The Pacific Garbage Patch

If you live in a city or town that has public trash disposal then you probably are in the routine of taking your trash out to the can or bin provided to you for weekly pick up. When your trash gets smelly or piled up you simply throw the trash out and then each week, poof, it all disappears for your convenience.  And where does the trash go after that? The city dump right?  But what about after that? Some of it gets buried into the ground, which we call landfills, some may get burned or even recycled. However, if your anywhere near a shore line then you can bet that a large amount goes out to sea. In the Pacific ocean is the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is about 19 million square kilometers (7 million square miles). The Great Pacific Garbage Patch collects marine debris in the Gyre from North America and Asia, as well as ships traveling through the area. There is an eastern rubbish patch and a western rubbish patch. The western rubbish patch, closest to the United States, is estimated to be about the size of Texas. This is not one big floating trash island, but rather it's made up of some floating trash and some trash-masses in sporadic areas, dense trash at the bottom of the ocean floor in other areas, but mostly it consist of millions of small and microscopic pieces of plastic, about .4 pieces per cubic meter, floating over a roughly 5000 square km area of the Pacific. Plastic makes up the greatest percentage of the trash in the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is comprised of items including discarded fishing nets, medical waste, plastic bottles and cans. However, the greatest volume of trash in the garbage patch is microplastics. The amount has increased significantly over the past 40 years. This is not only disgusting, it's a travesty! For most of us living in industrialized countries, we do not have to deal with the inconvenience or the devastating effects this has on the world around us.  Sooner or later, however, no matter where or how you live, everyone will suffer from the abuse that has been inflicted upon our mother ocean. 

  We can already see the negative impacts this garbage patch is having on wildlife and shorelines. Birds, fish and other sea-life are dying or becoming impaired from the trash that has invaded their world.  There are many fish and birds that have fataloutcomes due to consuming undigestible plastics and other trash. Turtles and sea mammals become entangled in some floating waste.These are just a couple examples of how animals are affected. The trash that blocks the sunlight prevents the algae and plankton from getting the nutrients they need to survive. Fish and turtles feed on the algae and plankton. Predator fish and whales feed on the fish and turtles.  If the plankton and algae cannot grow the entire food chain is compromised. 
There are no nations taking responsibility for the Pacific garbage patch because it lies so far away fro any coast line.  There are dedicated international organization dedicated to preventing the patch from getting any larger.
I found it difficult to collect solid evidence of the Pacific Garbage Patch since the area is so very remote and few have actually traveled there. I realized that some of the picture posted on the internet depicting miles of trash were not actually even from that area of the ocean. Finally, I stumbled across this Vice video which has actual footage of the Pacific Garbage Patch.  Please don't let anyone try and convince you that things are not as catastrophic as they seem regardless if you see mountains of trash or not.  I did some research and discovered that I was not merely an alarmist jumping on the band wagon of the garbage patch scare.  Please enjoy this video and decide for yourself. This is part 1 of three you can view the rest on You Tube.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. -Mahatma Gandhi