marjorie the trash heap visits the pacific

[Guest guest]

i'm sure all that plastic just seals in the freshness

 

An enormous patch of plastic trash swirls in the Pacific Ocean

 

When it was a kid, the Pacific Ocean always wanted a Garbage Patch of its very

own. Now it's got one: a patch of trash, at least twice the size of Texas (!),

floating midway between Hawaii and San Francisco. Held together by swirling

ocean currents, the refuse clump used to be mostly driftwood and random ocean

stuff. But no longer. In 2003, researcher Charles Moore sailed through the area

and wrote, " I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of

plastic. " Scientists are now starting to see the effects of widespread plastic

pollution on marine ecosystems. Seabirds like northern fulmars, which graze the

waves for food far out in the ocean, are washing ashore with bellies full of

plastic. Even plastic that is ground into dust is ingested by clams and other

filter feeders. " [T]he actual ability to wipe out the entire vertebrate kingdom

in the ocean is with the plastic particles, " says Moore. Sorry about that,

entire vertebrate kingdom of the ocean!

 

 

straight to the source: The Seattle Times, Paula Bock, 23 Apr 2006

 

 

You can bomb the world to pieces

You can't bomb it into peace