Ocean of Trash

Though suspected to be an urban legend, it turns out that there are indeed places in the middle of the Pacific Ocean known as the Western and Eastern Garbage Patches. Populated by plastic disposables that don’t break down in sea water, it has been described as a slowly-rotating mass of trash nearly double the size of Texas. And Texas is a really big state.

A 2002 article from US News and World Report, said that each year trash from the Los Angeles River alone could fill the Rose Bowl two stories high, if it were to empty into it. But unfortunately, despite efforts to capture the trash near the mouth of the river, most of the garbage slips right into the ocean.

According to the L.A. Times article Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took a field trip to where they suspected they might find floating trash: the Subtropical Convergence Zone, where the cold, green, heavier waters from the north slide under the warm, blue waters of the south. The meandering line of buoys, nets, life rings, buckets and other castoffs stretched for hundreds and hundreds of miles. The NOAA researchers never reached the far end of the trash line, their airplane had to turn back before the trash ended.

That same L.A. Times article talks about a piece of plastic found in an albatross’ stomach bearing a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944. Apparently computer models recreated its journey. It showed the piece of plastic spent a decade in a gyre known as the Western Garbage Patch, just south of Japan, before it drifted 6,000 miles to the Eastern Garbage Patch off the West Coast of the U.S., where it spun in circles for the next 50 years.

So what is the solution to this massive problem that is killing wildlife and working its way through the food chain to kill us off eventually too? One step in the right direction is the creation of biodegradable packaging. EarthShell, may finally be making some headway in that direction. Government agencies like the National Park Service are already using EarthShell’s biodegradable plates and packaging, and hundreds of McDonald’s restaurants have experimented with its clamshell boxes.

In the meantime we can each make an effort to reduce the amount of plastics we use by reusing our own food-grade plastic bottles that won’t pollute our bodies or our ecosystem. We can also dispose of our own trash responsibly, and assist in clean up efforts with local organizations that can recycle plastics. The Ocean Conservancy can help you find one in your area. By doing all we can as individuals, we make our own sizable contribution to being part of the solution.

Words: Malayna
http://www.dailymantra.com
http://www.myspace.com/thedailymantra