Garbage...Little or Big It's Still A Problem.

There seems to be a lot of misconception on The Great Garbage Gyre as well on the actual size of it. The Garbage Patch has been given many names one being an "Giant Island" but in reality it is made up of small microscopic piece of plastics with an area of 5000 sq. km and this amount has increased significantly over the past 40 years. In reality "most plastic size are about the size of your pinky fingernail" of course there is plastics of greater sizes but the majority are very small, but it's not the size of plastic but the amount of the plastic that is spread across the ocean.
 And that itself is effecting the marine ecosystem also known as "The Plastisphere" meaning an ecosystem out of balance with all of the plastic and garbage just sitting around more and more kinds of insects mainly water skaters are thriving on this garbage. One thing that is officially now a problem is that this itself could attract and transport invasive insects. The open ocean is mainly inhabited with lantern fish but if this problem continues there will be more plastic than fish and eventually having more water skaters and causing an unbalanced ecosystem, this could and will have a massive impact on native life that has kept our oceans healthy for years.


Scource: http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch

Effects on Marine Life

Over the past years the amount of broken down plastic found in the Great Garbage patch has increased significantly.Plastic is a magnet for toxic chemicals like DDT and PCB that exist in seawater. Besides causing toxic effects on the marine life, it is also mistaken by the endocrine system as estradiol  which causes hormone distribution. 

Marine trash, mainly plastic, is killing more than a million sea birds and a hundred thousand mammals and sea turtles each year. Plastic bags and polystyrene foam has been found in stomachs of dead sea lions dolphins, turtles and other marine life.

 Researchers have found that an insect that skims the waters of the ocean, have began to lay their eggs on the plastic debris. scientists are worried that due to these circumstances, it may harm the habitat of these insects.

 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/06/63699

Could We Clean Up The Great Pacific Garbage Path?

   Their is tons of garbage  floating in the pacific ocean current day. Many ask, "Why havent we started a clean up process". The answer is simple. Their is just not enough money that any one could actually put into this process. Plus their is not enough time to clean up such a mess.
  In order to be able to clean up  the Garbage Gyre we would need ships to collect all the waste and transport it back to land. That is a little easier said than done. Ships would require massive amounts of fuel in order to be able to go from the Gyre to the nearest port which is a weeks voyage. Ships  can only carry so much waste as well as fuel, therefore it would be a difficult task transporting recycled waste.
   One way ships could clean up the waste would be collecting the waste and compacting it and the other would be collecting waste with a net and towing it to the nearest port. With that another problem arises; the wildlife living amongst all the trash. Scientist are trying to figure out a way that they could collect waste without harming any of the wild life.Till this day, no cleaning begin.
 I believe the best way to be able to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Gyre would be stopping trash from being dumped into the ocean. If people keep contributing to the accumulation of waste in the ocean, trying to clean up the Gyre would be pointless.

Sources:http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/clean-up-great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/clean-up-garbage-patch.htm

Plastic Bag Ban

While i was in California this summer it came to my attention that plastic bags were being banned from all groceries stores! I decided to look into the new regulation and what i found was pretty impressive.
 The California Legislative is attempting to pass a bill banning the use of plastic bags in grocery stores and other establishments all across the state. They have realized that most of the 12 billion bags used in the state usually end up in sewers which then leads to the ocean, adding to the other billions of plastic in the North Pacific garbage gyre.
 Marine Biologists went out to to examine the problem of the plastic bags, found  many dead birds and animals. Many of which had died due to the ingestion of plastics; including bottle caps, lighters, and other plastic nurdles. Most of the plastics had came for trash left on beaches or tossed from ocean liners.
In my opinion the bill would be such a great way to start improving the condition of today's water sewers and ocean. It would also save the state plenty of money when it comes to cleaning plastic refuse and would save thousands of animals from dying.


 Sources:
Steve Scauzillo: From nurdles to garbage gyres, plastic bags not worth it - Whittier Daily News http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_21450752/steve-scauzillo-from-nurdles-garbage-gyres-plastic-bags#ixzz27RGEhIn3

The Pacific Garbage Gyre

The Pacific Garbage Gyre is composed of  marine debris, the cause is mainly by cargo lost by ships. Much of the garbage (marine debris) would have been expected to just spread out into other oceans. The ocean gyre has a circular motion cause by winds that traps all of the debris making it impossible for it to spread. Therefore it is just trapped and is called what is now known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.