The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Today, scientists believe the world's largest garbage dump isn't on land but it is in the

Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, stretching 10 million miles from

the coast of California to China floating on either side of Hawaii and swirling beneath the

surface. It's estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas. It consists of 100 million tons

of discarded plastic such as water bottles, bags, DVD cases, toothbrushes, toys, shampoo bottles,

plastic wrap, Tupperware, credit cards, plastic plates and cups eyeglasses just to name a few

items.

Over the next decade, it is predicted that its size will double. Right now it is

approximately 30 meters deep and every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating

plastic. According to Fabien Cousteau, grandson to the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, this

enormous garbage swirl also affects sea birds, turtles and beluga whales—can't speak for

themselves. "They get caught in these nets, or they swallow some of these bottle caps," Fabien

says. "Killer whales, which are kind of our mirror, our canary in the coal mine, so to speak, are

ingesting all sorts of things that are affecting their health." People have no idea that plastic bags

are creating such a huge environmental hazard by ending up in the ocean. Materials made of

wood, minerals, plants, rock, clay, silk and glass eventually will crumble obediently into the soil.

Plastic is not biodegradable, it just breaks into smaller pieces, like microscopic pellets

of plastic in the billions and into the oceans where they soak up toxins and are absorbed by sea

jellies. The food chain does its thing, to fish to our plates, and w...

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http://algalita.org/

http://www.fabiencousteau.org/

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home

http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/