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Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastics (Part 1/3)

Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastics (Part 2/3)

Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastics (Part 3/3)

In Part 1/3 of the Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastics Youtube sequence shown above, the Vice Crew sets sail with Captain Charles Moore on his research vessel, the Alguita, on a three week long journey to survey the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The crew consists of Thomas Morton, Meredith Danluck, and Jake Burghart, along with Joe Goodman, volunteer researcher, and Dr. Lorena Mendoza. They sail 2,463 miles from Long Beach, California to Hilo, Hawaii. A few days into the expedition, Dr. Mendoza takes samples of the ocean water far from the gyre to determine the plastic content. She filters the water to remove the solids in order to analyze them. Dr. Mendoza’s main goal is to see if she could extract the invisible microplastics from the water. A solution indicates the presence of these plastic particles, or polymers, to provide a rough estimate of the amount of plastic suspended in the ocean.

The Vice Crew sails farther into the garbage patch in the video Part 2/3. They are seeing more debris everyday as they continue traveling closer to Hawaii. Since the group is spending days on a boat in the open ocean, some crew members are growing restless with boredom. This video shows how long it takes to sail to Hawaii which makes it difficult for clean ups to be implemented since the journey is detrimental to humans. Similar to the information provided by the COORC, Moore also explains how polycarbonate plastics, such as water bottles and other beverage/food containers, release bisphenol A into the ocean as they break down. This chemical is lipophilic, fat loving, so it tends to accumulate in the fatty tissues in marine organisms. Industrial chemicals from plastics can cause reproductive harm and other defects. For example, “1 in 4 male swordfish in the Mediterranean produce female egg yolk hormones.” Also, eskimo women are likely to have toxic breast milk because they consume marine mammals that have a high fat content. They produce fewer and smaller males. Any organisms that come in contact with high levels of these toxic chemicals risk crashes in their population.

During Garbage Island Part 3/3, the Vice Crew arrived at the outskirts of the gyre where they began spotting more garbage than they have the entire trip. They found Japanese buoys which take approximately 3-5 years to circle the gyre. Eventually, the crew makes it to the center of the gyre where they take water samples. A bad sample ratio of plastics to sea life (plankton) is 6:1, and according to their data, the water sample ratios were over 1000:1. Humans have changed the composition of the ocean water. PCB’s, or persistent organic pollutants (pesticides), are very common in ocean water. Plastics readily absorb PCB’s, which makes ingesting the particles even more detrimental to marine organisms. Finally, the group drops anchor in Hawaii at Green Sands Beach. The beaches are covered in large plastics which looks worse than the ocean, but in reality, it is slightly better. Large pieces of garbage on land are much easier to clean up than microplastics in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Clean up of the Great Pacific Garabage Patch is deemed impossible by experts and scientisits, howoever, Vibeke Venema shares a possible solution in her article, The Dutch Boy Mopping Up a Sea of Plastic from BBC News in 2014. Boyan Slat, a Dutch boy now age 20, attempts to take on the ocean pollution problem in North Pacific gyre. Slat’s inspiration came to him years ago when he was diving in Greece where he saw more plastic bags than fish. He created a foundation called The Ocean Cleanup and had the opportunity to explain his ideas on TedX Talk: How the Oceans can Clean Themselves which went viral months later. Slat’s campaign raised $80,000 in 15 days. After major criticism from the public and experts, Slat came forth with a 530-page report written by 70 scientists and engineers that clarified many unanswered questions. Another campaign followed the release of the report which funded over $2 million. Slat’s system utilizes the ocean’s currents to clean up the debris. The garbage is gathered by a barrier and extracted by a solar powered platform which is anchored to the sea floor. The system is eco-friendly; no emissions would be produced and marine life would not be endangered. The plastics would be properly recycled into new products or oil. Boyan Slat is trying to prove the world wrong.

Marzia Sesini’s research from her scholary journal, The Garbage Patch in the Oceans: The Problem and Possible Solutions, concludes that there are five garbage patches throughout the world located in the North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest with a calculated surface area of 8,095,000 square kilometers that contains 20,240 tons of plastic (Sesini). In the United States, the Clean Water Act, established in 1972, and the Ocean Dumping Ban Act, amended in 1988, helps to regulate the disposal of garbage and sewage in the oceans. The European Union banned the production, commercialization, and use of non-biodegradable plastics in 2011. Management, prevention, and reduction of wastes could be promoted at local levels such that better recycling programs could be implemented. Society should be properly educated to create awareness about proper disposal of garbage and the devastation of littering. Multiple laws are in effect to protect the health of the oceans, however, no one patrols the open waters for the regulations to even matter.

Grant Harse follows up with additional laws and information. The London Convention was established to prohibit global pollution by many nations. The EPA and U.S. Corps of Engineers control the Ocean Dumping Ban Act. Prior to the Ban Act, sewage sludge and industrial waste was allowed to be dumped into the ocean up until 1991. Regulations placed on the people of a country are not enough to reduce marine pollution; more secure preventative measures must be taken. These are various methods that society is using to help prevent undesirable amounts of pollution into the oceans. Laws and regulations are a step in the right direction and shows the people care about what could potentially happen to the environment.