It's called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch"

[garybeck]

'Garbage patch' covers vast area of Pacific


(CNN) -- It is a problem of massive plastic proportions -- a giant floating debris field, composed mostly of bits and pieces of plastic, in the northwest Pacific Ocean, about a thousands miles off the coast of California.
Now researchers are trying to learn more about the sea-bound trash zone and perhaps find answers to basic questions.

A crew of scientists from the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography has embarked on a three-week mission aboard the research vessel New Horizon, heading for the debris field to study it.

...snip...

There has been some previous research on this garbage field, but not much. It's been very poorly studied in a scientific sense. Major questions remain:

How how much stuff is there? What size is the stuff? Where is it distributed in the ocean, at the surface or at what depth? What does it do to the food chain, especially the small particles of plastic that may be ingested by smaller organisms at the bottom of the food chain?

While the main focus of the Scripps mission is the impact of this plastic trash on marine life, researchers will gather information on a wide variety of issues.

Here's what scientists do know: They know the size of this zone is huge, maybe as big as Texas. And they know that all the plastic accumulated in the patch has mostly broken down into smaller bits, floating just under the water's surface like confetti, basically a soupy mix of plastic-filled seawater that stretches for maybe thousands of miles.

They know the garbage patch has been growing for many years, and scientists first became aware of the problem years ago when fisherman reported encountering widespread debris. They know there are other debris fields in other oceans of the world, but this one is the biggest.

more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/04/pacific.garbage.patch/index.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I am encouraged to see that they're studying it.

An environmental nightmare of this proportion has to be studied before any solutions can be offered.

And I sure hope they can get rid of it, somehow...

[Maru Kitteh]

11. Yeah, just like climate change. We shouldn't do anything about it right now.

We should study it first.

*sarcasm smiley*

[rve300]

2. Why waste time and money to study it?

Clean it up!!

[lapfog_1]

4. I'm sure that they are open to ideas on the subject...

do you have a suggestion?

[Suich]

8. Welcome to DU, rve300!

They probably need to study "it" to see what "it" actually has in it, I would think.




:hi:

[wroberts189]

10. YES ..JUST CLEAN THE THING UP ALREADY.

No study needed ..we know its there. Send out the garbage barges NOW!

[fascisthunter]

16. one thought arises.... to study it, they may find a very

proficient way of cleaning it up. I agree, with you though... waiting just allows this island of trash to grow bigger.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. k+r, n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Is it becoming sentient? A new form of life that will challenge human domination of the earth?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. ...

:scared:

[Maru Kitteh]

7. If we can dredge the oceans and kill billions of perfectly good fish, why can't we catch garbage?

It's a rhetorical question.

The answer is of course gluttony on both accounts. For gluttony's sake our species continues to gobble down fish, knowing that the oceans are dying. For gluttony's sake we insist on packaging every Goddamned thing in plastic inside of more plastic inside of yet more plastic that we carry it home in, all charged on our plastic bank cards that we monitor from our plastic computers while we sip individual portions of water from plastic water bottles.

If we cannot learn to be better neighbors ans companions, may this planet and it's other inhabitants forgive us one day for what we do.

[garybeck]

17. what would we do with it all? dump it in the ocean ???? n/t

[stuball111]

9. A lot of that gets swept onto the pacific coast

I was on Haida Gwaii, (Queen Charlotte Islands) on the west coast a few years back just below Alaska on a pristine beach on the western (Pacific)side, and while walking on the beach noticed all kinds of plastic crap from rope to fishing nets, to floats, but mostly plastic jugs and drinking bottles all with oriental writing on them. The stuff was carried on the current from Asia, but mostly from fishing boats in the pacific dumping their garbage overboard. It was sick to see all that junk!And it certainly wasn't from the inhabitants of the Islands, which are very few. I think a United nations resolution should be passed making these fuckers go out and pick it all up!

[specialed]

12. It's tons of plastics...

ton after ton after ton.....

The problem is that plastic doesn't biodegrade back into its separate elements it is broken down by sun light into ever smaller pieces until the small unit is a molecule of plastic. This slim of plastic is in the food chain now.

We've fucked the oceans and the blow back is going to be hell.

Rome destroyed itself with lead pipes. Our fall won't be by a great war or natural disaster, but by our own stupidity.

[CrispyQ]

13. I read something recently that stated anytime you see a photo of a beautiful beach,

you can bet it's been 'groomed' prior to the shot.

For a stunning visual, check this out!

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

Gyre, 2009
8x11 feet, in three vertical panels

Depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.
===

It's absolutely fascinting, in a sort of horrifying way, as each pic zooms in.


on edit: link takes you to home page. Click "Running the Numbers II, Portraits of Global Mass Culture" for images of ocean plastic.

[TexasObserver]

14. Recommend

[fascisthunter]

15. we have to do something about this

right now we recycle here in Massachusetts. Our program has been a success, however even recycling plastic is not enough. We need to limit it's use altogether.