Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Started
- Last post
- 40 Responses
- lowimpakt0
Microscopic plastic debris from washing clothes is accumulating in the marine environment and could be entering the food chain, a study has warned.
Researchers traced the "microplastic" back to synthetic clothes, which released up to 1,900 tiny fibres per garment every time they were washed.
Earlier research showed plastic smaller than 1mm were being eaten by animals and getting into the food chain.
The findings appeared in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
- The Teabbagin' Republicans think that dumping and destroying is the American way!utopian
- albums0
wow, how far behind the times is this crowd. you're just now becoming aware of this? those pics of birds that died of starvation full of plastic bits first showed up in 2009. enjoy your bottled water.
- oopsalbums
- It's funny how it always double posts when you say something stupid. What are the chances?Fax_Benson
- Hesy look, V3's back.detritus
- sine0
cause eco issues are only relevant when they're new and cool
- utopian0
PLASTIC IS OIL, we need more of this shit!
"Drill Baby Drill"
- i_monk0
Hey guys remember acid rain?
- lowimpakt0
acid rain hasn't disappeared. if that's what you mean.
- detritus0
And regardless, like CFCs, the Acid Rain Problem was relatively easy to sort out at source.
Changing all plastics over to biodegradable ones or whatever is a little more of a challenge.
- GeorgesII0
I blame YOU!!
- lowimpakt0
detritus, there is still problems with the ozone layer even with the massive global political efforts and technical substitution of some ozone depleting substances
this is from 2011
"
GENEVA 5 APRIL 2011 (WMO) ­ Depletion of the ozone layer ­ the shield that protects life on
Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays ­ has reached an unprecedented level over the
Arctic this spring because of the continuing presence of ozone­depleting substances in the
atmosphere and a very cold winter in the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the second
major layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, just above the troposphere.The record loss is despite an international agreement which has been very successful in cutting production and consumption of ozone destroying chemicals. Because of the long atmospheric lifetimes of these compounds it will take several decades before their concentrations are back down to pre­1980 levels, the target agreed in the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer"
- Oh, I didn't mean that “the entire problem's been solved” — rather the root cause was remedied. Good article tho!detritus
- sothere0
go down birds. That plastic in you guts is Karma from shitting on my car.
- georgesIII0
You would think with all that nifty sec/sat technology out there in space, someone could take a snap shot of a garbage patch the size of freaking TEXAS!
- albums0
re: photo of waste...
a photo of the pile can not be taken because the mess is actually just below the surface. when trolling the area for tiny parts of plastic it's found that plastic bits outweigh the edible plankton 6:1. this is a contributing factor to the birds you've seen that die with plastic bits of trash in their dead bodies as well as introducing assorted toxins into the food stream.
- ukit20
Time to build an ark™
- randommail0
Steampunk makes a lot of sense just about now.
- BusterBoy0
I definitely agree this is cause for concern. On the other hand, I also have two little kids...one of them in particular is extremely anxious and freaks out when he sees stuff like this. 'Dad, am I going to be poisoned?' and things like that aren't uncommon.
And don't think this isn't a massive issue. Friends of my kids also experience these same anxieties.
There are so many 'causes' at the moment that there's a massive danger that young kids are going to be completely drowned in fucking 'causes'...huge danger we'll breed a generation of nervous, anxious paranoid kids who won't be able to cope with life.
A balance needs to be found here...don't get me wrong, stuff like this is important but I hate the docos and adverts that play the death march while you see dolphins swim in the ocean.
- zoozoo0
It's too late, people are already mutating because the water is contaminated with chemicals
- MrT0
It'll all be fine. Just wait for the minimalist poster, printed on paper and sent in a cardboard tube with a plastic lid, the profits from which will be donated to clearing it up.