World's largest collection of ocean garbage is now twice the size of Texas

[riversedge]

Source: USA Today



10:10 a.m. ET March 22, 2018 | Updated 12:37 p.m. ET March 22, 2018

http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=93075&siteSection=inform_oembed&videoId=33532672





The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of plastic, floating trash located halfway between Hawaii and California, has grown to more than 600,000 square miles, a study published Thursday finds. That's twice the size of Texas.

Winds and converging ocean currents funnel the garbage into a central location, said study lead author Laurent Lebreton of the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, a non-profit organization that spearheaded the research.

First discovered in the early 1990s, Lebreton said the trash in the patch comes from countries around the Pacific Rim, including nations in Asia as well as North and South America.

The patch is not a solid mass of plastic. It includes some 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic and weighs 88,000 tons — the equivalent of 500 jumbo jets. The new figures are as much as 16 times higher than previous estimates.....................................

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/03/22/great-pacific-garbage-patch-grows/446405002/

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(Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)






Seabirds are Filled with Plastic, Here’s Why https://social.newsinc.com/media/json/69017/33532672/singleVideoOG.html?type=VideoPlayer%2FSingle&widgetId=2&trackingGroup=69017&videoId=33532672#.WrPc_AN6sPQ.twitter

[logosoco]

1. We would be so much better off as a planet if we made things from

biodegradable plastic, using hemp or corn or any other type of plant. We could do this. But, we don't.

[cbdo2007]

2. We really need to start shooting this stuff into space.

We could aim it somewhere where it would literally never hit anything for the next billion years.

[NotASurfer]

3. How long before Texas pledges to double its garbage production?

Because if that patch is bigger, Texas logic dictates doing something to top it

[argyl]

9. That is some really silly shit there, bub.

[Le Gaucher]

4. Jupiter has the great Red spot .. We have the great garbage spot

[radliberal]

5. All the Republican garbage in one place

next!

[YOHABLO]

6. ''The Graduate'' 1967

" Plastics. Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean? Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?"

[Plucketeer]

7. ALL the folks that only had derisive remarks

for me as to my theories about the wave of extinctions we're seeing. I'd like them to tell me just WHERE on this planet would they set up preserves for various creatures who's natural habitats we've trashed and made uninhabitable. With many square miles of rain forests and savannas disappearing EVERY DAY, where would we put these revived species? Just where would you propose we take a stand for the last of those Northern White Rhinos we've heard about? Build a Rhino Fortress perhaps? To what eventual end? Especially when SO MUCH real estate is gonna disappear thanks to pole melts. Too late to grab for straws now - they're all out there off the California coastline.

This floating trash archipelago is a great example. With Sea Turtles under siege from all sides - and their egg-laying grounds being threatened by rising sea levels - just how would we defend these beautiful creatures against the dangers of this sea-going garbage patch? Trying to hold ground against the avalanche of threats is about as futile as trying to stir hot soup with a candle!

[FakeNoose]

8. +1000

RIP Mother Earth

[crazycatlady]

10. There was a documentary about this on Netflix

It made me give up bottled water. Since then I've also given up using plastic shopping bags.

I wish people would take steps in reducing their use of single-use plastic.

[Raine]

11. I wish the talking heads on the TV

would cover some issues like this one...