The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

      Since the stomach flu forced me to miss class on Thursday and I was unable to see the Food, Inc. video, I decided to do some research on the garbage island in the Pacific that my brother in law recently informed me about.  He said he heard about a mound of garbage in the middle of the ocean that was the size of Texas.    I told him he was crazy and he told me to look it up, so I did.

      According to Mother Nature Network, there is a convergence zone in the Pacific Ocean where two currents meet.  Overtime, these currents brought so much garbage together that it formed a huge patch of garbage.  And when I say huge, I mean hundreds of miles.  This Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now the largest landfill on earth.  Its exact size is still unknown, but it is estimated to truly be about the size of Texas.

Yuck

      Majority of this garbage patch is made up of plastic, which is a big issue since its not biodegradable, meaning it will float in the ocean essentially forever unless we do something about it.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does not see much hope in cleaning up this mess without creating even more problems, so they have focused their efforts on preventing the patch from growing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTZUVjF69eg&feature=related 

      The narrator of this video is not very enthralling, but this information is absolutely astounding.  I had no idea just how terrible plastic is.  If only we could ban the production of plastic forever....

Sources:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-great-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch

http://www.youtube.com