Posts Tagged ‘north pacific gyre’

Confession: I Had a Bad Attitude on Recycling

By Sheila on January 21st, 2010

I use to have a bad attitude about recycling. That was before I heard about the North Pacific Gyre and before I saw some of Chris Jordan’s artwork…

According to Greenpeace, roughly 10 million tons of plastic finds its way into the sea each year. About 20% of this plastic emanates from ships and ocean-based platforms; the rest comes from land. Unlike natural materials, however, plastic — bags, bottles, polystyrene packing, foam pieces, pieces of fishing net, lengths of rope, disposable lighters, tires, toothbrushes, straws, condoms, and more — covers beaches, menaces animals, and is consumed by creatures that mistake the plastic for a meal. Moreover, floating plastic can allow hitch-hiking species to invade new habitats and become nuisances. Of course, some plastic sinks, smothering the sea bottom and killing marine life. In short: plastic is bad for the oceans.

And pretty much nowhere is plastic as bad as in the North Pacific gyre. Covering an area the size of Texas, the water in the gyre circulates clockwise in a slow spiral, between California and Hawaii. Because there are few land masses on which the drifting material can beach, the plastic stays in the gyre, circling, spinning, flowing. Called “the Asian Trash Trail,” the “Trash Vortex,” and the “Eastern Garbage Patch,” the North Pacific gyre has affected an estimated 267 species — including whales, fish, turtles, seals, sea lions and seabirds — which have ingested or become entangled in the debris.

–posted by Willy Volk at Divester.com