Found @ http://www.helium.com/items/742726-there-hugegrowingfloating-continent-north
There
is a huge,growing,floating "New Continent" in the North
Pacific Ocean. It has been given the popular name "The
Great Pacific Garbage Patch"(Curtis Ebbesmeyer). You may
have never heard of this New Continent, because it has
very few visitors. In fact, the area of the Pacific
Ocean it lies in, is not on any major shipping or travel
pathway. This is a relatively still area of ocean with
few winds to offer commercial sailing vessels or
vacation ships any expedient cruise speed. The winds
that do blow in the region blow toward the vortex
trapping the waste and debris suspended and floating in
the Pacific waters. Thus a "New Continent" composed of
our disposable, throw it away, use it once, world items
has risen from foamy froths of the Pacific Ocean like a
monster in a sci-fi film.
You will find this large floating island of debris between California and Hawaii, in what is called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. This area is where ocean currents meet and create a swirling vortex is known as the horse latitudes region and "something evil this way" smells and swells.
The first measurement of this mound was an estimated 10 miles wide. The last measurement of this ocean garbage patch stated it was 2 times the size of the state of Texas and growing at an extremely fast pace. The projected estimates believe it will expand "tenfold in the next decade".
This "New Continent" is mostly made up of human manufactured waste; 80 percent being plastic. Literally thousand of disposable plastic "throw-away" items fill this ocean area. Things like toothbrushes, plastic shopping bags, plastic pens, plastic six-pack soda holders, plastic umbrella handles and the list goes on and on. It has been estimated by scientists measuring the debris in this area that 3 1/2 tons of human trash is floating, swirling, swimming and suspended in this ocean "landfill".
Historically the accumulation of flotsam was of biodegradable nature (such as shipwreck debris-wood,cloth,mostly organic in nature). Now plastic bags, bottles and numerous other manufactured plastic items that keep their original molecular structure are floating with sneakers, basketball, plastic toys and mounds of other plastic products creating this "New Continent". The convenience of plastic in the modern world has created thousands of products that are not bio-degradable carbon based items. These modern plastic products only break down into smaller pieces of plastic that are still synthetic polymers which can not be digested by living organisms.
Many birds are eating from the "Garbage Patch" along with sea turtles, fish and various other ocean species. Their stomachs are full of plastic products and other disposable human waste never intended to be eaten by any creature (lighters,straws,plastic cup lids,diapers,pellets and much more). Many environmental reports state over 267 species of animals have eaten from or been catch on the this floating Garbage field.
The birds and other animals eventually die from the consumption of this indigestible garbage filling their stomachs, stopping the normal passage of food through their system and causing them to starve to death. It is alarming to know toxic chemical contaminants absorbed from various trash on the floating mass are making their way up the food chain onto our dining-room tables, in the fish we eat. These chemicals include DDT and PCP's, which attach to the plastic as if it were a sponge.
Will this be another legacy our disposable world and consumer driven society leaves to the next generations? The alarming truth is that our oceans everywhere are becoming deluged with plastic with environmental reports estimating 25% of the world ocean waters are becoming "accumulators of floating plastic debris" (Charles Moore, Natural History, V 112, N.9,Nov 02). It is said that over 10% (a low estimate) of the worlds 250 billion tons of manufactured plastic products end up in the ocean (Greenpeace).
Cleaning up the "Garbage Patch Continent" will mean changing our habits and priorities. It seems obvious, to me, that we need to reuse-recycle-reduce use, while holding the corporate world accountable to ocean dumping and make EPA watch where trash collectors dump the junk! This ocean dump is avoidable and there are solutions to stopping its growth, in fact recent studies (Greenpeace - "Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans, 2006) have presented evidence that 80% of all the trash in the oceans comes from "land litter"!
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