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

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Drew,

What, other than documenting this, is being done? How is the money being spent?

I'll keep looking, but it seems to me that fund raisers need a goal for getting trash ships out there and then a place to dispose of it. That is the first step. There needs to be some sort of realistic cost analysis in order to target fundraising and then meet the goal.

Obviously, there also needs to be some sort of analysis on the trash itself so targeted education can be done.

Just looking at videos and documenting the problem will not solve it. It does bring it to the public, hopefully with the intention to begin to move on a solution.
 
Ok here is the scoop on clean up...pardon the pun!
1. There really is no way to effectivly "scoop" the trash...and here is why.
There is no way of discriminating what is picked up by any dragging net, so the act of net dragging could produce greater damage by removing everything that is supposed to be there. The palagic plankton and jellies are for the most part destroyed once pulled from their ocean world, so catch and release concepts don't work with plankton.

2. the plastic varies in size and density so it ranges from visible particles and pieces on the surface to almost microscopic particles drifting as low as 100 ft down (depends on density and size of plastic).

3. we would have to drag filter every inch of an area bigger than texas,and with no way of preventing plastic from drifting into an area already cleaned, it would take hundreds of passes to thoroughly clean even a football field area.

There have been ideas tossed around about developing an enzime of sorts that "eats" petrolium based products (similar to oil spill clean up ideas) but that idea needs to be handled with care...fixing one problem by creating another seems to be the human way of doing things.

The first and most effective thing to do is talk about this issue and tell everyone so that we stop adding to the problem. I can state that ever since the 2002 voyage, I have bent over backwards to prevent my plastic trash from ending up anywhere but the trash can. And I inform anyone I see to please clean up even the smallest of plastic they see laying on the ground. No matter where you are (with some exceptions), if its plastic and on the ground, then it will end up in the ocean eventually!

International pressure needs to be applied to the countries and groups that don't enforce international trash dumping regulations.

Thanks for keeping this issue alive!! It may seem daunting, but every little bit helps
 
Well, sure. Be sure to dispose of your plastic properly. Got it.

But, Drew, was there any indication in what you saw of where this trash was coming from? Is there no way to target education to those countries that are the most responsible?

And, are you saying we have to live with that giant trash heap in the ocean? Perhaps it does go deep. But are you saying we cannot do anything to clean it up?
 
Also convincing the free market that there is no need for a plastic shopping bag or food packaging that lasts longer than the food does.
It will take MAJOR sacrifices by everyone to fix this issue.
As long as we have profit and money as the driving force of our existance, then it will be a very UPHILL battle!
 
Well, sure. Be sure to dispose of your plastic properly. Got it.

But, Drew, was there any indication in what you saw of where this trash was coming from? Is there no way to target education to those countries that are the most responsible?

And, are you saying we have to live with that giant trash heap in the ocean? Perhaps it does go deep. But are you saying we cannot do anything to clean it up?

Most of the trash we found that we could identify any markings came from asia/russia.

I honestly think that if we combine efforts from:
1. World wide exposure and education.
2. Cleaning up large pieces (drag nets would work for this as long as they don't harm palagic invertibrates),
3. Reduce the production of unneccessary plastics (convinience items)
4. Reduce/eliminate improper disposal of existing plastic.

If we can do this then we are off to a good start.

Thank again for the interest...I admit I was gung ho when I got off the boat in 2002, but it felt like pushing a string from the back...I wasn't getting anywhere.
 
I didn't see it posted but this is also known as "Plastic Island".

On another board I just did a post regarding this issue with a video posted and the photograph of the dying 50 year old turtle. My success in that post made at least more people aware, but more importantly I got at least 6 known people to start using reusable grocery bags.

I also coined my new phrase, "Humans are like a runaway train, that will not stop until the tracks run out". Figure it out for yourself.

Top Facts - Consumption

# Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

# According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

# According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

# According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year - 900 per person.

# According to Australia's Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year - 326 per person. An estimated 0.7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.

Top Facts - Environmental Impact

# Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

# Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

# As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.

# Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.

# According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78 degrees North [latitude] to Falklands 51 degrees South [latitude]."

# Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

Top Facts - Solutions

# WOW! In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
 
There ya go! Tax the plastic bags. But we might need them to clean up the mess created when the conservatives heads explode.
 
There ya go! Tax the plastic bags. But we might need them to clean up the mess created when the conservatives heads explode.
Now your hittin the nail on the head...This is always going to raise debate, but it is the direct result of untaxed, unregulated, free market capitalism.

When the profit margin becomes more important than the potential hazzardous effects then we all suffer!!!

Thanks guys you have re-energized me on this!!!
 

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