By now most of us have heard about the horrendous mountain of
plastic swirling around in the North Pacific Gyre (aka the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch-The Horse Latitudes.) It is an area in the Pacific Ocean that earlier generations of
mariners avoided with good reason. Topical weather, slow, swirling
equatorial currents, and lack of wind made it a grave yard for men and
ships alike in the great age of sail. These are the same characteristics
that have turned it into a continent-sized floating landfill today; a fact that
has some frightening implications.
A plastic bottle thrown
into a storm sewer in San Francisco will make its way to the North Pacific Gyre
in about two weeks, and stay there for eternity. Everything from Barbie
doll parts to plastic pop tops and floating wisps of Saran Wrap swirl around in
this ever widening vortex of human generated trash. Plastic accounts for
close to 90% of the material in the garbage patch. This is bad news, because plastic
is forever. It does not bio degrade like wood, paper, or even rock.
Plastic photo-degrades,
which means it becomes brittle and begins to crack and get broken down
into smaller pieces, releasing dangerous toxins like PCBE's and DDT to be
absorbed by the water and ingested by living creatures. Eventually,
millions of tiny poisonous plastic nodules wash up on beaches, sink to the
bottom of the sea, or just float around on the surface of the water to be
mistaken for food by birds and fish. You don't have to be a rocket
scientist to know that poisons ingested at the bottom of the food chain will
eventually make their way to the top.
But there is hope. In 1997 after his own personal encounter with
the Great Pacific Garbage PatchCaptain Charles Moore decided to dedicate 100 % of the time and resources of his
Algalita Marine Research Foundation to understanding and remediating the
plastic load of the world's oceans. Since then, Moore has done a heroic
job of raising worldwide public awareness, and has been the only one to conduct
significant research on conditions in the Gyre. Since the place is outside the
territorial waters of any country, no nation has shown any interest in funding
research or clean-up efforts. In 2007-08 the Algalita
Foundation collected surface samples of plankton in the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch, and is currently analyzing them to get some actual information on just
what is there .
The Algalita people are going back this summer to conduct more
research. Seems like the most constructive thing any of us can do is to support this effort. Why not become a member or make a donation? Lets do something about all this plastic
garbage in the ocean other than talk about it.
