I was with a group of people the other week and everyone knew about this except me...
There has been a giant "island" of garbage collecting in one place in the ocean (because of currents) since the 1950's. It's so big that it would cost millions to clean up and it looks like no one is going to.
http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2007/1 ... nd-of.html
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/20 ... reall.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ocean ... 0914.story
Just seems like something that everyone should know about.
Island of garbage
Island of garbage
"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Emily Kulczyk
Emily Kulczyk
Yeah it's a pretty interesting phenomenon (although bad). I saw some photos from some people who sailed through it a while ago, but I've had a quick look and could find them. They were probably on scienceblogs.
One of the reasons it's interesting is that it's pretty much just plastic, which seems to indicate that almost all the plastic is very old, because there are lot of other floating debris in the ocean - driftwood, dead animals etc. but most of that stuff has broken down while this mass of plastic has accumulated. It would be interesting to know how long it takes the plastic to get there and how old it is. Something worth doing a phd on I guess
One of the reasons it's interesting is that it's pretty much just plastic, which seems to indicate that almost all the plastic is very old, because there are lot of other floating debris in the ocean - driftwood, dead animals etc. but most of that stuff has broken down while this mass of plastic has accumulated. It would be interesting to know how long it takes the plastic to get there and how old it is. Something worth doing a phd on I guess
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