I grew up next to the Pacific Ocean. I have fond memories of playing along its beaches as a child, and there were many days as an adult when I found myself staring out into its immensity. If there is any natural place in the world for which I feel an affinity, it is the Pacific Ocean.
You can imagine my distress then, when I read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Technically, this area of the northern Pacific Ocean is called the North Pacific Gyre, a clockwise-swirling vortex of ocean currents twice the size of the continental United States. It’s called the Garbage Patch because the motion of the currents tends to accumulate marine debris.
In the past, this was not a problem for the Pacific and its denizens. Sea birds, marine mammals, and fish were well adapted to make use of driftwood and other debris in the Gyre. The last few decades, however, have seen a dramatic new threat to ocean health arise — plastic.
According to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, more than a hundred million tons of plastic debris have accumulated in the North Pacific Gyre. A hundred million tons! There is so much plastic, that it outnumbers the zooplankton six to one.
This is plastic that will never disappear. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade. Instead it photo-degrades, which means that sunlight breaks it down into smaller and smaller pieces. Those small pieces drift in the ocean and are mistaken for food by fish and birds.
For example, seabirds like the North Pacific albatross are often found dead with innards full of plastic. Things like cigarette lighters and toothbrushes. Also, sea turtles will mistake plastic bags for food, thinking that they are jellyfish. These turtles will often be found dead with their intestines clogged by plastic bags.
The result? One million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics. And even worse — these small bits of plastic act as sponges for non-water soluble pollutants and toxins. These poisons reach concentrations up to one million times higher in the plastic than in their free-floating state.
Filter feeders that eat these plastics are in turn eaten by fish, which are in turn eaten by larger and larger predators. In many cases, this chain concentrates the poisons even further and leads it directly to human beings.
The scope of the problem is astounding, but I refuse to believe that nothing can be done. Care2 is about making a difference in the world. There are places around the world contemplating banning plastic bags, and I plan on supporting those efforts. On a more personal level, I will re-commit to using cloth bags and reusable drink containers.
If you think that won’t make much of a difference, think again. For each reusable bag, another 400 plastic bags will keep from being used. Every reusable water bottle will keep another 167 plastic bottles from entering the environment.
If you’d like to join me, our friends at the Surfrider Foundation are hosting a pledge at http://go.care2.com/15229743. Won’t you commit to keep our oceans healthy?
For more information on plastics and the ocean, check out:
May 28, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Once again my first thought is that we are just going to kill ourselves in this inner drive we have to possess stuff and then throw it hither and yon when we are done with it.
Can the majority wake up? We must save ourselves. No one is going to do it for us.
Fish is a food source. We are killing them and the ones surviving we are eating the toxins they ingest
May 30, 2008 at 7:19 pm
50+,I have lived near & often visit the Pacific Ocean. In the last month I have been to the beach clam digging and crabbing. Fishing, also a part of our family’s regular fun. The enormity
of the Pacific “Water Fill” has me in tears. I am aware of the Great Pacific Water Patch. I’m ashamed I had no true idea of the major problem.
I understand what we are doing to wildlife and
ourselves. Until now, like the vast majority I walked around with blinders. It was easier and after all, I wasn’t doing all the dumping! I was also led to believe that most of this waste came from New York, so we blamed them and our government. HA! My eyes are wide open now. My plan, learn all I can about not using, and proper disposal of the plastic I do have. Thanks for the eye opener. I plan to spread this news to all I know. Any tips to my email will be greatly appreciated.
June 3, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Every time I see another program or article about this, the size gets bigger. It is obscene. From what I understand, the currents have a lot to do with the constant swirl of the debris, and it’s not that far from Hawaii.
That much plastic must be worth something!!! Is it too far-fetched to wonder why ships passing near don’t vacuum up, scoop up, or whatever and recycle that petroleum-based plastic????? It seems like a better idea than drilling in Alaska for 10 years to get six months worth of oil. Help me understand, please!
June 4, 2008 at 12:26 am
Judy, my understanding is that it would be extraordinarily difficult to clean up the “garbage patch”. Most of the plastics float below the surface, so they’re hard to spot even though there’s so much of it. Also, as the plastics photodegrade, they break down into small resin pellets making it even more of a challenge for clean up.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but certainly it would be logistically and technologically a challenge. And since it’s in international waters, who would step up to pay the bill?
I wish I had the answers to these questions.
June 4, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Please tell me that someone, somewhere is working on how to remove this heartbreaking and inexcusible trash heap from our ocean! I completely agree with Judy, there has to be a way to use all this plastic and non-bio mess for energy somewhere. This world is entering an energy catastrophe of something isnt done and polluting the few untouched places we have left is not the answer. Clean up our oceans and come up with a way to use this for energy
June 4, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I appreciate your information on the trash. I have several ideas of ways to remove and utilize the plastics on a large scale and wish to get them to the ears of those with rescources to help. Is there anyone out the who isn’t just talking about the problem?
Thank you so much for what you do.
It works!
*My ideas are international and will re-quire a co-operative effort however I know they can clean this up and if done along side a ban on new plastic manufaturing we can fix this.
June 5, 2008 at 12:17 am
The work on plastics in the ocean seems to fall into two categories: 1) studying the problem and 2) preventing it from getting worse.
Many of the articles I found on the issue reference research by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (http://www.algalita.org). They seem to be at the forefront.
As for prevention, legislation to cut down single-use plastic shopping bags is a fantastic way to proceed. Imposing fees on their use in some countries has been terrific success, reducing bag use by upwards of 90%.
Neither of these approaches directly addresses the question of how to clean up the mess that already exists, though. As far as I can tell, that isn’t something anyone is working on at this time.
June 13, 2008 at 5:23 am
I am leading a drive in my community to stem the flow and possibly eliminate plastic bags. I’ve organized a work group to work toward that goal. We are exploring the best way to that end. Levying a tax on plastic bags at stores needs to go through the state legislature for approval. It seems unlikely. Getting local business leaders to endorse cessation of use of plastic bags is a possibility.
I’d like to know what has been accomplished in communities around the world. I’ve read about China’s new regulations banning plastic bags under a certain density. I’ve read about Ireland’s tax on plastic bags. What’s been successfully achieved in the US besides San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags for mega stores?
If Samer will start a discussion on best practices, it will help those of us that are appalled at the current glut of plastic bags that is choking the Earth chart a course for moving ahead.
June 13, 2008 at 8:03 am
Ewwww. So strange but a friend told me about this Pacific garbage patch last week and here is the proof. Not that it was that unbelievable in the 1st place. I’m telling all my friends! Thanks for your commitment and activism. I will remember to take the reusable groc bags into the store with me.
June 13, 2008 at 8:27 pm
“Levying a tax on plastic bags at stores needs to go through the state legislature for approval. It seems unlikely.
This is perhaps less unlikely than you might think. According to the Rise Above Plastics bog, the California State Legislature recently passed legislation aimed at reducing the use of single-use plastic bags. The bill is now in the hands of the California State Senate.
If it passes, the bill would require a 25 cent fee on single-use plastic and paper bags at large grocery stores and pharmacies in California, if a 70% reduction in bag usage is not achieved by the end of 2010.
Waiting till 2010 is unfortunate, but given the need for compromise in any political endeavor, it probably was necessary.
In any case, this is not a lone example. Rise Above Plastics has many other examples of people in communities and businesses who are looking to reduce the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans.
September 11, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Aren’t plastic bags made from petroleum? If so, I suspect they could be burned just like coal or oil. If so, “mining” the Patch might be very profitable!! See above Judy Kennedy (3) and (4) Samer. How about a very fine net? Somehow take advantage of the swirling currents?