and 20% from ships at sea. Pollutants range in

size from abandoned fishing nets to micro-pellets used in abrasive

cleaners. Currents carry debris from the west coast of North America

to the gyre in about five years, and debris from the east coast of

Asia in a year or less. An international project led by Dr. Hideshige

Takada of Tokyo University studying plastic pellets, or nurdles, from

beaches around the world may provide further clues about the origins

of pelagic plastic, including that of the Pacific garbage patch."



OH and here's what Wikipedia says the wad does to wildlife: "Many of

these long-lasting plastics end up in the stomachs of marine birds and

animals, including sea turtles, and the Black-footed Albatross.

Besides the particles' danger to wildlife, the floating debris can

absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and

PAHs. Aside from toxic effects, when ingested, some of these are

mistaken by the endocrine system as estradiol, causing hormone

disruption in the affected animal. Marine plastics also facilitate the

spread of invasive species that attach to floating plastic in one

region and drift long distances to colonize other ecosystems."



The Wikipedia article also mentions that the debris field is:

"estimated to be twice the size of Texas."



Isn't that great? It's a giant floating garbage pile bigger than the

biggest state in the union (assuming two-Texases > Alaska). I'm

pretty sure there isn't a person alive who wouldn't find this fact

pretty disappointing. Luckily, there are a

few people looking into whether or not it can be cleaned up, but

the fact that this has happened at all is pretty sad.



Thanks be to @Blogdrop who posted about the Great

Pacific Garbage Patch" on his Posterous blog,

blogdrop.posterous.com. You should go subscribe to it--it's

got a lot of great stuff--art, politics, current events, environmental

stuff, too.

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