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35 Million Tons of Toxic Stew: Inconvenient Truth of the Day Posted by Wendy Cohen on August 6, 2008 at 6:58 pm

Good Morning America! Hello!!! The Pacific Ocean is a mess. GMA has a story this morning about the world’s largest trash dump. And guess where it is? That’s right, the  Pacific Ocean.

This Great Pacific Garbage Patch is mainly made up of non-biodegradable plastic and smaller pieces in the patch extends thousands of miles, from California’s coast to China.

ABC news reports, that series of currents in the Pacific Ocean pull debris from North America, Asia and the Hawaiian Islands into this toxic stew which then lands into a graveyard of 3.5 million tons of trash that’s 80 percent plastic.

The amount of garbage has more than doubled in 5 years and it is making its way into wildlife.

“I found 26 pieces of plastic, all different colors inside one stomach,” said marine researcher Christiana Boerger.

So how do we clean up? Well, there is no clear answer just yet.   But here is some much needed advise from Steve Fleischl, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance:

The planet is a closed system. So everything that happens on Earth stays on Earth. What we need to do is to accept responsibility at the local level and rescue the amount of plastic that comes down our waterways and into our ocean.

takepart with the NRDC and urge your senator to clean up our oceans!

Related:

  • Toxic Stew: Great Pacific Garbage Patch
  • Inconvenient Truth of the Day
  • Ottawa Approves Plan That Will Turn Garbage Into Energy
  • San Francisco Mayer Proposes $1,00 Fines for Unsorted Recycling
  • Zemanta Pixie

    CATEGORIES:  Environment


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    Page 1 of 1
    Posted by lora on August 8, 2008 at 1:30 am

    A lot of resources waiting to be recycled!

    Replies (0)
    Posted by Wendy Cohen on August 8, 2008 at 2:04 am

    Let’s hope there is a way we can clean this up!

    Replies (0)
    Posted by Theresa Kelly on August 20, 2008 at 2:16 am

    Make people who will not recycle pay fines

    Replies (0)
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