All of the irreversible damage caused to the planet Earth by the various types of Pollution is coming to a head. Every year experiences record breaking-temperatures, cos emissions from China are affecting air conditions in the U.S., and there is a patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that has grown to be the size of Texas. Now a team of researchers examining the Pacific Ocean garbage patch have arrived in California after months at sea, and plan to unveil their preliminary findings to the world.
What’s the Damage?
The damage caused to the earth by human interference is reprehensible, but there are those including Boyan Slat, Founder of ‘the Ocean Cleanup’, who wish to crub the trend of tremendous waste and clean up the world’s oceans. Slat spearheaded the expedition to map all of the waste in the Pacific Ocean, and now he plans on eradicating it. The fleet of vessels charged with measuring all the waste has come ashore after months of examination, and now the data will be assembled before the real work to clean up the ocean can begin.
Why Bother Making a Map of Garbage?
In order to find a solution to the Pacific Ocean garbage patch crisis, the team of experts must first assess the damage that has already been done. According to Dr. Julia Reisser the amount of pollution is becoming increasinlg alarming as the explorers continues to map the debris, “I’ve studied plastic in all the world’s oceans, but never seen any area as polluted as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. With Every trawl we completed, thousands of miles from land, we found lots and lots of plastic.”
The Sovereign State of the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
If left unchecked the Pacific Ocean garbage patch could lead to the destruction of the ocean in ways beyond just a sea full of garbage. According to Slat, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to harm being caused by the Texas sized island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean, “The vast majority of plastic in the garbage patch is currently locked up in large pieces of debris, but UV light is breaking it down into much more dangerous microplastics, vastly increasing the amount of microplastics over the next few decades if we don’t clean it up. It really is a ticking time bomb.”
Now that the initial portion of the expedition has reached completion, and the recon crew is docked in California, the beginning of what should be a large series of data regarding the Pacific Ocean garbage patch will be released the public.
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