In this article I read about a huge garbage patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean about the size of the continental U.S. About 80% of this comes from land and it’s estimated that there’s about 100 million tons of debris. The remaining 20% comes from cruise ships and other boats, a cruise ship drops off about 8 tons of solid waste weekly. A lot of the plastics that don’t biodegrade just break up and are ingested by the marine life which could lead to problems in the ecosystem.
05
Mar
10
1 Response to “Garbage Island…future paradise?”
Wow, this is really sad. Referred to as the Pacific Gyre or the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, this area is a catch-all for the ocean’s debris. This region covers an area that is roughly the size of Texas. It is caused by several major sea currents converging in the Pacific gyre bringing debris from the coasts of Southeast Asia, North America, Canada and Mexico. Between all of these coasts there is roughly 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer. The debris caught form these converging waters unfortunately kills a million sea birds and over 100,000 sea mammals a year. Chemists are experimenting with variations of how to break down the hundreds of pounds of plastics left in the ocean, in attempt to reduce the 100 million pounds of debris harming the helpless animals. Why do you think this area has gone for so long without being addressed, and why aren’t more actions being taken up to solve it.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/5208645/Drowning-in-plastic-The-Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch-is-twice-the-size-of-France.html