Next year, something hopefully very good will enter our oceans...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

In 2016, "the longest floating structure in world history" will be placed in the ocean.

Don't worry — it's not another super yacht or party barge or some other contraption that will further pollute the ocean.

Nope, this is a good thing.

It's called The Ocean Cleanup, and it's a 1.2-mile-long system designed to collect and remove plastic from the ocean.

For two years, it will hang out in the ocean hopefully to begin undoing what we've done for decades: polluted the heck out of the water with plastic trash.



The link has the whole article:

http://www.upworthy.com/the-longest-floating-structure-in-world-history-is-about-to-hit-the-ocean-to-fix-a-very-big-problem

[newfie11]

1. Finally some good news for the environment

I really hope this is a success. Whoever funded this I want to say a BIG THANK YOU!

[RiverLover]

2. And a huge thanks to the guy who designed it...he was a teen at the time.

Boyan Slat.

[newfie11]

8. Wow, that's interesting nt

[Art_from_Ark]

3. K&R for environmental cleanup!

Save our water (and air, and soil, and cities, too)!

[MrMickeysMom]

4. Like a robotic pool vacuum?

Woot!

I hope it performs better than the old "Kreepy Krauly" vacuum… We've thrown lots of stuff in there…

[FSogol]

5. K&R. Thanks for posting. n/t

[Dustlawyer]

6. I saw this when he came up with the idea.

I hope it is lit and marked well so boats/ships don't tear it up. Probably have solar panels powering led lights up and down its length.

[Ghost Dog]

10. It's position is fixed:

so will be marked on charts, sailing directions etc.

[X_Digger]

13. It will be fixed, so will act as a fish aggregator.

Any floating structure tends to attract small fish, which in turn attract larger fish, etc. This would be an artificial habitat.

The folks in charge have yet to complete an environmental impact study, detailing how this will affect migratory fish patterns-- pelagic spawned fish often drift on currents until they get to their traditional juvenile growth area. This will disrupt that.

Additionally, no plans have been made to deal with this bycatch of very small fish.

Since it's also an aggregator of plastics, and will attract smaller fish, and those who prey on smaller fish, it will also cause bioaccumulation of plastics in larger fish.

The science ain't there yet.

[Ghost Dog]

14. They claim fish will pass beneath the booms (& plastic

accumulated); little or no by-catch:



/... http://www.theoceancleanup.com/the-technology.html

But I do see this attracting fish, as you say...

[X_Digger]

20. There's a good article on the subject..

http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=18523&utm_content=bufferad344&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Sea life isn't inanimate, to be sorted by buoyancy. Small fish will choose to hide around the booms, and will inevitably be swept up with the plastic.

Anything bigger than a coconut floating in the open ocean will quickly develop a community of fishes. Some of the most incredible communities developed in the marine debris that was a result of the 2011 tohoku tsunami.

[Ghost Dog]

24. Yeah.

Problem.

[Dustlawyer]

15. I am more concerned with the dumbass factor. I am working the Galveston oil spill case where

A tug pushing barges of bunker oil and a cargo ship collided despite radios, radar, real time tracking of each available all on the bridge, because of fog.
This thing is well over a mile long and low to the water. I am sure they have some lighting, but watch what happens. Hope I am wrong!

[Beartracks]

38. Won't it be deployed near enormous floating islands of trash?

Such ocean-going plastic zones would already be on sea charts, wouldn't they?

===========================

[In_The_Wind]

7. That truly is wonderful news!

[malthaussen]

9. Wow, long-term follow up to a news story!

I remember when the kid designed this it was mentioned in the news (and at DU!), and I wondered then if we'd ever hear more of it.

-- Mal

[Renew Deal]

11. Where will the plastic go? Land

Do you want to take up all our land with trash?

[They_Live]

17. I had the same thought.

Can we melt it down and build housing out of it?

[freshwest]

21. The Japanese compressed and encased it as building foundation blocks. That's the best use.

No need to spread it around and let it get loose, or use fandfills.

The next step is to eliminate the stuff at the source. That requires a different economic model than we currently live under. I grew up in an era where people had good paying jobs in relation to the cost of living serving food in restaurants on washable serving dishes and silverware, cups and glasses. The food was made from scratch, less packaging.

Stores wrapped meat in paper, soda bottles were returned to be refilled, there was less packaging on everything, foods were fresh.

The milkman delivered dairy products and milk to the home in glass bottles and took them back and reused them. Before disposable diapers, there were services that took cloth diapers to wash and return.

These were all labor intensive jobs and not looked down onm from the cook to the diaper wash or the laundry man. Those were the days of the 8-hour workday and the 5-day work week.

Now people go for pre-packaged food and disposables because that is all there is in some areas and they are too tired to do the normal things we took for granted in the past. I see few interested in giving those people who would do that work full employment and helping the environment that way.

It would relieve a lot of stress off people and the environment.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. This is what the article says:

The plan is to deploy The Ocean Cleanup near Tsushima, an island between Japan and South Korea, and let it do its thing for two years. Then the next step is to use all the plastic junk it collects as an alternate energy source.

[X_Digger]

12. Yeah, umm. no. The science isn't there (yet).

http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=18523&utm_content=bufferad344&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Some folks who I know know oceanography? Have raised serious questions that have gone (so far) unanswered.

[mountain grammy]

16. I hope it works.

[Omaha Steve]

18. x 2

K&R!

[valerief]

19. That is good, but won't some version of it have to be there forever, given our handling of

fossil fuel plastic and the food/grooming industries' overuse of it? Recycling clearly isn't fixing the problem.

I use bar shampoo now (toxin-free J. L. Liggett's, no plastic, no shipping of fluid) and pure castile bar soap and make my own liquid soap (so easy; shave it while you watch TV) from the same bar soap. I'll be making my own dishwashing soap, too, and laundry soap, although I want to use up my All Free & Clear Mighty Pacs first. I try to buy fresh veggies/fruit instead of prepared. Less plastic. I use biodegradable compostable trash bags, although I'm still too lazy to compost.

These days, fossil fuel plastics aren't much different from nuclear waste. They're killing us, because we don't have a place to put the shit.

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/

[Beringia]

22. kick

[passiveporcupine]

25. Are we really wanting to destroy our new plastic continent

forming in the middle of the ocean? I was hoping it would become big enough to send all the Randians to live on it.

I've been worried about the mass of plastic in the ocean, ever since I heard about it. I do hope this works. Thanks for posting this Peggy.


I wonder how much the plastic sludge would be reduced if we stopped using plastic garbage bags, six-pack rings, and plastic water bottles? Just those items alone are probably a huge part of the plastic in the ocean.

[ladjf]

26. Well, that's a start. Hope it works. It's a big ocean out there.

Might have to produce a few thousand of those machines.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. oh, thank god!!!

Or, thank scientists, ecologists, marine biologists, engineers.......

And the universities that educated them!

[stage left]

28. K&R

I hope it's a huge success. Meanwhile we, my husband and I, will still do our part to keep plastic at bay by recycling. We just got a huge recycling container from our sanitation company. We had two small containers but that wasn't enough.

[SoapBox]

29. It's worth a try to try.

Thank you for posting Ms. Peggy!

[madamvlb]

30. Sure hope this works.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

31. So do I!

[Paka]

32. Ocean cleanup is long overdue.

[babylonsister]

33. Ain't gonna happen, or

so I was told by some 2 years ago...so I am SO GLAD it will!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=41678

[CaliforniaPeggy]

34. Thanks for the link, my dear babylonsister!

I remember that thread. I gave it a rec, even!

More power to that young man.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. It won't work.

Far too many problems. This was designed to capture crowdsourced donations, not plastic.

http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/reduce/plastics/6-reasons-that-floating-ocean-plastic-cleanup-thing-is-a-really-bad-idea.html

It's a pity that crowdsourcing won't hire kids to pick the litter off the beaches that returns to the ocean at the next high tide. Not crazy enough.

[Petrushka]

36. Thanks for the link, Peggy.

I've posted it on my Facebook page.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

37. I brought it over from Facebook, my dear Petrushka!

Talk about full circle!

[marym625]

39. Cool stuff!

Now, just to make sure it works to the best of its ability, let's give it room and take all the offshore drilling out of the ocean!