A PATCH of PLASTIC!

For those of you that haven’t heard about the great Pacific Garbage Patch (the Pacific Gyre, as it’s sometimes called), it is a gi-normous…huge, marine-animal-killing…pool of nasty…well, I’ll let the folks at Wikipedia tell you:

“The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.[4] Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography since it primarily consists of suspended particulates in the upper water column. Since plastics break down to ever smaller polymers, concentrations of submerged particles are not visible from space, nor do they appear as a continuous debris field. Instead, the patch is defined as an area in which the mass of plastic debris in the upper water column is significantly higher than average.”

Sexy, huh? But wait, there’s more! It’s size has been estimated by scientists to range from as big as the state of Texas to larger than the continental U.S.! They truly do not know exactly how big it is. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I try and get my point across that something is huge, I often use Texas as my reference. (For example: “Oh my gosh, why do I have a zit the size of TEXAS on my FOREHEAD?!”). So, if this garbage patch is bigger than the whole of our country…we’re in a serious state, my friends. So, when I read about the one found in the Atlantic Ocean recently, I immediately was filled with a sense of defeat (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_atlantic_ocean_junk).

I mean, seriously—what are we to do? We can’t just waltz out there in the middle of the ocean with our wet-vac and have at it. Oh, but wouldn’t it be great if we could?...So, we are left with two options in my opinion. One, continue on with our disposable ways, live in denial that it could do any serious harm and see what happens…or two, raise awareness and change our habits. While it definitely seems overwhelming to think of such a huge problem—it is global—there is power in the number one. Margaret Mead was spot on when she said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

And I will leave you with that—a short blog to be sure, but my, look at those citations!