Fwd: [graffis-l] WORLD'S LARGEST OIL SPILL CONTINUED

[Guest guest]

>The World’s Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip That Stretches From Hawa

>Posted by: " Mark Graffis " mgraffis mgraffis

>Wed Feb 6, 2008 6:02 pm (PST)

>http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/05/6856/

>

>Published on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 by The Independent/UK

>The World’s Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip That Stretches From Hawaii to Japan

>by Kathy Marks and Daniel Howden

>A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an

>alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental

>United States, scientists have said.The vast expanse of debris - in effect

>the world’s largest rubbish dump - is held in place by swirling underwater

>currents. This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off

>the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost

>as far as Japan.

>

>Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific

>Garbage Patch” or “trash vortex”, believes that about 100 million tons of

>flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director

>of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore

>founded, said yesterday: “The original idea that people had was that it

>was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not

>quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an

>area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”

>

>Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has

>tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and

>compares the trash vortex to a living entity: “It moves around like a big

>animal without a leash.” When that animal comes close to land, as it does

>at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. “The garbage patch

>barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic,” he added.

>

>The “soup” is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of

>Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About

>one-fifth of the junk - which includes everything from footballs and

>kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags - is thrown off ships or oil

>platforms. The rest comes from land.

>

>Mr Moore, a former sailor, came across the sea of waste by chance in 1997,

>while taking a short cut home from a Los Angeles to Hawaii yacht race. He

>had steered his craft into the “North Pacific gyre” - a vortex where the

>ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure

>systems. Usually sailors avoid it.

>

>He was astonished to find himself surrounded by rubbish, day after day,

>thousands of miles from land. “Every time I came on deck, there was trash

>floating by,” he said in an interview. “How could we have fouled such a

>huge area? How could this go on for a week?”

>

>Mr Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently

>sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He

>warned yesterday that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable

>plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.

>

>Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said

>more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic

>soup but that there was “no reason to doubt” Algalita’s findings.

>

>“After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we

>get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine

>ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems.”

>

>Professor Karl is co-ordinating an expedition with Algalita in search of

>the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk

>actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in

>oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that

>objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump.

>“Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made

>it into the ocean is still out there somewhere,” said Tony Andrady, a

>chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.

>

>Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just

>below the water’s surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs.

>“You only see it from the bows of ships,” he said.

>

>According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the

>deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than

>100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have

>been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.

>

>Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in

>the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every

>square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic,

>

>Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a

>risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets,

>or nurdles - the raw materials for the plastic industry - are lost or

>spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act

>as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and

>the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. “What goes into the

>ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It’s that

>simple,” said Dr Eriksen.

>

>© 2008 The Independent

 

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Can this garbage vortex be seen on Google Earth?

 

Sincerely Barb M.

 

 

----

 

 

thehavens

2/7/2008 12:11:40 PM

stopthepoisons ; Health and Healing-

Fwd: [graffis-l] WORLD'S LARGEST OIL SPILL CONTINUED

 

 

>The World’s Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip That Stretches From Hawa>Posted by: "Mark Graffis" mgraffis mgraffis>Wed Feb 6, 2008 6:02 pm (PST)>http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/05/6856/>>Published on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 by The Independent/UK>The World’s Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip That Stretches From Hawaii to Japan>by Kathy Marks and Daniel Howden>A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an >alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental >United States, scientists have said.The vast expanse of debris - in effect >the world’s largest rubbish dump - is held in place by swirling underwater >currents. This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off >the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost >as far as Japan.>>Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific >Garbage Patch” or “trash vortex”, believes that about 100 million tons of >flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director >of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore >founded, said yesterday: “The original idea that people had was that it >was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not >quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an >area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”>>Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has >tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and >compares the trash vortex to a living entity: “It moves around like a big >animal without a leash.” When that animal comes close to land, as it does >at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. “The garbage patch >barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic,” he added.>>The “soup” is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of >Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About >one-fifth of the junk - which includes everything from footballs and >kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags - is thrown off ships or oil >platforms. The rest comes from land.>>Mr Moore, a former sailor, came across the sea of waste by chance in 1997, >while taking a short cut home from a Los Angeles to Hawaii yacht race. He >had steered his craft into the “North Pacific gyre” - a vortex where the >ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure >systems. Usually sailors avoid it.>>He was astonished to find himself surrounded by rubbish, day after day, >thousands of miles from land. “Every time I came on deck, there was trash >floating by,” he said in an interview. “How could we have fouled such a >huge area? How could this go on for a week?”>>Mr Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently >sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He >warned yesterday that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable >plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.>>Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said >more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic >soup but that there was “no reason to doubt” Algalita’s findings.>>“After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we >get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine >ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems.”>>Professor Karl is co-ordinating an expedition with Algalita in search of >the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk >actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in >oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that >objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. >“Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made >it into the ocean is still out there somewhere,” said Tony Andrady, a >chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.>>Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just >below the water’s surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. >“You only see it from the bows of ships,” he said.>>According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the >deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than >100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have >been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.>>Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in >the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every >square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic,>>Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a >risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets, >or nurdles - the raw materials for the plastic industry - are lost or >spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act >as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and >the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. “What goes into the >ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It’s that >simple,” said Dr Eriksen.>>© 2008 The Independent******Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentuckyhttp://www.thehavens.com/thehavens (AT) highland (DOT) net606-376-3363