Plastic Wasteland Twice the Size of the US ...

When I come across news like this I am always perplexed that the cover of our magazines and newspapers are plastered with "celebrities" and what they ate for breakfast, who they ate with, and where they ate breakfast.  Maybe this why it is so hard for so many Americans to believe that we have a crisis happening here on Earth. People still "poo-poo" green talk and the urgency to make changes now. I suppose, for some,  it is far more interesting to know what couch Tom Cruise is jumping on today.

What should be today's headline (and tomorrows and the next day until every American learns the truth of what is happening) " A Plastic Wasteland TWICE the Size of the Continental US is Floating in our Oceans" I know that you may have already read about this,but I still want to post it because I know so many have not...

I am compelled to share this with you. Below is from The Independent By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden
Tuesday, 5 February 2008

"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.
Continue reading this article

So what happens to the marine life?

I found this picture so disturbing, I actually felt like vomiting (my goodness what does it take to wake up?) I returned not that long ago from a beautiful trip to Maui and had the amazing opportunity to snorkel with sea turtles. They are beautiful and graceful, and totally gentle. They are huge and old and I could not help wonder what they have seen in their life time(s). The turtle above is the victim of  human garbage  polluting  the  ocean.

"Many seabirds and their chicks have been found dead, their stomachs filled with medium sized plastic items such as bottle tops, lighters and balloons. A turtle found dead in Hawaii had over a thousand pieces of plastic in its stomach and intestines. It has been estimated that over a million sea-birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals and sea turtles are killed each year by ingestion of plastics or entanglement.

Animals can become entangled in discarded netting and line. Even tiny jelly-fish like creatures become entangled in lengths of plastic filament, or eat the small plastic particles floating in the water."
Continue reading this article from GreenPeace

For  further reading  and for links to other articles: Visit orvalguita.blogspot

I will be continuing to read about this topic and you will see more posts soon.
Questions to consider:
Does is not matter because we can't see it?
Is this enough to have you switch to your own reusable bag when asked " paper or plastic"?
How do you feel about this plastic wasteland in our oceans?
Does your heart open more or less when you read about this?
Please share ....
Blessings and a prayer,
Justyn