The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
By: Mickey Weems, posted by Beachmonkey April 1, 2012 12:09 pm in Social Life
It’s as big as Texas.
No, it’s twice as big as Texas!
No, it’s as big as the continental USA.
No, it’s TWICE as big!!!
No, you socialist tree-hugger. It’s a myth, just like global warming.
What It Is
“It” is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of trashed ocean north of Hawai’i. The GPGP is the media’s favorite new eco-threat. As with all such threats, the biggest challenge is getting people to understand what exactly it is.
First of all the GPGP is not new, and it is not alone. Scientists in the 1980s assumed something like it already existed even before they saw evidence of it. Here is why.
Our oceans have large currents that flow along the edges of continents. The Gulf Stream is one such current, part of a larger circle that flows from the Caribbean up the Atlantic Seaboard of the USA and Canada, then around the northernmost Atlantic to the coast of Western Europe, returning to the Caribbean after skirting Northwest Africa. This is the outer part of the North Atlantic Gyre, a colossal vortex covering thousands of square miles in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. There is also a South Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, South Pacific Gyre, and Indian Ocean Gyre. Gyres that are south of the equator spin counterclockwise, and those north of the equator spin clockwise.
Within each gyre, some of the debris that gets carried by the current makes its way into the middle, far away from the continental coastlines. Trash of all kinds, including plastic trash, gets caught in the flow. It makes sense that there are massive concentrations of garbage within each of the five major ocean gyres, especially those with currents that pass along major population centers such as the North Pacific and North Atlantic gyres. Since plastic is a form of garbage that often floats and does not decay quickly, it is once again logical to assume that lots of plastic is floating in these areas.
These assumptions have been confirmed by oceanographers that visit the vast waters of the Pacific to the north of the Hawaiian Islands Scientists are alarmed by high concentrations of plastic, much of it very small pieces, in the pelagic zone (the water between the coasts and the ocean floor) within the North Pacific Gyre. They also encounter areas of massive garbage right on the surface, much as we would expect the gyre to produce.
What It Is Not
But the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not the Greenpeace equivalent of Godzilla. It is not a gigantic island of floating plastic trash the size of the Lone Star State. Like most threats to the ecology, the real problem is not so obvious.
It is not visually spectacular like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which produced a visible layer of pollution over a humongous area, one visible by satellite, one that denied life forms in the ocean safe access to the surface and polluted the very water they depended on for oxygen and food. Remember that the Northern Pacific is a region that is swept by storms and crosscurrents that may occasionally allow a visible build-up of debris, then hours later disperse it. The garbage within that region is not uniformly dispersed- some areas may be trashier than others.
(bp oil spill)
What It Does
The GPGP and its fellow garbage patches have 2 major effects that we know of: they are sites of tons of plastic and other waste that spread out as the sea and sun change their chemical make-up. Some of the plastics break down into smaller and smaller pieces, which then make their way into the food chain. Different toxic chemicals are also released, and we do not know the long-term impact of these substances.
On the other hand, larger pieces of floating trash become home to many forms of sea life. We do not know how many plants and animals can use the various kinds of plastic as food or shelter, but life is creating little ecosystems among the litter. That’s the way life works.
The biggest issue at hand is the declining health of sea life today. Over-fishing, pollution, and climate change have negatively affected life in the oceans, especially advanced life forms such as fish, birds and mammals (seals, walruses, dolphins and whales). We are already observing thousands of species that are having a tough time adapting to the rapidly changing ocean.
But like climate change, the reality of so much garbage is not obvious to the everyday person. It takes scientists to put all the pieces together.
Knowledge Is Power
What can we do about it?
Stay informed. Watch out for hysteria from the media concerning a monstrous Godzilla Garbage Patch. If such a thing actually does happen, we will be able to see it.
At the same time, realize that what we don’t see can be just as dangerous. Pay attention to consensus in the scientific community. Researchers are a cantankerous lot, and they always try to outdo each other. If you see them reach the same conclusions despite the high level of competition they have among themselves, listen to the scientists.
If these conclusions threaten wealthy corporations with CEOs who don’t give a damn about the planet, you will also see a few sell-out scientists who are willing to say whatever their corporate masters want them to say. Learn to tell the difference between real science and pseudo-scientific, profit-driven “research.”
No, it’s twice as big as Texas!
No, it’s as big as the continental USA.
No, it’s TWICE as big!!!
No, you socialist tree-hugger. It’s a myth, just like global warming.
What It Is
“It” is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of trashed ocean north of Hawai’i. The GPGP is the media’s favorite new eco-threat. As with all such threats, the biggest challenge is getting people to understand what exactly it is.
First of all the GPGP is not new, and it is not alone. Scientists in the 1980s assumed something like it already existed even before they saw evidence of it. Here is why.
Our oceans have large currents that flow along the edges of continents. The Gulf Stream is one such current, part of a larger circle that flows from the Caribbean up the Atlantic Seaboard of the USA and Canada, then around the northernmost Atlantic to the coast of Western Europe, returning to the Caribbean after skirting Northwest Africa. This is the outer part of the North Atlantic Gyre, a colossal vortex covering thousands of square miles in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. There is also a South Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, South Pacific Gyre, and Indian Ocean Gyre. Gyres that are south of the equator spin counterclockwise, and those north of the equator spin clockwise.
Within each gyre, some of the debris that gets carried by the current makes its way into the middle, far away from the continental coastlines. Trash of all kinds, including plastic trash, gets caught in the flow. It makes sense that there are massive concentrations of garbage within each of the five major ocean gyres, especially those with currents that pass along major population centers such as the North Pacific and North Atlantic gyres. Since plastic is a form of garbage that often floats and does not decay quickly, it is once again logical to assume that lots of plastic is floating in these areas.
These assumptions have been confirmed by oceanographers that visit the vast waters of the Pacific to the north of the Hawaiian Islands Scientists are alarmed by high concentrations of plastic, much of it very small pieces, in the pelagic zone (the water between the coasts and the ocean floor) within the North Pacific Gyre. They also encounter areas of massive garbage right on the surface, much as we would expect the gyre to produce.
What It Is Not
But the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not the Greenpeace equivalent of Godzilla. It is not a gigantic island of floating plastic trash the size of the Lone Star State. Like most threats to the ecology, the real problem is not so obvious.
It is not visually spectacular like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which produced a visible layer of pollution over a humongous area, one visible by satellite, one that denied life forms in the ocean safe access to the surface and polluted the very water they depended on for oxygen and food. Remember that the Northern Pacific is a region that is swept by storms and crosscurrents that may occasionally allow a visible build-up of debris, then hours later disperse it. The garbage within that region is not uniformly dispersed- some areas may be trashier than others.
(bp oil spill)
What It Does
The GPGP and its fellow garbage patches have 2 major effects that we know of: they are sites of tons of plastic and other waste that spread out as the sea and sun change their chemical make-up. Some of the plastics break down into smaller and smaller pieces, which then make their way into the food chain. Different toxic chemicals are also released, and we do not know the long-term impact of these substances.
On the other hand, larger pieces of floating trash become home to many forms of sea life. We do not know how many plants and animals can use the various kinds of plastic as food or shelter, but life is creating little ecosystems among the litter. That’s the way life works.
The biggest issue at hand is the declining health of sea life today. Over-fishing, pollution, and climate change have negatively affected life in the oceans, especially advanced life forms such as fish, birds and mammals (seals, walruses, dolphins and whales). We are already observing thousands of species that are having a tough time adapting to the rapidly changing ocean.
But like climate change, the reality of so much garbage is not obvious to the everyday person. It takes scientists to put all the pieces together.
Knowledge Is Power
What can we do about it?
Stay informed. Watch out for hysteria from the media concerning a monstrous Godzilla Garbage Patch. If such a thing actually does happen, we will be able to see it.
At the same time, realize that what we don’t see can be just as dangerous. Pay attention to consensus in the scientific community. Researchers are a cantankerous lot, and they always try to outdo each other. If you see them reach the same conclusions despite the high level of competition they have among themselves, listen to the scientists.
If these conclusions threaten wealthy corporations with CEOs who don’t give a damn about the planet, you will also see a few sell-out scientists who are willing to say whatever their corporate masters want them to say. Learn to tell the difference between real science and pseudo-scientific, profit-driven “research.”
