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Originally Posted by Christien
How is this possibly political? It's an environmental issue, which is (or at least should be) completely bi-partisan.
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Because the people who work for this organization are hard-core environmentalists.
Past history has shown us that these types of people often greatly exaggerate conditions in order to generate interest and grant money.
That may or may not be the case in this situation.
Their financial statement reveals that they recieved $750,486 in grant money in 2008, up considerably from the year before.
A company I worked for for 9 years is a major contributor. They contribute to keep certain other groups off their back. Kinda like they used to do in chigaco and New York a long time ago.
It is hardly bi-partisan.
Let me ask you a question:
if they put out a report that stated there was a little plastic floating in this area but it's not enough to seriously worry about, how much money do you think they'd collect in donations and grants?
Now, I think we can safely say there is a garbage patch, it is real, it does exist.
But how big is it and how severe is this problem?
We have a few posters in this thead that are ready to declare that the end is near and the world and human race is in danger!
Based on what?
This is taken from NOAA's website (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration)
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How big is the “garbage patch”?
There's really no accurate estimate out there on the size of this debris hot spot. The STCZ, which contains the debris, does not have distinct boundaries and thus the debris in this area cannot be accurately measured. The STCZ is an enormous area without an even distribution of marine debris--it might be a net here, or a buoy there, then in other areas a good-sized swath of litter items, or sub-surface pieces.
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Estimates of size can vary from hundreds of square miles to hundreds of thousands of square miles depending on who is doing ther estimating.
Some folks like to make it sounds like it's one giant solid pile of junk. It isn't.
It's an area where trash and garbage is more concentrated than in other areas.
Let's look at it from a reality standpoint, OK?
