forget Mu, its the continent of Garbage

[Guest guest]

i luv it where they say basically " meh, it costs too much money, so we can't do

anything about it "

we can spend untold billions blowing the grab out of other people and places,

yet, sorry..can't clean up the mess we made in the ocean..so sorry...

 

 

Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Friday, October 19, 2007

 

 

 

What ails our oceans

 

Giant, floating toxic stew

 

State reserves key

 

Cruise lines try to reduce waste

 

Best ways to see the sea

 

Region's cleanest beaches

 

Choose food wisely

 

Volunteers are vital

 

Green tips | Sustainable living

 

At the start of the Academy Award-winning movie " American Beauty, " a character

videotapes a plastic grocery bag as it drifts into the air, an event he casts as

a symbol of life's unpredictable currents, and declares the romantic moment as a

" most beautiful thing. "

 

To the eyes of an oceanographer, the image is pure catastrophe.

 

In reality, the rogue bag would float into a sewer, follow the storm drain to

the ocean, then make its way to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a

heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according

to marine biologists.

 

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs

some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel,

in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

 

Marcus Eriksen, director of research and education at the Algalita Marine

Research Foundation in Long Beach, said his group has been monitoring the

Garbage Patch for 10 years.

 

" With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the

perfect environment for trapping, " Eriksen said. " There's nothing we can do

about it now, except do no more harm. "

 

The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every

decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with

the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

 

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. "

 

The report found that 80 percent of the oceans' litter originated on land. While

ships drop the occasional load of shoes or hockey gloves into the waters

(sometimes on purpose and illegally), the vast majority of sea garbage begins

its journey as onshore trash.

 

That's what makes a potentially toxic swamp like the Garbage Patch entirely

preventable, Parry said.

 

" At this point, cleaning it up isn't an option, " Parry said. " It's just going to

get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues. ... The long-term solution is

to stop producing as much plastic products at home and change our consumption

habits. "

 

Parry said using canvas bags to cart groceries instead of using plastic bags is

a good first step; buying foods that aren't wrapped in plastics is another.

 

After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the use of plastic grocery

bags earlier this year with the problem of ocean debris in mind, a slew of state

bills were written to limit bag production, said Sarah Christie, a legislative

director with the California Coastal Commission.

 

But many of the bills failed after meeting strong opposition from plastics

industry lobbyists, she said.

 

Meanwhile, the stew in the ocean continues to grow.

 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is particularly dangerous for birds and marine

life, said Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, an

environmental group.

 

Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and

swallow indigestible shards of plastic. The petroleum-based plastics take

decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they

can appear as feeding grounds.

 

" These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs, " Chabot

said. " It doesn't pass, and they literally starve to death. "

 

The Greenpeace report found that at least 267 marine species had suffered from

some kind of ingestion or entanglement with marine debris.

 

Chabot said if environmentalists wanted to remove the ocean dump site, it would

take a massive international effort that would cost billions.

 

But that is unlikely, he added, because no one country is likely to step forward

and claim the issue as its own responsibility.

 

Instead, cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is left to the landlubbers.

 

" What we can do is ban plastic fast food packaging, " Chabot said, " or require

the substitution of biodegradable materials, increase recycling programs and

improve enforcement of litter laws.

 

" Otherwise, this ever-growing floating continent of trash will be with us for

the foreseeable future. "

 

How to help

You can help to limit the ever-growing patch of garbage floating in the Pacific

Ocean. Here are some ways to help:

 

Limit your use of plastics when possible. Plastic doesn't easily degrade and can

kill sea life.

 

Use a reusable bag when shopping. Throwaway bags can easily blow into the ocean.

 

Take your trash with you when you leave the beach.

 

Make sure your trash bins are securely closed. Keep all trash in closed bags.

 

Trash is also a problem in parts of San Francisco Bay. For an interactive map

showing some of the worst locations, go to www.savesfbay.org/baytrash.

 

- Justin Berton jberton

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius