The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
 

If you was wondering where that plastic water bottle you was drinking ended at, Here you go


The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – The Environmental Horror In The Pacific Ocean

Human waste, what do they mean by that (feces) and twice the size of the continental US.

I'd like to see some proof of this.

"This massive garbage dump in the Pacific Ocean is literally a "toxic soup" of trash, plastic, garbage and human waste an area about twice the size of the continental United States that stretches from Hawaii to Japan."

I don't drink bottled water and live back east so it must be all the greenies in CA OR and WA that are causing all this trash.

oceanfront property on the go..
that could have some potential..

Rika

I have sailed from SoCal to Hawaii and back several times in my life (TransPac Race). The way home goes north out of Hawaii to circumvent the Pacific High Pressure Zone (Doldrums). Going completely around it would take days longer than motoring thru the northern edge. We would carry jugs of fuel on the deck to extend the powered range. Doing this took us thru 4 to 5 days of incredibly calm ocean. So calm, there was no swell, no wind ripples, nothing. This is the area that accumulates the debris. At least once a day we had to stop, and clean the sea strainer for the cooling water intake. Six-pack straps, and plastic wrap were the two most common offenders. Within 2 or three hours motoring out of the debris, the wind would start to pick up.

Last time I did it was 1977. I have heard it is much worse now. Flying across that zone, nothing was visible from 8 miles up.

A lot of the debris is broken down and floating just below the surface. Pics don't do it justice unless u take a sample and look at it, microscope not needed, but, helpfull in seeing just how it's broken down to levels that now effect/infect sea ecosystem.

Btw. I'm no tree hugger just a guy that sees our worlds Enviornmental ignorance since the Industrial Age.

Thats the result of our overuse of plastics and the practice of idiotic wasteful packaging.

If any of you have seen the condition of beaches in 3rd world coastlines or islands, its easy to understand that our oceans are filled with literally millions upon millions of plastic bottles. When I was in the Dominican Republic, you literally could not walk on the beaches. They were completely covered in plastic bottles and other trash.

Humans are slobs, basically.

I would say pigs but that would be a disservice to pigs.

Poorly written article that seems to insinuate that "throwing away" a plastic product will land it in the Pacific Ocean. That's about as real as "all drains lead to the ocean" from Finding Nemo. That mess is from people who litter with plastic products, I assume mostly from coastal cities and ships. Not that it makes our wasteful ways any better.

Litter makes me rage.

We had one town here that proposed banning plasitc water bottles on the beach. because the problem had become so bad. A move I fully support. Im sick of the beaches and ocen getting trashed.

Just back from OBX and there are no plastic bags allowed there.

So my question is there a plan in place to clean it up in anyway? Seems like this is more important then whale wars no??

Lots of towns in California are doing away with plastic trash bags. Bring your own or paper only. I call Texas the plastic bag state. I was amazed at how much plastic is laying around that state.

Here is video on the garbage patch.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - YouTube

Well if I can get a big enough boat to pick some of it up to recycle I'll be rich.

It's like this, If you believe it doesn't exist because you cant see it all floating on the surface in huge piles then your in denial. You probably don't believe that cancer exists either because you cant see that can you. It's remoteness is what keeps the truth at bay for most people because they don't WANT to believe it exists or think it cant hurt them in a personal way so why bother worrying. If you have kids or plan to you should care. The world they will inherit is fast becoming poisonous and causing significant harm to the plants and animals that live on it. I am not a tree huger either but did grow up with backpacking, fishing, farming, etc. In other words I have had a keen eye on the environment indirectly through my daily activities and have noticed many changes in the area I grew up in due to pollution. Such as.... no more frogs in the creek behind the house I grew up in, not a single one. The sound they would make during the summer used to be deafening. Water test indicated high levels of fertilizer compounds.

The mass of floating plastic is really more like a soup beneath the surface where plastics have been largely broken down to the base level so that the water is toxic and does not allow for the food chain to occur normally. It's just a fact and we are all adding to this mass everyday. If more people were even just casually interested in their environment a change could be made but profit, convenience, greed, ignorance, and the "me" as center attitude prevail so change is not possible. It is really not that hard to adopt some simple habits into ones life that reduce your impact, what could it hurt?.

Or just stick your head in the sand and remember/live in the good old days of believing what your government and big business say is good for you. What do they have to loose after all but wealth and power?

Great post, RS!

Then why do we still allow plastic bottles and beer straps. I don't believe they use that stuff in Europe. We do it simply for convenience and that's what pisses me off. We do it because we are lazy.

People in NYC buy water in plastic bottles and NYC water is probably some of the best tasting tap water in the world but people are too damn lazy to fill a container. :mad:

Great Pacific garbage patch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientific name is "Gyre".