The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: What to know and what to do
By: Madison Oliver
You probably have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch before...but what exactly is it and what can we be doing about it?
What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean located between California and Hawaii. It is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world!
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is formed by the North Pacific Gyre. A Gyre is a system of circulating currents in an ocean that, over time, gather up all of the plastics and trash and accumulate it all in one area.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
Covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers (Twice the size of Texas or 3x the size of France)
Is just 1 of 5 garbage patches in the world, but is the largest and most densely packed
Contains between 1.1 to 3.6 trillion pieces of plastic (that's about 200 pieces of plastic per person in the world!)
Contains plastic that is decades old
Fishing nets account of 45% of the garbage patch
Why is this important to know?
Marine debris is extremely harmful to marine life in the oceans. Due to its size and color, animals confuse the plastic for food. Researchers discovered that within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 74% of Sea Turtles diet will consist of plastic. Over time this causes problems with the digestive system and organs and can cause these marine animals to die.
Additionally, all of the debris and plastics can cause animals to get tangled up and trapped. This leads to starvation and eventually death unless they are helped. It also disturbs the food cycle by causing sunlight to not be able to reach the bottom for algae and plankton, which are big producers in the marine food cycle.
Lastly, if marine animals are consuming plastic, it is no surprise that it will start to effect human consumption as well. If microplastics are absorbed or enter the body of a fish, and then the fish is proceeded to be eaten by a human, those microplastics that were once in the fish could be transferred to the human's body as well.
What can you do?
Stop the use of single-use plastics
Be a responsible consumer (pay attention to what you are buying and choose environmentally friendly options)
Support eco-friendly businesses that are making a difference
Take part in a local cleanup
Donate or show support to different non-profit organizations
Recycle, recycle, recycle!
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