Animal Rights

A Floating, Plastic Garbage Dump

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“We haven’t yet learned how to factor the health of the environment into our economic paradigm. We need to get to work on this calculus quickly, for a stock market crash will pale by comparison to an ecological crash on an oceanic scale.” Charles Moore

Did you know that there is a body of garbage floating in the Pacific the size of a continent? Unless you read a lot of “green“, there is a shockingly good chance that you have not heard of the North Pacific Gyre. Circular currents around the center of the gyre collect flotsam and garbage floating in our waters and deposit it permanently on the pile, building it into a larger and larger mass. This was not a problem prior to the development of plastics because everything deposited in the gyre was biodegradable and it eventually decomposed.

“Because of the stability of this gentle maelstrom, the largest uniform climatic feature on Earth is also an accumulator of the debris of civilization. Anything that floats, no matter where it comes from on the north Pacific Rim or ocean, ends up here, sometimes after drifting around the periphery for 12 years or more.” Mindfully.org

Image: The North Pacific Gyre: A Plastic Hurricane

This great, floating garbage patch also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Eastern Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex is composed almost entirely of plastic. This is no tiny garbage patch either. It is the size of Africa. Ten million square miles. It is literally a continent of garbage. Experts say that it would be easier to vacuum up every square inch of the United States than to simply vacuum up the gyre.

What is causing it?

“The plastic is coming from both inadvertent and intentional dumping of debris in the ocean (or in rivers that eventually run to the ocean). According to AMRF, even we in land-locked areas are part of the problem since land-based sources contribute 80% of marine debris.

In addition to the usual assortment of junk you might expect – plastic bags, pieces of plastic lighters, plastic bottle caps—Captain Moore found the bulk of waste to be “nurdles,” tiny plastic pellets used by industry in the production of everything from CDs to plastic pipe. Nurdles find their way from manufacturing plants into the stomachs of marine life who mistake it for food.” - Ecocycle.org

Why is it a problem?
OK, so what if human beings have created a toxic, virtually indestructible product that is taking over our environment? It is in the middle of the Pacific, right? Not true. Plastics are gradually destroying the ecosystem. Birds are dying from starvation and dehydration because their stomachs are filled with indigestible plastics. Jellyfish, seals and other marine life live in danger of getting caught in discarded plastic fishing nets. Albatross mistake plastic toys, lighters and Legos for food and feed them to their young chicks. Animals are dying and it is our fault.

If that isn’t bad enough that we are endangering and killing sea life in the Pacific, we are polluting them as well. As it turns out, these animals are becoming even more polluted because the plastic they are ingesting are sponges for toxins such as DDT, PCBs and nonylphenols. Thus the toxins become part of the food chain, eventually ending up in human beings.

What are the Solutions?
This floating garbage dump cannot be cleaned up. It is simply too large, prohibitively expensive and there is life existing within this enormous pile of trash that cannot be extricated. The “solution”, if you can call it that, it to stop contributing to the pile of garbage.

Yes people, even if you live in Michigan you are contributing to a monumental problem in the Pacific ocean if you use plastic products. Sorry, you don’t get a landlocked pass. Rivers carry plastics to the ocean. The corporations that manufacture the plastics you use are dumping their waste in the ocean. The fisherman who caught the fish that you ultimately bought from Walmart dumped their lines in the ocean to avoid fees on land. You are responsible whether you like it or not. So here are a few simple suggestions of how you can get some plastic out of your life:

Stop buying plastic stuff that you don’t need
Forgo the toy at McDonalds, use a water filter rather than bottles and lighten up on your personal care products.

Use a natural alternative to plastic when possible
Use glass bowls and instead of plastic, matches instead of lighters, wooden toys instead of cheap, plastic ones and reusable grocery bags instead of those horrible, ubiquitous plastic nightmares.

You must recycle and compost
Its just not that difficult to recycle. Just do it. Make it a point to never, ever throw away plastic. An even better solution is to purchase biodegradable and compostable plastic alternatives and throw them in your composting bin. Composting is a bit more work than recycling but it basically eliminates the garbage entirely and you can add it to your lawn or garden.

“Past studies have shown that less than 5% of plastic ever gets recycled and each American disposes of roughly 65 lbs. of plastic each year.” Triplepundit.com

Be aware
If you are not interested in going vegan to avoid contributing to unscrupulous fishing practices, then simply go out of your way to try to find the source of your fish. Look for products that are wild caught and sustainable. Thank goodness corporations are beginning to understand the impact of their waste products and some are beginning to clean up their plastic pellets (nurdles). We will not see the removal of this great garbage dump in our lifetimes but perhaps our granchildren will see the results of our efforts.

If you are interested in the state of our oceans, you simply must watch Altered Oceans

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