South Pacific Gyre
Mar 13, 2018 9:16:29 GMT -5
Post by 40oz on Mar 13, 2018 9:16:29 GMT -5
Although I'm not very big on the idea of an afterlife, I realize the earth is probably going to last much longer than my time here living on it, and because of that, I'm a little bit of a nut about the long term effects of pollution and how it might effect people who live generations ahead of me.
For decades, trash has been dumped in the ocean. People have been dumping long before it was recognized as a problem. The plastic in our trash just floats around in the ocean. The currents of the ocean have carried these plastics for so long that they've formed a giant garbage patch the size of a small island out in the ocean known as the "South Pacific Gyre"
Because this trash doesn't decompose on its own, it's destined to stay there and grow as long as more trash gets added to it. Animals get stuck in it, other debric gets caught in it, etc. These plastics do, however, rub and collide with each other, breaking down into plastic particles known as "microplastics"
Fish mistake the microplastics as food particles, they eat it. Then birds eat the fish, The birds eventually die, and then scavengers eat the birds. It causes a ripple effect of water pollution that has enabled plastic to get inside of our food chain, and will, or in some ways, already has, contaminated the food that we eat.
The good news however, is that this is recognized as a problem, and there is an experiment headed by Boyan Slat to contain the garbage patch so it can be harvested and recycled into usable plastic within the next 5 years. This experiment is set to go into effect some time this year.
For decades, trash has been dumped in the ocean. People have been dumping long before it was recognized as a problem. The plastic in our trash just floats around in the ocean. The currents of the ocean have carried these plastics for so long that they've formed a giant garbage patch the size of a small island out in the ocean known as the "South Pacific Gyre"
Because this trash doesn't decompose on its own, it's destined to stay there and grow as long as more trash gets added to it. Animals get stuck in it, other debric gets caught in it, etc. These plastics do, however, rub and collide with each other, breaking down into plastic particles known as "microplastics"
Fish mistake the microplastics as food particles, they eat it. Then birds eat the fish, The birds eventually die, and then scavengers eat the birds. It causes a ripple effect of water pollution that has enabled plastic to get inside of our food chain, and will, or in some ways, already has, contaminated the food that we eat.
The good news however, is that this is recognized as a problem, and there is an experiment headed by Boyan Slat to contain the garbage patch so it can be harvested and recycled into usable plastic within the next 5 years. This experiment is set to go into effect some time this year.