This literally makes me physically ill. I thought 'couldn't there be technology to get this garbage out of the ocean?' And there is. From what I have read, it's going to take years. But I'm so glad there are people working on developing methods to try and do this.
I have wondered why there hasn't been an effort to "mine" those things for the resources contained in them. It seems it would be a good cause for Environmentalists to take up, now that the ozone hole has apparently disappeared and global warming is on hiatus.
I was reading an article about how they could clean it up.....kind of a huge net type thing that catches the debris and then a ship comes and hauls it away...but...wouldn't it also trap fish??
Yeah, it would also trap fish that were using the garbage for shelter. Actually, that goes on anytime a net is used to catch fish commercially, too.
I really don't think it's a joke. This disaster is real and is killing ocean fish, mammals and birds. The thought of the suffering they go through with stomachs full of plastic instead of food. I'd never make a joke of that. I'm not sure exactly what the process is but I have saved one site and I'm going to research more. Like I said I'm just glad someone with the knowledge is starting to work on this. As far as fish go. I'm sure this will also be a concern with the hope of minimal harm caused. Fishing is causing more than enough harm.
Maybe the thing I saw wouldn't harm too many fish....plastic floats to the top, fish are usually deeper down I think.
I didn't mean to imply that it was a joke. I think it is a serious problem. We see a lot of garbage here attached to marine mammals such as seals. We got a whole bunch of crap from the tsunami and such in Japan a few years ago. Japan is still send us money to help fund the clean up from their disaster. China contributes its share to the mess as well.
It is still dumping radioactive material into the Pacific, but that news is being downplayed. Gotta make room for the anti-Trump stuff.
Considering the dangers inherent in "splitting" atoms to create usable heat energy, I think added effort towards "fusion" should be going on. And, it is. But fossil fuel users and producers dislike the possibility, so the political football gets kicked around a lot. The waste products of controlled fission include a large number of highly-dangerous isotopes, which constantly create heat as well as radiation, and these must be stored safely for perhaps centuries. In theory, use of hydrogen, which is plentiful, to produce fusion, creates (supposedly) no waste products. We are already seeing hydrogen-powered vehicles, which produce only water as the "waste", no hydrocarbons, no particulates. We also saw the spectacular failure of the Space Shuttle Challenger, powered by hydrogen........... Frank
Fission would be great, but controlling it is difficult. Hydrogen fuel cells are adaptable to mobile applications, but...water vapor is the worst--by far--greenhouse gas on the planet. It will be declared a pollutant any day now, with hydrogen credits purchased from Al Gore et. al.
Plastic is toxic ! Also it traps animals, strangles them, gets caught in their throat etc etc etc ! Over here, they have a school project and its great to see the kids cleaning up the beaches and at least it gives them 'awareness' that adults sadly lack