We got a lot more than just economic problems to deal with. We need to look into solutions to reduce our waste footprint, not just carbon footprint. http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.feature/id/1656 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/great_pacific_garbage_patch.php http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch[/ame]
while I agree that this is a scary thing to find out about, I have read conflicting reports as to the actual size of said gargage island. However, even the smaller end of these reports estimate roughly half the size of Texas, which is, in fact, still awe inspiring to think of. And its amazing not that people are unaware of the garbage float (because really, how else would we know) but that even after hearing about it most people will say "eh", or something to that effect. And these aren't just the "trash loving anti-hippie earth haters" either, but people that would seem to care as well. I include myself in this latter group. I do care about this thing, but has my lifestyle changed after learning about it? Not really. Even many scientists/environmentalists are taking the stance of "well, hell, that's a big heap of trash, but we can't do anything about it. All we can hope to do is stop its growth"- many people agree that it wouldn't even be 'worth it' environmentally to go clean it because of the energy used and waste created to get out there. That and we'd have to find a place to get rid of it, which would inevitably lead to more landfills/incineration.
we'll just build a big ship the collect it, then transport it to Cape Canaveral, and load it all up on a spaceship to then launch it all into space. and thats most likely what theyll do about it. Nevermind polluting space has ramifications beyond our understanding.
if we blast our trash into space I can only hope it comes back around the sun in like 200 years having built up mass into an asteroid ready to destroy earth... ...only to be saved by Lev.
Plastic isnt going anywhere, sorry, but that's a reality. I dont understand AT ALL the people that throw stuff in the water though. Its both lazy and dumb and I absolutely agree that this island of trash is a real problem. It seems like one could make a significant dent in it though by building ships specifically designed to skim the surface of the water for the still floating plastic and then crush and package it for disposal or recycling. I doubt it would be cheap but IMO this is an environmental cause thats actually worth throwing some money at, unlike some. The stuff thats already broken down and hovering up to 90 feet underwater would be harder though. All that does no good though if people continue to dump trash into the sea. Where is all this stuff coming from? I mean we arent talking about a couple boaters throwing a coke bottle overboard, there has to be some massive dumping going on doesn't there?
Interesting question, what would happen if you took a bunch of trash and shot it right into the heart of a star? Obviously it would melt but at those heats I wonder what would actually happen? Its totally impractical due to it being far, far too expensive to transport tons of trash into space, much less all the way to a star or the sun but I wonder if in the future it will be considered. Seems like a bad idea in some ways but would it be much different then incinerating the plastic here on earth?
And on a lighter note, this new island is a good thing, with the population of the earth going up every day its just a new place to build houses! I bet they dont even have laws there yet.
but I have heard that there's some dude named Jacob that controls the island... and it moves through time. Maybe the trash heap we're seeing there is actually from the future, and we haven't made that mess yet...
