The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is really, truly unconscionable.
It blows my mind that nearly every single article I’ve come across in my research states that “There’s nothing we can do about it now…” (Eriksen, October 19, 2007). What kind of asinine, uncaring and lazy response is this?
In case you haven’t yet heard of this man-made atrocity, there is a collection of human waste (mostly plastic trash), that has piled up into a floating island (some say two islands), twice the size of Texas, about 1,000 miles west of San Francisco. What’s even more astounding to me anyway, is that this has been known to exist for the better part of half a century now (though it was until the last few decades that it’s neared its current size).
An article from the San Francisco Chronicle states:
“Ocean current patterns may keep the flotsam stashed in a part of the world few will ever see, but the majority of its content is generated onshore, according to a report from Greenpeace last year titled “Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans.”
This is just totally unacceptable.
Having just learned of this recently and then really took a hard look at it today, I can no longer, in good conscience, continue to write off this horrendous creation and let it continue unabated. To that end, I have just registered a domain which I hope to evolve into the official, leading source of information, activism and action against this atrocity. In the coming months, I hope to raise funds to start dismantling this floating island of trash, generate significant publicity, donate hundreds if not thousands of hours and dollars, both of my own and others, to turn the tides on this.
The GreatPacificGarbagePatch.com will serve as my central focus on what I hope grows into a massive wide effort to eradicate this abysmal by-product of our global industries. I hope that you will join me in my efforts, in whatever way you can.
Stay tuned for more info on this including a website, blog, donation system, and much more.
Wednesday, 9. April 2008
Hi. It’s ironic that you posted this just over 30days ago, as I just ran across my first articles last night (April 8th 2008) regarding the ‘Garbage Patch’. As the type of person who usually seeks out unusual and sometimes ‘trivial’ facts, I was totally floored that something this huge (both literally and figuratively) has been under the radar for so long. In my opinion, this is every bit as large a problem as global warming, and yet I have never even heard of this in passing until I ran across it in wikipedia after typing a search for ‘largest manmade object’. How is this possible? How is it possible that something of this magnitude has gone largely unreported for so long? I agree that it is totally unacceptable. I am very interested in providing whatever help I can to your website as well as the overall cause of not only stopping the ongoing pollution, but of cleaning up this disgraceful mess. I look forward to hearing from you. -Michael
Monday, 9. June 2008
I heard about the great Pacific garbage patch while flipping through the TV channels. When I saw this I could not belive my eyes, there is no way that we have ignored this and let it accumulate to this grandeur. I did a google image search on the Great Pacific Garpatch to get a visual, I could not beleive what I was seeing. If people still won’t believe that humans as a race are effecting our ecosystem then they need to see the new continete made of plastic that is forming in the Pacific Gyre. It is massive and there is no way we can say that our waste has not caused this land mass. We as a race need to wake up and smell the coffee we are destroying our home and the home of our children and grandchildren. What are you going to say to them when they asked you if you did your part to help save our planet. I would love any information on the organization that is trying stop this from getting any worse.
Jennea