week 6 news

It is hardly news but the oceans are full of floating garbage and we need to be much more concerned about it than we as a society seem to be. As of 2009, as reported in the New York Times, every pound of plankton in the central Pacific Ocean was offset by 6 pounds of litter. On August 5, 2009 the Times reported the beginning of Project Kasei. The ship set sail to chart the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch", with the goal of increasing awareness of marine debris, its impacts and its possible solutions. The initial thought was that there might be potential for recycling some of this mass, although after time the plastic breaks down into a goopy mess. The organization  celebrated June 11, 2011 as World Ocean Day, collaborating with researchers and recreational users of the ocean to sponsor local beach cleanups.

One problem is debris tossed by fishermen. Its impact on wildlife can be seen in this photo of nets being pulled from the stomach of a dead sperm whale. Another problem is plastic bottles. They float. They wash away in storms. If they make it to the ocean, they get caught in currents and end up in a vortex with tons of other garbage. My personal way of helping with this problem is to use plastic bottles as little as possible. Tap water is rarely so bad that I don't prefer it to buying a bottle of water. The widespread promotion of bottled water as being better for us is simply another lie being foisted on us by various industries and we would do well to ignore it, the consequences of its overuse being what they are.

Project Kaisei - Capturing the Plastic Vortex

www.projectkaisei.org/