Journey to the Center of Floating Junk Earth
It’s one thing to be appalled by the monstrous accumulation of millions of square miles of plastic waste spinning slowly in the North Pacific gyre. It’s another thing entirely to build an ocean-going vessel out of plastic waste and set out across the sea to call attention to the environmental catastrophe.
That’s exactly what two men, one from California and one from Hawaii, are now doing. The two — Marcus Eriksen, a Ph.D., Gulf War vet and director of research and education for the Long Beach-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and Joel Paschal, a former businessman in Hawaii and a one-time employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — are sailing across the Pacific in a homemade vessel, Kon Tiki-style, to “raise awareness about plastic fouling our oceans.”
And foul it is: the “garbage soup” swirling in the North Pacific gyre stretches across some five million square miles, an area twice as large as the continental U.S. Worse still, the floating dump is steadily growing and threatening every level of the food chain … yes, all the way up to humans.
The big chunks of plastic — bottles, six-pack rings, caps and more — entangle wildlife or choke creatures that swallow them. But the smaller bits — broken-down fragments and microscopic nurdles from plastics manufacturing — are ingested without immediate harm. It’s then that the longer-lasting damage begins: the tiny swallowed bits attract DDT, PCBs and other poisons, and gradually accumulate in the tissues of jellyfish, fish and other creatures. Sooner or later, people end up eating that poisoned plastic too.
It might be “out of sight” for most of us, but Eriksen and Paschal are determined to make it “out of mind” no longer. That’s why they’re sailing from Long Beach to Hawaii in an ocean-going junk made of actual junk: a discarded Cessna cockpit rigged with plastic waste to 15,000 plastic bottles. The vessel’s name? “Junk,” of course.
Throughout their journey, Eriksen and Paschal will be taking ocean surface samples, reporting on their findings and blogging about their experiences. Through the Algalita foundation, they’re also seeking sponsors for their message-in-a-bottle campaign. After they finish their voyage, they plan to take those messages on a tour of the West Coast before delivering them to state and local lawmakers.
A very important effort!
As if sea life doesn’t have ENOUGH to worry about from over fishing, industrial whaling and carbonic acid!
interseting, on the link from where it says “garbage soup” (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html) it speaks much more about the garbage soup. upon first reading this i thought about looking on google earth at it but as i read my thought was answered. “it is not detectable in satellite photographs. “You only see it from the bows of ships,” “—Mr Moore. can someone who has pictures of the actual garbage post them please, i would greatly like to see it and think this article would have a greater impact if the pictures were visible. thankyou
Oh for Gaia’s sake! This is a GOOD thing — the Earth and its life force will shortly learn how to digest the plastic in the gyre, and soon our society will be eaten from the inside out, starting with all of the detritus that we’ve stupidly thrown into the mix. Stop whining and prepare for the glorious apocalypse of “civilization” as we’ve known it.
It would be absolutely great, to see lots of pictures and video, of the “garbage soup”. Many people believe this is a myth, and some actual footage would be great. Does anybody have pictures of the “garbage soup”.
Interesting article, I agree the world needs to have its awareness raised of this. I hope they are making some kind of documentary on their journey?
Where can i find a picture of this garbage soup?
I keep hearing about this massive floating plastic mess, but I’ve never seen any good pictures of it. I don’t doubt that it exists, but it’d be nice if one could see it on google earth maybe, or a plane fly over…
I want to thank you for putting this topic to the attention of millions. I hope it stimulates the masses to think about their visit to the beaches this summer and the junk they leave at the beach!
Keep up the good work!
Wow dude that is going to be a pretty narley trip!
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“And foul it is: the “garbage soup” swirling in the North Pacific gyre stretches across some five million square miles, an area twice as large as the continental U.S. Worse still, the floating dump is steadily growing and threatening every level of the food chain.”
So if this thing is so big, where the hell are the photos of it taken by planes or ships or Google Earth? Even Algalita’s photo gallery shows nothing more than coastal litter.