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Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - Printable Version

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Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - Magical Realist - Sep 8, 2018

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/massive-net-being-deployed-pick-plastic-pacific

"The days of the great Pacific garbage patch may be numbered.

A highly anticipated project to scoop up plastic from the massive pool of ocean debris is poised to launch its first phase from Alameda, Calif., on September 8. The creators of the project, called the Ocean Cleanup, say their system can remove 90 percent of the plastic in the patch by 2040.

First proposed in a 2012 TED talk by Dutch-born inventor Boyan Slat, who was then just 18 years old, the Ocean Cleanup’s system consists of a snaking line of booms designed to simulate a kind of free-floating coastline that can essentially herd the plastic trash into retrievable piles. The project, based in Delft, the Netherlands, has drawn more than $30 million in donations from sponsors, philanthropists and a crowdfunding campaign.

It has also drawn the ire of researchers who worry about possible negative effects on ocean life, or who say the project doesn’t address the majority of ocean plastic — bits called microplastics that are smaller than half a centimeter. The system is designed to capture pieces of plastic ranging in size from a few millimeters to tens of meters across, such as fishing nets. Critics also worry the project will divert attention and money from the root of the problem: too much plastic waste in the first place.

Ready for launch

A March study in Scientific Reports, led by Ocean Cleanup’s lead oceanographer Laurent Lebreton, estimated that in 2015 the great Pacific garbage patch was scattered across some 1.6 million square kilometers — an area twice the size of Texas — within a vast ocean swirl known as the North Pacific gyre. The patch, the study found, contains about 1.8 trillion pieces of debris, largely consisting of buoyant plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene, floating at the surface (SN Online: 3/22/18). Most of those pieces are smaller than half a centimeter — but by mass, more than 90 percent of the patch is made up of pieces 5 centimeters or bigger, the scientists estimate..."


[Image: p06kltx5.jpg]
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RE: Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - C C - Sep 8, 2018

Perhaps the world getting together to solve a potential contaminating disaster in a way similar to the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement.

~


RE: Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - Syne - Sep 8, 2018

(Sep 8, 2018 05:22 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: ...that can essentially herd the plastic trash into retrievable piles.
...
It has also drawn the ire of researchers who worry about possible negative effects on ocean life, or who say the project doesn’t address the majority of ocean plastic — bits called microplastics that are smaller than half a centimeter. The system is designed to capture pieces of plastic ranging in size from a few millimeters to tens of meters across, such as fishing nets. Critics also worry the project will divert attention and money from the root of the problem: too much plastic waste in the first place.

"While everything may be bigger in Texas, some reports about the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" would lead you to believe that this marine mass of plastic is bigger than Texas—maybe twice as big as the Lone Star State, or even twice as big as the continental U.S. For NOAA, a national science agency, separating science from science fiction about the Pacific garbage patch (and other "garbage patches") is important when answering people's questions about what it is and how we should deal with the problem.
...
There is no "garbage patch," a name which conjures images of a floating landfill in the middle of the ocean, with miles of bobbing plastic bottles and rogue yogurt cups. Morishige explains this misnomer:

While it's true that these areas have a higher concentration of plastic than other parts of the ocean, much of the debris found in these areas are small bits of plastic (microplastics) that are suspended throughout the water column. A comparison I like to use is that the debris is more like flecks of pepper floating throughout a bowl of soup, rather than a skim of fat that accumulates (or sits) on the surface."
- https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/how-big-great-pacific-garbage-patch-science-vs-myth.html




RE: Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - RainbowUnicorn - Sep 9, 2018

Quote:"While everything may be bigger in Texas,

outright phallic ego masturbation

this is the reason there is a plastic rubbish problem in the 1st place.

the only way to get the attention of the people is to tell them how big their dick is.

if 750 million selfish idiots caused a road block with traffic accidents.
you dont fix it by throwing another 100 million selfish idiots at the accident site while rescue services are trying to save people, pets wildlife and remove the burning vehicles.

however this throwing 100 million idiots at the traffic accident rescue scene seems to be normalised in american culture.


RE: Cleaning up the great Pacific garbage patch - Syne - Sep 9, 2018

Poor countries are the biggest contributors to ocean garbage. So facts refute your nonsense and biased assumptions.

Five Asian Countries Dump More Plastic Into Oceans Than Anyone Else Combined

You sound like you have some insecurities about your penis size...or penis envy, depending on your gender.
"Everything's bigger in Texas" was not coined by a Texan. It was coined by New Yorker recounting the insults New York men had received from women from everywhere else, including being weak and feeble by comparison. The sentiments of Texan women was just used as the exemplar opposite.