TIL : That there is an island of garbage in the middle of the ocean the size of the US
(This is not a picture of the patch, as the actual patch is invisible to the naked eye. But like that we might grasp the problem easier)
WARNING - Disturbing images at the end, please be advised.
Well, first of all let’s get the facts sorted:
The patch I'm on about, is located in the Pacific Ocean (unfortunately there are similar, smaller patches in the other oceans too).
It's not actually an island but a patch. The patch extends over an indeterminate area, with estimates ranging widely.
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge and other debris.
The estimate of its size varies from that equals to the size of Texas to that double the size of the USA!
The patch is not easily visible, because it consists of very small pieces that are almost invisible to the human eye.
The density of the plastic according to one scientific study is 5.1 kilograms per square kilometer of ocean!
Estimates of weight range to 100 million tons of garbage (which is up to 1% size of the ocean)!
When I found out about this, I was in shock, I consider myself a widely read and knowledgeable person, but I was not aware of such a catastrophe!
It was discovered by Charles Moore in 1988, based on his research, it was formed by the currents, within the ocean. According to his research 80% of the garbage comes from land and 20% comes from ships. The garbage takes its formation within the patch in the range time between 1 - 5 years.
(This is what the water looks like within the patch)
To understand the problem - think about it this way:
To clean 1% of the patch, you’d first have to hire a ship; let’s say you work for 10 hours per day and do it at the speed of 20 km/h. You would need 67 such ships in a year and it would cost you up to half a billion USD (that’s only to pay for the rent of those ships)!
Just imagine how many animals and fish get hurt and die feeding and living on this garbage. Birds, fish, turtles, seals... The following 2 pictures are just examples of what it causes to the wildlife:
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Thank you steemtrail! Im a fan of yours =)
this is a great initiative, followed!
That's awful to see wildlife suffering because of our disgusting carelessness.
Yep, I would love to see a solution for this thing that actaully works
So sad
none the less a cold hard fact
Yep, I was shocked myself
wow..that's like...ten pounds of tiny too small to see invisible stuff every one million square meters...
how awful..
Terrifying (((
So good to see somebody post about this on Steemit, as a sailor I cant tell how much plastic and stuff I see floating as I make my way around !! This stuff is not just lying on the surface but its actually held in suspension so cleaning it up, if ever will be a monumental job, but one which needs to be done ! I have seen a few projects which try to address the problem but the funding for them seems lacking !! But all this plastic is a gold mine for somebody as indeed it is petrol based and so has a value which might make it minable and I truly hope that somebody will do it soon. But then we need also to stop producing this garbage and that needs serious political will which with our present globalist planet destroyers i doubt that will be soon ( Great post @serejandmyself upvoted of course !!
Yeah I think the bestr way to clean it, would be to tell people that they can earn on it. Then it would be done rathe quickly.
scary
Indeed
Yep, it's truly saddening and mind-boggling. Not only to think that all of this comes back to us in the food chain but that it might be too late to stop it. And that is literally the tip of this "plastic-berg"
Plastic iceberg... that is unfortunatly true and sad
read up on it some time ago and immediately reduced my plastic usage!
I think i need to do the same, but I think the big companies need to start to think about this too
Indeed, but change starts with every single individual. we all need to be the change that we would like to see in the world.
Once the consumers reduce, the suppliers would be forced to reduce as well. only when the cries of individuals become large enough so that big companies can see that the populous responsible for their global income demands a change, will they be swayed. Big companies are swayed by where there bread is buttered!
Totally agree with you!
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