Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I think it was Dino who posted about this a while ago or it could have been someone else, I don't know. I don't remember if it was on the old board or on this board either.

I'm watching the Doc on Pivot again from 2013 and just want to say that there needs to be something done about this problem created by us. We brought about this problem and we need to do something about it. We also have to find a way to curb our plastic consumption in the mean time to avoid this from happening again and again.

So, let's try to come up with solutions rather than argue about climate change. I know this thread will turn into a climate change debate even though this thread isn't about climate change. It's about the plastic floating out in the middle of the Pacific ocean and it's so freaking big that we really can't do anything about it, although I think we should try.

I know China won't do anything to help so we need the rest of the world to put pressure on them. I don't know how much of this trash should be blamed on the United States and China but I'm going to guess that is most likely 99% so, we are going to have to take on this responsibility.

Maybe a private company out there, an interprizing company looking to make money can find some use for all this plastic. Build a fleet of special boats that will pull this trash out of the ocean, shred it, deposit it onto barges, ship it to wherever and then do something useful with it or destroy it some how.

The estimates on the size of this thing vary from being the size of Texas to twice the size of Texas to the size of the United States. even by the smallest estimate, THAT'S A LOT OF PLASTIC! And it's hurting the sea life out there. If the oceans die, we will die and we can't allow that to happen.

Another idea and costly would be to shred this stuff, bundle it all up and launch it towards the sun where the sun can burn it up. I know that's not a good solution though.

So, what are your ideas on how to get rid of this stuff?

[Belsnickel]

I'm not an idea man, but I just want to plug something because this thread is a bit timely. The 8th of June is World Oceans Day. The oceans around the world are very important to us for any number of reasons, and things like the garbage patch in the Pacific (which while the largest, is but one of several garbage patches like this) are extremely harmful to ecosystems that are far more delicate than we would like to believe. And I'm not just saying this because I love to eat seafood.

I get that there is a lot of controversy around environmentalist causes because, well, money. But there are some simple things in life that we can do to help these situations, or at the very least prevent them from getting worse.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I'm not an environmentalist but there are some things we just can't ignore. This is a huge problem and needs to be fixed and fixed now. Ignoring this problem will eventually destroy the people on this planet. While I'm sure that over time, the Earth will fix itself, once it does, we will no longer be here. I'm talking about the human race here, not us individually.

If you have the time, just watch the Doc I posted in the OP. it's an hour and a half long but it's important.

[GMDino]

I don't have a plan.

I just hope that more countries WANT to do something about it and TRY to do something about and that effort forces others to join the effort.

[*Nately120*]

I choose not to believe this is real.

[Yojimbo]

The biggest problem isn't large chunks or plastic bottles floating on the surface. The real problem is going to be the very tiny pieces beneath the surface that all kinds of ocean life swallow and suck in through their gills.

It's really any easy fix. We'll just use the Force.

[Vas Deferens]

(06-02-2016, 04:19 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: The biggest problem isn't large chunks or plastic bottles floating on the surface. The real problem is going to be the very tiny pieces beneath the surface that all kinds of ocean life swallow and suck in through their gills.

It's really any easy fix. We'll just use the Force.

This.  And the fact that we are then consuming much larger amounts of chemicals that are in the ocean because the plastics act as a sponge of sorts for these contaminants.  

[Vas Deferens]

Here is another interesting doc on the subject.  They go looking for the garbage patch and their findings are disturbing.


Part 1 of 3

[*Nately120*]

[Beaker]

This kid has a plan:

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/press/show/item/19-year-old-invents-feasible-solution-to-cleanup-ocean-garbage-patches.html

I have posed this question in my Science classroom. You would be amazed at some of the solutions kids will come up with since they do not restrict their thought like adults do.