More To Do

The present situation of ocean pollution has grown rapidly. With more people on the planet than ever before, more plastic than ever before is being produced every day.

There are 8 giant patches of garbage in the oceans today. The total area these patches cover is equal to the size of the United States, the biggest being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is about three times the size of Texas.

 Not only is the plastic not degrading and filling up parts of the ocean killing species of fish and plant life, but the plastic is also contaminating seafood. It has long been known that the fish we eat are exposed to toxic chemicals in rivers and oceans like the chemical mercury.

However, mercury is not the only synthetic and organic pollutants fish are consuming and absorbing. Some of these pollutants are directly from people dumping chemicals directly into the ocean, but increasingly fish are getting chemicals from the plastic debris they ingest. 

Currently, many scientists and inventors are trying to find the cheapest and most convenient way to filter trash out of the ocean, be it by machine or by hand. 

Boyan Slat is working at this right now.

He is a 21 year old who has invented a way to clean up the ocean surfaces.

While it is true that it is harder to clean up once it gets into the ocean, due to plastic being constantly rotated and carried by currents, it is possible to get it out efficiently. 

Slat has invented a way for plastic to be filtered out of the ocean by arranging floating barriers, which are anchored into the sea bed, to catch the floating debris. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDxE8BhPSM

  

The plastic would then move along the barriers towards a platform of some sort where it could be picked up. The plastic that would be collected would later be turned into products or oil by recycling.

Slat is the founder of the organization The Ocean Cleanup.

 He is just one of many individuals trying desperately to find a solution to this rapidly growing problem.

There are also several media outlets that are encouraging individuals to recycle and inform them about the effects plastic is having on the ocean. One of those is the magazine National Geographic. They have published many articles on the topic including one titled The Great Garbage Patch. (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/)