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Take out the garbage, Ama ...
08/26/2009 09:09am by Daniel KövaryMore than 35% of the Earth's surface are covered by the Pacific Ocean, the largest of all seas. That is almost 70 million square miles, bigger than all continents combined. Sadly enough, the Pacific Ocean is also the planet's biggest garbage dump. An estimated 3.5 tons of trash are floating in the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch alone.
With his project at Amazee our user Daniel Kövary wants to inform about this and collect ideas in order to find a solution. The problem, in his eyes, is that there has been paid very little attention to this issue until now. Of course, this is an ecological calamity which will not resolve itself, but rather grows with each passing year.
How did this patch evolve? In a nutshell this huge floating garbage dump (which is not the only one, by the way) is made up of waste products of our civilization as well as of lost ships' cargo which are kept a little over 600 miles of the Hawaiian coast by a Pacific current.
The size of the patch is roughly that of Central Europe or twice the size of Texas. Sailorman Charles Moore wrote about it: "As I gazed from the deck over the surface of what should have been pristine ocean I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, by the sight of plastic".
Would you like to find out more about this strange and disturbing phenomenon and contribute to a possible solution of this truly global problem? Then please join the Awareness of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch project!
About this project:
08/21/2009 09:11am by Daniel KövaryThis project is a 1:1 copy from a facebook group with the same title created by Kellen Buckley, who wrote about the group:
"This group is intended to raise awareness of the eastern garbage patch, which is an area in the Pacific Ocean that is littered with plastic. The extent of the plastic in this one spot of the ocean covers an area twice the size of Texas. 3.5 million tons of disposed plastic liter this area. It is almost impossible to see from a topographical standpoint because most of the plastic is translucent and floats a few inches under the surface of the ocean. From the surface of the garbage to the bottom it is estimated to reach 300 ft. the plastic itself doesn’t really migrate because it is trapped in the circular currents of the North Pacific Gyre, which spans thousands of miles.
I think it is crazy the lack of information we are presented with in the current media about this situation. As a result of this the majority of the general public knows nothing about it. Without awareness of this situation, which is a problem on multiple levels, one of the main ones being environmental nothing will ever get done about it. This group is intended to raise some of that awareness, with a variety of links to essays concerning this issue."
Maybe the amazee community will come up with some good ideas to raise awareness, too!
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Pacific Bin
From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6207231....
When the so-called plastic vortex was discovered in 1997 by Charles Moore, an oceanographer and yachtsman, a sense of unreality clung to reports of the huge expanse of man-made debris that he described. IT TOOK HIM ONE WEEK TO SAIL THROUGH!. “As I gazed from the deck over the surface of what should have been pristine ocean I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, by the sight of plastic,” he wrote.
Like the Atlantis of legend, much of the plastic was semi-submerged and hard to photograph from satellites. Unlike Atlantis, it was unquestionably there. Though bypassed until then by most of the world's shipping because it lay in the Pacific's windless “horse latitudes”, it has since been extensively photographed by surface vessels, and its existence has been explained by a system of currents known as the North Pacific Gyre.
When the so-called plastic vortex was discovered in 1997 by Charles Moore, an oceanographer and yachtsman, a sense of unreality clung to reports of the huge expanse of man-made debris that he described. IT TOOK HIM ONE WEEK TO SAIL THROUGH!. “As I gazed from the deck over the surface of what should have been pristine ocean I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, by the sight of plastic,” he wrote.
Like the Atlantis of legend, much of the plastic was semi-submerged and hard to photograph from satellites. Unlike Atlantis, it was unquestionably there. Though bypassed until then by most of the world's shipping because it lay in the Pacific's windless “horse latitudes”, it has since been extensively photographed by surface vessels, and its existence has been explained by a system of currents known as the North Pacific Gyre.
The Environmental Cleanup Coalition
From: http://www.gyrecleanup.org
Mission:
"Our mission as the Environmental Cleanup Coalition is to restore health to a dying ocean. We will create and implement innovative design strategies for cleaning up the floating debris that is clogging the North Pacific Gyre. We will find safer uses for or disposal of the estimated 3.5 million tons of plastic in the ocean today and we will carefully dispose of the unknown amount of debris that will arrive in the future. We will nurture the return and growth of sea life populations in the affected marine environment. We will raise public awareness of the danger of plastics in the ocean and advocate a transformation away from the environmentally destructive “throw away culture” and towards a society that takes responsibility for its waste. Our goal is simple and incredible: the largest environmental cleanup in history."
Mission:
"Our mission as the Environmental Cleanup Coalition is to restore health to a dying ocean. We will create and implement innovative design strategies for cleaning up the floating debris that is clogging the North Pacific Gyre. We will find safer uses for or disposal of the estimated 3.5 million tons of plastic in the ocean today and we will carefully dispose of the unknown amount of debris that will arrive in the future. We will nurture the return and growth of sea life populations in the affected marine environment. We will raise public awareness of the danger of plastics in the ocean and advocate a transformation away from the environmentally destructive “throw away culture” and towards a society that takes responsibility for its waste. Our goal is simple and incredible: the largest environmental cleanup in history."
Project Kaisei
From: http://www.projectkaisei.org/index.html
Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel.
Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel.
Toxic Soup: Plastics Could Be Leaching Chemicals Into Ocean
From: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/plasticoceans/
Although plastic has long been considered indestructible, some scientists say toxic chemicals from decomposing plastics may be leaching into the sea and harming marine ecosystems.
Contrary to the commonly held belief that plastic takes 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, researchers now report that some types of plastic begin to break down in the ocean within one year, releasing potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and other chemicals into the water.
“Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable,” chemist Katsuhiko Saido of Nihon University in Japan said in a press release. “We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future.” Saido presented the work Wednesday at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C.
Several noxious plastic byproducts, including BPA and a substance called styrene trimer, have been detected in small quantities in the ocean, but Saido says this is the first time anyone has shown a direct connection between decomposing plastic and the hazardous chemicals. Both BPA and components of styrene trimer have been shown to disrupt hormone function and cause reproductive problems in animals.
Although plastic has long been considered indestructible, some scientists say toxic chemicals from decomposing plastics may be leaching into the sea and harming marine ecosystems.
Contrary to the commonly held belief that plastic takes 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, researchers now report that some types of plastic begin to break down in the ocean within one year, releasing potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and other chemicals into the water.
“Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable,” chemist Katsuhiko Saido of Nihon University in Japan said in a press release. “We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future.” Saido presented the work Wednesday at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C.
Several noxious plastic byproducts, including BPA and a substance called styrene trimer, have been detected in small quantities in the ocean, but Saido says this is the first time anyone has shown a direct connection between decomposing plastic and the hazardous chemicals. Both BPA and components of styrene trimer have been shown to disrupt hormone function and cause reproductive problems in animals.
An expedition to garbage
From: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local_other/article/CLOS09_200908...
In a seagoing expedition that began last Sunday, students and researchers from Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego will study the patch. Over several weeks, they will identify what kind of plastic is there, how deep it goes and how wide it spreads. They also will examine whether trash provides a vessel for pollutants and invasive species to travel to places they do not belong.
Funding for the project came from the university, Project Kaisei and the National Science Foundation.
"This is a problem that is kind of out of sight, out of mind, but it is having devastating impacts on the ocean," said Mary Crowley, co-founder of Project Kaisei, a nonprofit expedition. "More and more now, you see signs of marine debris and plastic everyplace. You can be at very remote beaches, and you'll see plastic bottles, barrels, toys and a lot of plastic fishing nets."
NOT MUCH IS KNOWN about the garbage-patch phenomenon, including when it began forming or even its exact boundaries. Scientists believe trash -- most of it plastic that won't decompose -- washes down storm drains and rivers, eventually drifting into se
In a seagoing expedition that began last Sunday, students and researchers from Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego will study the patch. Over several weeks, they will identify what kind of plastic is there, how deep it goes and how wide it spreads. They also will examine whether trash provides a vessel for pollutants and invasive species to travel to places they do not belong.
Funding for the project came from the university, Project Kaisei and the National Science Foundation.
"This is a problem that is kind of out of sight, out of mind, but it is having devastating impacts on the ocean," said Mary Crowley, co-founder of Project Kaisei, a nonprofit expedition. "More and more now, you see signs of marine debris and plastic everyplace. You can be at very remote beaches, and you'll see plastic bottles, barrels, toys and a lot of plastic fishing nets."
NOT MUCH IS KNOWN about the garbage-patch phenomenon, including when it began forming or even its exact boundaries. Scientists believe trash -- most of it plastic that won't decompose -- washes down storm drains and rivers, eventually drifting into se
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