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You might have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or “Garbage Island” – a huge natural collection point for all the garbage in the Pacific Ocean. Every ship sheds waste as it travels through the ocean, and tons and tons of plastics find their way into the sea from beaches and shores. A great deal of this trash eventually ends up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is located just north of Hawaii.
The garbage is very dangerous to marine life: as the plastic disintegrates in the waves, enormous amounts of chemicals are released into the ocean. We know where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch exists, and we could feasibly catch the particulates of plastic in nets. So why aren’t we cleaning it up?
Unfortunately for environmentalists, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t sexy. There are no pictures of penguins covered in oil, no cute monkeys or dolphins to save. You can’t see a “Garbage Island” on Google Maps and many Garbage Patch pictures are mislabeled. The problem is that the plastic degrades into tiny particles, and they simply don’t look good on camera.
Regardless, a recent story on CNN.com by Vice Magazine is helping to push the Garbage Island story back into the headlines. They sent a lucky film crew to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where they found very high levels of toxins in the water, but unfortunately, no dying octopi or radioactive sea turtles. (I mean that in the best way possible.) Hopefully, the story will help spread awareness about marine pollution.
The YouTube clip is just a quick overview of the garbage patch. The Vice documentary is linked on the left.
(H/T to CNN, Vice)
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