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MNN: Plastic 'trash islands' forming in ocean garbage patch


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Plastic 'trash islands' forming in ocean garbage patch

 
Researchers speculate that these islands formed after the tsunami that battered Japan in 2011 swept items into the ocean
 
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And thus began the story of the great Pacific garbage patch, a swath of plastic debris, chemical sludge and other trash the size of Texas that is trapped in a vortex between ocean currents. [see Images of the Pacific's Trash Island]
 
More trash
 
Now, 15 years later Moore has returned to the garbage patch, along with five other people, to track its extent once again and study its impact on marine life. The expedition is part of Moore's organization, Algalita Marine Research Institute, a nonprofit focused on reducing marine plastic pollution.
 
One thing they've discovered so far is that there may be more trash on the ocean surface than previously thought. A 2014 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the ocean's plastic may be mysteriously disappearing, with much less debris in the water than had been predicted, based on the global rates of plastic production and disposal.
 
 
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Plastic island
The team has also found more permanent fixtures in the garbage patch's landscape. For instance, the team has discovered a "trash island" more than 50 feet (15 meters) long, with "beaches," a "rocky coastline," and "underwater mountains" and reefs made up of ropes, buoys and other plastic debris, Moore said.
 
Mussels, clams, sea anemones and seaweed were found sheltering on this artificial island, Moore said.
 
 
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As far as I know, The Great Pacific Trash Eddy (Patch) has existed well before 2011 or any tsunami. That event may have added to the already existing trash mass but I recall articles on the subject dating back to 2006 and it was clearly in my consciousness by 2007. 

 

Even as far back as that, the size estimates of the mass were already beyond the size of the state of Texas. So, any additional trash just adds to the galaxy of trash/waste. And apparently it's been a growing mass since the 1950s. 

 

So, not a newcomer. 

 

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Mussels, clams, sea anemones and seaweed were found sheltering on this artificial island, Moore said.
 
 
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It's like a nature preserve....including plastic eating microbes

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This is one of those things it is going to have unintended long term consequences.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/news.2011.191.html

The bacteria/genes for this are going to spread, and we are going to have bacteria eating plastic in places we don't want them.

One of Larry Niven's "Ringworld" stories made reference to the theory that all kinds of beasties may well be evolving in the world's landfills. Millions of separate "universes", each of which contains all kinds of concentrated, exotic, chemicals, in darkness, under pressure. Perhaps mutagenic conditions.

Could give rise to all kinds of things.

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Glad the environmentalists drove every drink to plastic.

 

Recycle Recycle!

I always thought the shift to plastics was cost and convenience based, with most complaints coming from moms worried about the dangers of things like broken glass.

You know you can recycle glass, right?

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Same here. I was appalled with the garbage patch when I first heard of it. It is a true barometer of what we as a civilization have done to our planet. We can argue about man made climate change all day and night. This is something that is physical, and it's growing.

Now from what I've read, it isn't something the size of Texas that you'd have to wade through trash to move around. It contains more garbage than a normal amount of ocean would. This article would leave me that it's turning into more of the former these days.

It saddens me. Nobody will take responsibility for this and thus nothing will ever be done.

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you know there are glass eating microbes?

 

we are all gonna die

What does that have to do with the fact that the point 'which tried to make was an inaccurate one. Maybe my google-fu is weak but I can't find a single thing to support that argument. Major companies have always shifted to plastics for costs and easier shipping, not due to environmental complaints.

Your bag comment was spot on, though. Paper or Plastic? Save a tree, right?

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you know there are glass eating microbes?

 

we are all gonna die

 

I don't think on the surface of Earth glass can be broken down into something in a very thermodynamically favorable manner.  It is already heavily oxidized and that pretty much drives Earth surface enthalpy.

 

I don't think bacteria could get enough energy from breaking down glass on the surface.

 

The bottom of the ocean is a different story.

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we need to make a way to collect this trash and use it something better

 

you could recycle it back to oil/diesel, problem is it is mostly tiny pieces, not islands/piles of it

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and them damn plastic bags.....mug a bottled water drinker and save the world

Nope, the environmentalists want you to use a canvas or hemp reuseable bag. 

 

I covered the patch a couple times on the Prism over the years.  It is indeed a disturbing thing and most scientists believe that it is much larger than what we see as we really are only measuring the plastic on the surface.

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Nope, the environmentalists want you to use a canvas or hemp reuseable bag.

I covered the patch a couple times on the Prism over the years. It is indeed a disturbing thing and most scientists believe that it is much larger than what we see as we really are only measuring the plastic on the surface.

Oh, I figure it's a safe bet that for every piece we see, there's thousands we don't. (Millions?).

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I covered the patch a couple times on the Prism over the years.  It is indeed a disturbing thing and most scientists believe that it is much larger than what we see as we really are only measuring the plastic on the surface.

 

 

I remember, there has been a study or two done on the subsurface ,the texas sized is derived from that ,the surface is not that noticeable.

 

evolution in action

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The Patch is a problem that we have no answer for.  Perhaps, nature will find one.  It'd be better if we could change our habits, but we tend not to

Recall a sci fi book claiming an engineer was fond of the expression that "Nature has a way of relieving elements that have too much stress on them. But wouldn't you rather do it yourself?"

(This line occurred right after a large wooden water tower on the hero's farm collapsed.)

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I read a book about a young 18 year old woman (Tania Aebi ) who solo navigated the world in a sailboat back in the mid 1980's.  She was saying back then that the entire Indian Ocean and large parts of the Pacific were just full of trash from China and India.  She was warned by sailors to watch out for trashed, floating cargo containers which can ram and sink your ship which was the subject of a recent Robert Redford movie.   She also talked about getting woried the plastic bottles were so think in places that her ship would get stuck.   It was horrendous and that was 30 years ago.

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