Green Taxi

My most popular blog post to date, both in terms of pageviews and discussions started amongst friends, was on the Garbage Soup out in the Pacific Ocean.  Well, it looks as if the New York Times has finally picked up on the story and the issue is gaining some interest in more mainstream news lines.

There is a massive problem hidden out in the middle of our ocean in the form of floating garbage.  While this island of garbage is twice the size of Texas (and doubles in size every decade), there are more studies showing that the plastic is showing up in even the most remote parts of the worlds oceans.

Scientists are now reporting that there are five such giant garbage patches floating in  the worlds oceans.  Apparently there is one off the coast of Japan and another in the middle of the Atlantic, but none of them as thick as the Pacific beast.

Every single sample taken in the Pacific patch show some sign of plastic in it.  While most are just minute fragments, the size of rice, they litter the sea just below sea level.

Animals are being destroyed by these gyres.  Fish are eating this plastic which then transfer into our food supply.  Effectively we are eating our own trash.

The albatross, too, are suffering a massive battle against the garbage.  They eat every lighter and bottlecap they can find, thinking they are food.  Then they feed them to their babies when they get back home.  Click through to these pictures at your own risk.

This expansion of plastic and garbage into our food and water supplies is a battle we are losing because most people are not even aware of the battle.  This problem will take another ten years to expose, another ten beyond that to “prove” to the politicians, and another twenty beyond that to halt or slow.  By then we will be literally walking on water.

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