http://www.care2.com/greenliving/plastic-soup-threatens-pacific-ocean.html
‘Plastic soup’ in Pacific Ocean bigger than the United States
By Care2 editorial staff
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FEBRUARY 4, 2008—Ever wonder where all the garbage goes? Well, there’s a United States-sized pile of plastic trash swirling around in the Pacific Ocean. |
Discovered by American sailor Charles Moore in 1997, this massive “plastic soup” is alarming scientists all over the world.
The debris is two huge, linked areas of trash, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, research director of the U.S.-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
While the boundaries shift with the tides, the floating debris spans about 500 nautical miles in the Pacific, from Japan to California. Smack dab in the middle, the Hawaiian islands’ regularly clean up piles of this flotsam from its beaches.
“The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup,” Eriksen told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. “It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”
Underwater currents pull floating trash into the mass where it is trapped. The trashy, wet mess is composed largely of plastic as it does not biodegrade.
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add your comment »Help is on the way The Environmental Cleanup Coalition is building the ship
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Sign My Petition to show your support
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ocean-clean-up-project
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why is this inappropriate?
I am surprised n one has started a non profit to start a ship to start cleaning up the plastic which would get others to join. I was thinking of the same idea.
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why is this inappropriate?
I saw a show about how Sea Bird Chicks were found dead on the beaches their bellies full of trash. In the show it talked about how the ocean has currents that cross back and forth across the ocean and that a large amount of the floating trash in the ocean is being collected in these large areas between currents heading in opposed directions. The sea birds are mistaking this trash for food and feeding it to their chicks. I was thinking what if we take an old Cargo ship and refitting it with a conveyor system that skims the trash off the surface of the ocean, a sorting belt system to return any sea life back to the ocean and divided out the recyclables, a compactor to compress the trash so it can be stored in a few cargo containers to then be off loaded at the next port, and maybe an incinerator for the trash that can be safely burned. scooping up the trash at sea may turn out to be more effective then amassing the manpower to pick up the trash after it has washed up on shore.
So why tell you? I would like to see this Ocean Cleaning Ship set sail and I will continue to work on it's development but I am limited in resources and thought you might be able to help me track down some information.
who would I have to talk to about getting grants or other funding to start the project off?
where are these floating masses of trash located and how large an area do they cover?
what kind of weather and sea conditions would I have to deal with in those areas?
who would wan
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why is this inappropriate?
Couldnt a lot of this 'waste' also be from the recent tsunami that washed trash and waste away from the coasts? I think multiple governments from across the nations should set up funding to help clean up the mess.
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why is this inappropriate?
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