By: Jamie Naumann

 Scientists estimate this large garbage patch is twice the size of Texas!  The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic (Silverman, 2009)

 The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a mass collection of garbage in the Pacific Ocean  Over the years, millions of pounds of trash have accumulated in the ocean to form it  It is located between California and Hawaii  The garbage patch has negative impacts on both life on shore and in the ocean

 Around 2.5 billion people rely upon fish for at least 20% of their animal protein. When fisheries get polluted, so does the food we eat (Kostigen, 2008)  The plastic debris in the ocean release there chemical additives into the ocean as they degrade, causing pollution in the water and to the marine life (some of which is our food source)  The plastic in the ocean can damage boats and submarine equipment, litter beaches, depress swimming, and harm local/commercial fisheries

 Fish and seabirds mistake plastic pieces and garbage for food  Plastic outweighs surface zooplanktan 6 to 1  Plastics absorb hydrophobic pollutants like PCBs and pesticides like DDT  They bioaccumulate in the tissues of marine animals and find there way into the food we eat (Kostigen, 2008)

 The area has transformed from a once nutritious, abundant feeding ground to now what is equivalent to an oceanic desert  Particles of degraded plastics and trash sink damaging the ocean floor and life in it  Filter feeders (jellyfish for example) suck up the plastic and become entangled in it – which damages their bodies  More than one million birds and marine animals die each year from consuming or becoming caught in plastic and other debris (Silverman, 2009)

 Captain Charles Moore is accredited to discovering the patch in 1997  Also known as the Eastern Garbage Patch  The Garbage Patch is located at a natural collecting point at the center of a set of revolving currents called the North Pacific Gyre (Morton, 2010)  These currents collect garbage from different coasts and rivers from around the world and deposits them here  Researchers estimate that around 80% of the garbage in the ocean patch originated from land  NOT from careless sailors like some are led to believe

 Plastic makes up majority of the trash that is found in the patch  Trash from countries such as China, Russia, and Japan have been found washed up on the beaches of Hawaii and in the garbage patch!  Clearly it is not a problem only the United States has created  Researchers are trying to raise awareness about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how big of a problem it really is

 Project Kaesei  A group from the Ocean Voyages Institute is taking action to help clean up the mess  Plan to clean it up by dredging the plastic out of the water with nets  They plan to turn the garbage into fuel by a process called pyrolysis (But most experts believe this is impossible) (Layton, 2009)  There is not a definite plan on how the garbage should be cleaned up but groups are trying to find ways to help out

 The downside to the Project Kaesei’s plan is the nets would also catch and possibly harm marine life  Photodegradation has also made it near impossible to clean up all of the plastic  The sun’s rays dry the plastic to the point that it shatters  The result is countless miniscule bits of plastic, most of which are floating below the surface, reaching down perhaps 300 feet (Layton, 2009)  There is no good way to pull these tiny beads out from the water  Getting to the patch is a chore in itself, it is in the middle of the ocean

 A massive clean-up will be an extraordinarily time-consuming, fuel-consuming, and resource- consuming undertaking (Layton, 2009)  Clean-up will take a huge amount of money  But the benefits of clean up would HIGHLY outweigh the disadvantages of leaving the garbage where it is

 The mix of inconsistent, false, and outdated information has led some to believe the patch is a hoax, or at best, an exaggeration (Steinberg, 2010).  The truth is there is not a lot of awareness of the patch  Research needs to be conducted and something must start being done about the issue  Just because we cannot directly see the problem does NOT mean it doesn’t exist!  Because most of the garbage is under the surface of the water it is hard for scientists to measure just how large the patch is  It also prevents us from receiving proper images from satellites

 Pollution is unacceptable  We need to start being more responsible and make better decisions on our planets behalf  The solution is to prevent more trash and debris from entering the ocean  If we don’t change our habits the patch will only continue to get larger with time

 Kostigen, T. M. (2008, July 10). The World’s Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Retrieved June 13, 2010, from dump/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C= (Kostigen, 2008)  Layton, J. (2009). Could We Clean Up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Retrieved June 13, 2010, from (Layton, 2009).  Morton, T. (2010, February 17). Toxic: Garbage Island. Retrieved June 6, 2010, from (Morton, 2010)  Silverman, J. (2009). Why is World’s Biggest Landfill in the Pacific Ocean? Retrieved June 6, 2010, from (Silverman, 2009).  Steinberg, J. (2010, March 3). Media Myths and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Retrieved June 13, 2010, from (Steinberg, 2010).