Plastic Ocean (Seriously what the fuck)

[theicecreamdan]

CDNN :: Plastic Ocean - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (http://www.cdnn.info/news/article/a071104.html)

I don't even really know what to say. This is gross.

[JDM_jonface]

That is seriously no joke. I skimboarded for the better half of twenty years and to see this shit is disturbing! pick up yer fukin trash kooks!:madfawk:

[theicecreamdan]

How many days per year are we willing to accept beaches that are closed due to health concerns?

How can we accept that you can only eat X servings of tuna per month because we have to worry about mercury poisoning?

the size of Texas, and growing???

[tsx1racer04]

Just a few words to get rid of this.

LOBBY LOBBY LOBBY!!! or....organize a group to pick it up, cause we all know our government rather spend it on defense and their wallets, rather than clean up the ocean.

[shiftdrift]

when i went over to the dominican republic to visit my sister in the peace corp we went to santo domingo and the beach there was absolutely DISGUSTING! there was trash everywhere, barrels, glass, the water was all weird colors. it's from trash washing out from others dumping it and ending up on the beach/coast. the water is very hazardous and you'll die if you swallow it or swim in it for that matter.

[az_240]

I was expecting pics.

It's like that in a ton of places....The human population is accelerating more so than ever and unfortunately will only get worse. There is no money involved in cleaning stuff like that up.... why would any govt be motivated to clean it up?

On a side note I always pick up random trash.

[S13SilviaGirl]

In Japan, near Iwo Jima, all of the tanker ships pass by, the fishing boats, you name it it floats by, almost all of Invasion Beach is COVERED in trash. It was heartbreaking.

What I think of when Iwo is Mentioned:
http://film.culturalnews.net/myPictures/2007101%20Iwo%20Jima%20Watanabe%20Ken.jpg

What is Really there the majority of the year (unless hollywood wants to film there):
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b6dd01b3127ccecdfdd7950dd200000010O01AbOWTFm2YsQ e3nw0/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b6dd01b3127ccecdfd3fbd0d8e00000010O01AbOWTFm2YsQ e3nw0/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[Otto347]

lol the only thing that this world needs to get rid of is humans. We are like a fucking disease and only getting worse.

[fckillerbee]

lol the only thing that this world needs to get rid of is humans. We are like a fucking disease and only getting worse.

speak for yourself! The "EARTH" didn't have to create humans. All we need is people to pickup after theirselfs. AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD....pick up 1 piece of trash per day. Imagine...if all of us did it.

[theicecreamdan]

and put it where? Can you imagine if all of our trash magically did end up in the landfills?

Shit, San Diego's landfill is supposed to be full in 6 years. Then they'll dig another hole and fill that up in another 6 years. Then what?

We're running out of space between the shit pile and the fan.

[Brian]

Soooooo, has anybody found this on Google Earth or what?

[Pactin]

Soooooo, has anybody found this on Google Earth or what?
Doubt you will. Misconception about the "plastic ocean" is that, although it encompasses an area larger than texas, it is NOT a solid landmass. Noone can actually walk across it as most of hte plastic is not linked or bound together. It would be easier to try and find dead whales floating than indistinguishable plastic and waste. And that's if they had "street view" in the ocean.

[drftmark]

Why don't they just collect all of it, bag it up in hefty bags, and throw them back out with some cinder blocks so it will sink way down to the bottom of the ocean where the pressure will crush all of it for us and no one will see it.

[Firestorm]

i sure hope to god that was sarcasm.

[JohnnyDrfiter22]

drftmark, if you read the article you will see that scientist link these plastics in our water to obesity, cancers, etc. we need to correct matters! send the trash to outter space or something!

[fckillerbee]

and put it where? Can you imagine if all of our trash magically did end up in the landfills?

Shit, San Diego's landfill is supposed to be full in 6 years. Then they'll dig another hole and fill that up in another 6 years. Then what?

We're running out of space between the shit pile and the fan.

Send it to Iran. lol. regardless, we are making more trash than the earth can dissolve. that being the case...we either will end up leaving earth....

or...we can make the trash leave earth. Either way...if we don't control the waste being made to dissolve faster, then we are going to be forced to move.

[murda-c]

can't they just dig landfills deeper down under the water table or someseeng?

then in a couple thousand years maybe those plastics will turn into something useful like organic matter did?

[fckillerbee]

Why don't they just collect all of it, bag it up in hefty bags, and throw them back out with some cinder blocks so it will sink way down to the bottom of the ocean where the pressure will crush all of it for us and no one will see it.


???? what....because "trash" implodes to nothing? :cj::bash:

what were you thinking?

I'm sorry that was mean....it wont work cause the cinder blocks will implode first, and the bags will then rise to the surface...

[jspaeth]

You guys are not really sure of what is going on here.

It is not "macroscopic" pieces of plastic.

Granted, it is still bad for the water, but it's not like there are milk jugs floating around.

I talked to a scientist who knows about this, and basically the "plastic ocean" is a region where the plastic content is higher than everywhere else.

How high?


I believe he said 2-3 pieces of plastic of around the size of a pea or smaller per 1000 liters of water.

Again, bad for the environment, no doubt, but a perfect type of thing for Al Gore and people like him to embellish and use to mislead people.

EDIT:

From Wikipedia:

Density of neustonic plastics

The patch is not a visibly dense field of floating debris. The process of disintegration means that the plastic particulate in much of the affected region is too small to be seen. Researchers must estimate the patch's overall extent and debris density from samples. In a 2001 study, researchers (including Moore) found concentrations of plastics at 3.34 pieces per square meter with a mean mass of 5.1 milligrams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milligrams) per square meter[19] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch#cite_note-18) . In many areas the overall concentration of plastics was seven-fold greater than the concentration of zooplankton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooplankton). Samples collected at deeper points in the water column found much lower levels of debris (primarily monofilament fishing line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monofilament_fishing_line)), confirming earlier observations that most plastic waste concentrates in the upper water column.


For those of you that do any lab work or aren't used to working in mg, a mg is INSANELY tiny. 5 mg is like a couple sprinkles of salt, literally.

[fckillerbee]

^^^I understand how small that is....however...multiplied by the size of texas and we get what? something the size of a house? a city? what are we talking about?

[OBEEWON]

Oh jeeze.

+1 jspaeth

[theicecreamdan]

Obviously not big enough to care about, its just another person trying to mislead us. To what end? Picking up after yourself?

Some people have such horrible motives for misleading us.

Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All -- And Fast (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090820-plastic-decomposes-oceans-seas.html)

In many areas the overall concentration of plastics was seven-fold greater than the concentration of zooplankton. Samples collected at deeper points in the water column found much lower levels of debris (primarily monofilament fishing line), confirming earlier observations that most plastic waste concentrates in the upper water column.

Right in the most productive areas of the ocean, where plankton gets eaten and transferred into the food chain where it ends up in my stomach messing.

Nothing you have given makes this less alarming.

[Otto347]

All we need is people to pickup after theirselfs. AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD....pick up 1 piece of trash per day. Imagine...if all of us did it.

Good luck with your "fairytale" Most of the people on this earth dont give a fuck about it and thats the problem. Finding out a way to get rid of the people is the answer.

[fckillerbee]

Good luck with your "fairytale" Most of the people on this earth dont give a fuck about it and thats the problem. Finding out a way to get rid of the people is the answer.

Go kill yourself...that's a start to get rid of a problem.

Try helping rather than posting negative comments about a problem you are not trying to help resolve in any manner. Its easy to blame everyone else....

[drftmark]

Only one person seems to have detected my sarcasm...

but on a serious note, all this talk about getting rid of "people" is retarded. If someone wants to get rid of people to save the earth, they should start with themselves.

Then the rest of the population can use critical thinking and problem solving skills to derive a better solution.

[Otto347]

Go kill yourself...that's a start to get rid of a problem.

Great answer kiddo, I however am not the problem.

Ok im done here, its not the place to start debating about mass human execution. Back to garbage talk.

[OBEEWON]

Polution is a shame. We do need to take better care of the environment. But the sensationalism and propaganda is out of hand.

LOL at this causing obesity. People will believe anything politicians and paid for "scientists" say.

Y2K much?

[kandyflip445]

Build a Wall-E. w00t.

[HalveBlue]

TOXIC: Garbage Island 1 von 3 - TOXIC | VBS.TV (http://www.vbs.tv/de/watch/toxic/toxic-garbage-island-1-of-3)
TOXIC: Garbage Island 2 of 3 - TOXIC | VBS.TV (http://www.vbs.tv/de/watch/toxic/toxic-garbage-island-2-of-3)
TOXIC: Garbage Island 3 von 3 - TOXIC | VBS.TV (http://www.vbs.tv/de/watch/toxic/toxic-garbage-island-3-of-3)

But I'm not worried. This sounds like another pinko, hippie, communist plot to decrease the American standard of living.

And I won't stand for it.

:rolleyes:

[TurboSE]

wow, that's just really sad...

[jspaeth]

Polution is a shame. We do need to take better care of the environment. But the sensationalism and propaganda is out of hand.

LOL at this causing obesity. People will believe anything politicians and paid for "scientists" say.

Y2K much?
Agreed completely

[flip3d]

Wall-E is a true story.

[tac 1]

Build a Wall-E. w00t.

or someone develop a genetically engineered bacteria that will feed on these microspcopic plastic and shit out planktons.. Lol

[Bubbles]

The only time I get to go to the beach is on trash day.

[wh0aitznic0]

What if all the garbage in the landfills were just burned in one MASSIVE bonfire?

[ILoveMyRHS13]

What if all the garbage in the landfills were just burned in one MASSIVE bonfire?
Then the rest of the world would smell like New Jersey. :ddog:

[jspaeth]

or someone develop a genetically engineered bacteria that will feed on these microspcopic plastic and shit out planktons.. Lol

Something like this isn't that far off.

Then the rest of the world would smell like New Jersey. :ddog:

Hey, that's wack, considering you are from PA....you should know that MOST of NJ (aside from the shitholes of Camden, Trenton, and the area immediately outside NYC) is actually really nice.

Get back in your horse and buggy and go back to Lancaster!

[Max_PSi]

I don't understand what the problem is. At least we know where the plastic is collecting.

I wish my garbage bags would collect their asses at my curb twice a week so I wouldn't forget about trash day.

[singlecamslam]

wear a damn condom, stop populating the earth, adopt.

[HalveBlue]

I don't understand what the problem is. At least we know where the plastic is collecting.

I wish my garbage bags would collect their asses at my curb twice a week so I wouldn't forget about trash day.

Here's the problem:

The plastics break down in the water to the point where they mimic plankton. This is then absorbed and passed on through the food chain.

Plastic has no nutritional value whatsoever. So whatever organism depends on plankton as their primary food source will encounter some serious health issues. This might at least partially explain why fish stocks in the world's oceans are noticing severe declines.

Aside from that, a lot of the chemicals contained in plastics aren't expelled from the organisms that ingest them. These chemicals are then passed up the food chain.

Pretty big problem if you ask me.

[dert420sx]

They just found another floating garbage patch in the Atlantic.
Is anybody else alarmed by this?

A 2nd garbage patch: Plastic soup seen in Atlantic - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_atlantic_ocean_junk)