Pacific Trash Vortex Could Signify Future of Our Oceans
by Summer Rayne Oakes on 04. 1.08
The carcass of an albatross on the beach; birds and sea mammals mistake plastics for food then inevitably starve to death. This is the bird’s actual gut sample. Photo courtesy Algalita.org.
Traveling the open oceans is not for everyone—sea mist, salt spray, tossing rock-a-bye-baby waves, and Dramamine days. Some people, though, were born for it. Case in point: Captain Charles Moore, third-generation resident of Long Beach, California and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. Now just more than sixty years of age, the weathered seafarer is the principal researcher on the ocean studying the pelagic plastic phenomenon in the Pacific. I recently had the privilege to head out on one of their research trips on behalf of Planet Green to understand the issues that are at hand. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/great_pacific_garbage_patch.php
Head out to the center of the Pacific halfway between Hawaii and California, and you’ll see the thin, filmy island of floating trash that is estimated to be double the size of Texas. You don’t need to go that far, though, if you want to see trash, as the captain pointed out. It’s everywhere. Multiple paths of Ziploc baggies, bottle caps, balloons, pretzel bags, and other debris lead you to the swirling trash vortex like a trail of bread crumbs. In the most polluted areas, the plastic-to-plankton ratio is 48 to 1. It’s become part of the oceanic landscape. Net a piece of plastic, and you’ll find barnacles and small crabs clinging to it. Not a good thing for fish, birds, and mammals that mistake it for its natural food, such as eggs, jellyfish, or other sea creatures. Most of the plastic will eventually photo-degrade into small, dust-like particles to the point that it will be non-detectable to the human eye, but ingestible by sea mammals, birds, and fish—many of which we then consume ourselves.
One thing the captain said to me really hit home. “I lived in a world that was pre-plastic,” he said, turning to face me. “I am the last generation to witness a clean ocean, free from plastic. All succeeding generations will only see an ocean filled with trash.”
Damn. I think back to my childhood. Have I really only laid witness to Saran-Wrapped seas and littered beaches?
Back at the Sea Lab I noted some pretty effective ad campaigns hanging up on the walls, labelling the “Non-native Species of the California Coast”--satirical posters with images of a Cola Bass—half-fish half-soda can—and a Cig Egret—an elegant white egret with a cigarette for a bill. They're farcical, but memorable. I spied an actual photo of an albatross, its black oily wings spread out on the rocky beach as if it had been crucified. Its gut was open and neatly filled with plastic—toys, straws, bottle caps, cigarette lighters, plastic bags. I commented how powerful of an ad campaign it was. The lab manager looked puzzled.
“That’s not an ad campaign,” she said frowning. “That’s the actual gut sample.”
The Los Angeles Public Works department removes debris caught by booms from the L.A. River after a storm. Photo courtesy Algalita.org.
All that plastic was once hailed as a great technological breakthrough. Remember that famous quote from The Graduate (1967), when Ben (Dustin Hoffman) got an earful of "advice" from his neighbor about how to improve his future?
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you--just one word.
Ben: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Ben: Yes I am.
Mr. McGuire: "Plastics."
Ben: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Ben: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.
Something tells me the state of the ocean, with this giant trash vortex, is not exactly the “great future” that Mr. McGuire was referring to. Now only time will tell if the technology, the infrastructure to deal with the waste, and behavior such as recycling will catch up with our eagerness to embrace a plastic-wrapped world.
See Also: "Waiter...There's a Fly in My Plastic Soup" and The Great Pacific Garbage Debate: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Stay tuned this summer for more of Summer Rayne’s journey to the Pacific Trash Vortex on-air on Planet Green.
I struggle to believe that nobody's investigating how to trawl the gyre for plastic. There are allready fishing trawlers that have nets that are miles long and can catch entire schools of fish, just take those and a few hundred barges and trawl that sucker. Plastic is a petrochemical, and oil is getting more expensive. Sure, the growth of the gyre is probably faster than we can realistically trawl it, but we could keep its growth in check.
I heard about this texas sized mass of trash in the past... I have always hoped it was fake... Unfortunately the longer I listen to these things, the more I am hearing... absolutely frightening to think it is true. I wish I could bury my head in the sand for just a few more years...
-ryan
“I lived in a world that was pre-plastic,” he said, turning to face me. “I am the last generation to witness a clean ocean, free from plastic."
That truly is heartbreaking.
I read an article that said, if memory serves, that only around 1% of the funds that go into the environment and conservation goes into oceanic problems while all the rest goes to land-based projects. Even if my recollection fails and it's 10%, the oceans provide food, affect our weather, are a potential source of immense, sustainable power... It's criminal that we treat them with such utter disdain.
Steve N. Lee
author or eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
These powerful images need to go public. Too many brainless unsavvy consumers assume "disposal" means stuff magically evaporates once it hits the trash chute; it just becomes somebody's else's problem... everyone's problem. HOW do we reverse such 'stinkin' thinkin''?
Until people wake up and live each moment conscious of each action they take this type of garbage will keep happening. I'm not surprised, disgusted yes, but not surprised.
We are unconsciously destroying everything we love including our waters!
I think many people don't feel so bad about using plastic because they think most of it gets recycled which is not true... Only a fraction of the plastic we "recycle" in our green bins actually gets recycled. Rather, we should reduce and reuse, by opting for durable products that will last more than a generation.
We traveled around quite a bit to try and find durable alternatives to plastic and what we came up with is available through our website:
http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com
As consumers, we have become such a plastic-dependent society that almost everything around us contains some plastic... Our website is a start.
Chantal Plamondon
It seems to me that it's not necessarily the plastic that's the problem with our oceans but rather the people that discard plastic in the oceans.
Can this island of plastic be seen by satellites?
I wonder if it is on any of the internet maps, such as GoogleEarth?
I wouldn't know where to start to access this or how to post the URL of such an image... but could one of the techies at Treehugger do it???
John Cossham, York, UK
Surely it's time to pay for the global commons. How much happier would we be if there was 5 to 10 global parks being maintained and funded appropirately where man's influence was minimal or none at all. At least it would buy us some time unitl we had global government capable of working out the long term managment of this planet with 7-9bn people on it.
NPR's This American Life had segment about this back in 2003. It's right in the beginning, only a few minutes long:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1005
There could be a project, a project funded by all the corporations and companies on this planet who produce the plastic found in the ocean: Ships to skim the surface, on-site oil platforms retrofitted to do recycling, some sort of filtering system made of chemicals and mechanisms and human hands to separate our poison from the ocean. Circle the trash island, work on it, shrink it, never leave a legacy like that again.
How would we put such a project into place? To whom do we appeal? What can we do in the meantime? Is there anyone already working on a solution to this that isn't tainted by goals other than helping to end this travesty?
We're shitting where we eat; this can't go on forever.
I've been hearing about this for some time. The folks at Carbonfund.org first made me aware of it. The guyre is disgusting. But... where has everybody been for the last few decades??? Plastic trash is EVERYWHERE!
We need to make better choices, such as re-using our plastics and choosing not to purchase disposable plastics as often as possible. Paper or Plastic they ask? Neither! How about stone!
There ARE materials out there that have less plastic. The treehugger police won't let me post much about options here but fiberstone rock paper is one. I can't give you a website but it's out there and it's a step in the right direction. It replaces 100% HDPE containers, banners, labels, etc...
Dig around and you'll find it.
Webmaster- please don't delete this. There IS good info in this post.