Boating amongst the plastic trash

[Ctskip]

I just viewed a program about a large plastic/trash dump and it's circling the pacific from Japan to Hawaii to North America. It just keeps circling with the current, getting larger and larger every year. The plastic is not going away, it's becoming smaller pieces and spreading out. The fish are eating these small pieces and it's now getting into our food chain. Even some birds think bottle tops are food and eating them. They are getting filled on this garbage and not eating nutritious food and will soon be dieing off. What are we doing to ourselves? We must stop the consumption of garbage/plastic. Something. It just doesn't go away. Just 5% of plastic is being recycled here in America. One has to wonder how much of these small particles of plastic are being sucked into our cooling systems along with our fish/food. Thanks for you consideration and participation in this problem we will are facing and it's getting worse.
Keep it up,
Ctskip

Phil,
Move this if you must but I feel we all should be made aware of this problem, world wide

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Good Post

Its out here in the Gulf of Mex also. Nothing like in the Pacific, but you can go 100 miles offshore and still see floating garbage.
All oil companies in the Gulf segregate their garbage. After each meal, we have a slop bucket for waste food. That eventually goes overboard to feed the fish. Then their are garbage cans just for aluminum cans and also other garbage cans for plastic and one more garbage can for just about everything else.
The plastic and 'everything else' get separated when the garbage gets to the dock via supply/crew boat and the plastic gets recycled. The aluminum cans are also recycled. The oil companies dont care who gets the money as long as it is recycled. Some crews crush the cans and bring to recycling centers on their own and that money is used for partying on their time off.
I was on one BP platform where they a bunch of garbage cans with pictures of items to be placed in them. There was a separate can for plastic water bottles and a can for all other plastic products. There was a can for aluminum cans and another one for tin cans. one for paper products and one for all else.
If thats the way its set up, you have to follow the rules. People have been sent home and fired for using the wrong cans. The stuff stays very segregated.
Just doing our part.

Tony B

 

[richk]

North Pacific Gyre and Midway

The location of the plastic is correlated with the subtropical gyre in the north pacific http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyre. BBC recently did a piece on its effect as observed on one of the Midway Islands http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7314240.stm. I lived there in the '70s and recall picking up plastic bits on the beach of Sand Island, but not as much as BBC report.

Rich in Annapolis

 

[richk]

A gyre

The location of the plastic is correlated with the subtropical gyre in the north pacific http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyre. BBC recently did a piece on its effect as observed on one of the Midway Islands (see link.) I lived there in the '70s and recall picking up plastic bits on the beach of Sand Island, but not as much as BBC report.

Rich in Annapolis

 

[Ray T]

Ocean Trash

I had noticed the same thing in the Atlantic out toward Bermuda. Its especially noticeable on calm days. One of the most noticeable is Mylar balloons. They never seem to degrade. I wouldn't buy them, especially after seeing them at sea. Ray T

 

[ByronCagle]

Ocean flotsam and jetsom

Back in the 80s I had occasion to visit Middleton Island, off the West Coast of Alaska. There is a small air strip there as the Island was once a missle site. The Japanese current swings southern there and tides and currents sweep the islands shores constantly. There is always plastic and debris on the beaches there including thousands of glass fishing net floats that are used by many Pacific Rim Countries. Lots of interesting stuff including millions of flip flop shoes from all over the world. Many times storms come and clean the beaches and the acumulation starts all over again. Amazing how much trash gets discarded into our oceans. Sometimes the stuff is three to four hundred feet wide and several feet deep.

 

[MoonSailer]

Look at Any Lake or River

All of our waterways are full of plastic trash. In the good ole days it was mostly steel and aluminum cans which eventually rust away. But plastic is almost forever!!!! If we clean up our lakes and rivers it would stop a lot of trash from reaching the sea.... On a personal note I was on South Padre Island and saw a huge dead turtle a loogerhead. It had about a foot of a plastic bag sticking out of it's mouth. Many turtles like to eat jellyfish and a plastic bag looks like a jellyfish. Most land animals seem to use a sense of smell and taste to judge something edible. But birds and fish don't seem to care a lot about taste and smell when they eat something. Their system worked for hundreds of millions of years but humans have changed things. Over 6,000,000,000 people on the planet and our population is exploding!!!!! Just think if the human population expands by o.1% a year which seems like a small amount but equals 6,000,000 new people. The oil crisis is mostly due to the exploding human population. The USA would not need to import oil if we had the same population as we had in 1970!!!!! It really looks grim for the future when the human population will be 9,000,000,000 by 2050!!!!! Humans have really taken to heart god's command to go forth and multiply!!!!!! Catholic's be proud of your role in the population bomb!!!! Of course Hindi's and Muslims also value huge familys.

 

[CalebD]

It sure is a sad state of affairs.

Balloons that people release into the air usually come back down to the surface of the ocean. Turtles mistake them for jellyfish.
Cigarette butts tossed into the water grow plant life on them. Then marine animals and fish will eat them. They no longer make cigarette filters out of cotton. Cigarette butts discarded on our streets and sidewalks end up washed into rivers and eventually the ocean. We have too many bad habits (I am a smoker).
When was the last time you saw a living ocean turtle or tortoise?
Small wonder.
Keep it up.

 

[Breaking wind]

we are lucky

in a sence in mid to northern Michigan the greal lakes are pretty clean, having the $.10 deposit on bottles and cans helps a lot too.

when I fly to Chicago you can watch the water turn from blue to green when you approach the city.

good post, I wonder what someone has to do to get a few thousand fishing boats out there to drag nets and pick up some garbage in the off seasons? makes more sence than carbon credits, give them a dollar amount per ton or something......might help a little.

triple j and moonsailer, your right the population is exploding and has been since....well since we got here, we should have Brad and Angelina adopt some more and ease the burdon on the rest of the world because lets face it, people like to get busy, and busy = babies. ABC did a story that 2007 had more babies born than ever before. (must be all the new boner pills on tv and in my email box)

 

[Ctskip]

I had heard sometime ago

that the filters from cigs last forever. They just don't break down. It's really true, we, as a race, are a bunch of pigs.

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Ctskip

Cellulose which is the material from which these filters are made is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. It is mainly used to produce cardboard and paper and, to a smaller extent, it is converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Although the term biodegradable is more a term of art than science because there is no single uniform duration standard under which materials are classified, they are considered biodegradable as opposed to most plastics which are not.
On the other hand, even U235 degrades if you measure in geologic terms...

 

[MoonSailer]

Biodegradable is Fact

Biodegradable basically means that a product has a "natural" molecular structure that enzymes can attack and destroy. Of course to be biodegradeable something must be in a suitable environment so that bacteria and fungi can make a living off of the stuff. Human plastics are often impossible for bacteria to attack because they do not have a structure that enzymes can attack. Some plastics such as polyethylene are so enormous on a molecular scale that enzymes can get to them. Other plastics are made with unique bonds that can't be attacked or are so strong that a bacteria would starve trying to eat the stuff. remember a bacteria must get more energy out of breaking stuff down than it takes to break the stuff down. Another factor is quantity. So stuff is biodegradable if it is dilute so that it isn't toxic. Phenol a common disinfectant is biodegradable when dilute. Same with vinegar and alcohol. Of course chlorinated stuff is usually toxic and when dilute can bioaccumulate in fat to concentrations that are harmfull.

 

[r.w.landau]

Ctskip, I am glad other replied to your post...

I thought you were talking about my plastic trash .
Even on small lakes like the one I sail, trash is a problem...
Most of the blow away trash is people that are one time rentals. Something blows off the boat so...Like in almost any store you are in, someone will clean it up.
It would be nice if all adults, took responsiblity for their actions, and felt accountable for them!
Sorry, I just feel that too many men feel that momma is responsible for clean up.
Buck up guys! Be men and show our children and grandchildren that we as individuals are accountable for our actions.
Good sailing, avoid or pick-up the trash,
r.w.landau

 

[Ctskip]

I am surprised that this topic hasn't taken off

After all it affects all of us. How many impellers have you "needed to replace?

I had a post all typed out and decided it belonged in the "basement lounge", so I deleted it.

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

In Mississippi Sound

There is Ship Island. A really pretty island uninhabited except for 2 park rangers. It has beautiful beaches. One side of the island is The Mississippi Sound and the other side is the Gulf of Mexico. It is about 10 ro 12 miles from the coast of Gulfport, Ms.
Once a year there is a big beach party there, only accessible by boat, and part of the partying includes cleaning up the island. Maybe other areas could do the same.

Tony B

 

[Ctskip]

We use to sponsor a raft race on the Connecticut river

that went from one state park to another park down river, about three miles or so from each other. We reserved the two parks for four days and raised tens of thousands of dollars for charities. We had everything covered from several bands/porta potties and care flight(Helos) to first aid and security. Umpteen categories of rafts were given trophies, ie; best all female crew to oldest crew. Two days (Fri/Sat) of fun and sun on the river. On Sunday/Monday after 10,000 people went home we had a "shitty committee" and they policed the area. We left the parks cleaner than when we arrived on Thursday for set up. A good time was had by all. We did this for over seventeen years, starting about 1973 and it's still going on today. Now the rafters themselves are doing it. Somebody had to start it. There's only one original originator alive,and that's my brother Walt. Connecticut River Raft Race, check it out.

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[MoonSailer]

Responsible Government!!!!!

I am all for individual responsiblity but all it takes is a percentage of irresponsible people to muck up the world. IF we had a responsible government they could put a tax per pound on plastic. Then at exisitng garbage facilities we could pay people for the plastic. The tax and refund would have to be high enough to make plastic worth the effort to pick up and take in for the refund. A very simple solution but again you have to have a responsible government that looks after the welfare of the nation. Right now the only voice heard is that of the people making plastic.
I remember glass soft drink bottles!!!!! They were a great source of income when I was a child. I could take my wagon and walk around the neighborhood and pick up enough bottles to fund a trip to the movies etc. I was willing to search the ditches and roadsides for bottles because I got paid to do so!!!!! I know that I would never have spent my free time collecting bottles without being paid. The same thing for plastic now. Pay people money and they will collect plastic and take it to be recycled. The only difference between treasure and trash is how much it is worth!!!!!

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

Moon

Recently I have read a few articles that many cities and some foreign countries are banning plastic bags or putting a high price tag on them.
Plastic bags, which I have always hated, have become the scourge of the earth. It's like a new plague.

Tony B

 

[newly anonymous]

great article

I strongly recommend you read "Polymers are Forever" by Alan Weisman, published last summer in Orion magazine.

The article, which deals extensively with the problem of plastics in the sea, can be found free of charge on the link below.

 

[CalebD]

Thanks NA, that really brightened up my day

We have surrounded ourselves with this plastic stuff. Even many of our boats are 'plastic'.
I hope that this link to the Orion article works better:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/270/
Very depressing.