The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

This week Green Drinks hosts some very special guests at the Culver City chapter, hosted by the Living Green store.

We mention this here because they have some very special guests this week, actually tonight in fact. We highly recommend you check it out, it’s a great networking night hosted by Barent Roth and friends.

Here’s all the details:
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“As LA Green Drinks grows we want to continue to improve the experience of each event.
This month we experiment with a raffle and a short informal presentation format with some very special guests-

Join us in welcoming back two crew members of the Alguita research vessel,
Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen!

Anna and Marcus will talk briefly about their recent trip and present samples of the floating trash they collected while sailing. We will have a Q&A after their presentation and then they will both be available for further discussion.

The Alguita Research Vessel has just returned from studying the enormous swirling debris of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean, a “Plastic Soup” which has now grown to TWICE the size of the U.S.!
www.orvalguita.blogspot.com

This month LA Green Drinks will be raising money for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, the environmental non-profit organization who chartered the oceanic voyage into the floating trash.
www.algalita.org

Algalita Marine Research Foundation was founded in Long Beach, California by Captain Charles Moore in 1994, and is dedicated to the preservation of the marine environment. With the help of the chartered research vessel, the ORV Alguita, AMRF is actively engaged in innovative research, education programs, and restoration of the marine environment.

Marcus Eriksen, Algalita’s Director of Research and Education, has been deeply involved in plastic marine debris issues since rafting down the length of the Mississippi River on a boat made from recycled plastic bottles. Marcus has given presentations about marine debris issues to schools and communities all over the country, and will continue his public education upon his return, with samples and data “hot off the gyre”.

Anna Cummins - Algalita’s Education Advisor and lone female on board. While working for a marine conservation organization in 2004, Anna met Charles Moore and joined joined Algalita on a research trip to Guadalupe Island. She was forever changed by this opportunity to learn first hand about the far reaching, ecological impacts of disposable plastics.

Thursday, March 6th, 2008
7pm – 10pm
$5 suggested donation
www.livinggreen.com

We emailed Algalita for some more details and confirmation on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s existence and here’s the explanation we received from Marieta Francis, the Director of Operations at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation:

“Thank you for contacting us. Yes, there is an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean referred to as a “Garbage Patch”. The accumulation of plastic and debris in this area has been researched by our foundation since 1999. You can find information about it on our website - www.algalita.org - both in the Research section and also in the 2008 Gyre Voyage blog on the home page.

It is not something that can be cleaned up. In fact, most of the debris is small and spread out over the surface of the ocean.

We have images of the debris under water, and groups we put together for tagging on the surface. You need to understand that the ocean is a liquid medium, and objects do not pile up on top of it, rather, they become submerged. While we do see buoys, television tubes and soap bottles, etc, they are not piled up in a group for photographing. The majority of the debris consists of small plastic fragments and broken objects just below the surface, which are obscured by surface wavelets when observed from any angle but directly above.

The concept of a “trash island” to describe this phenomenon was originally coined by Pravda and picked up by other European media, who showed an artists drawing of a mountain of trash. This is not an accurate depiction. The enormous accumulation zones for plastic debris are better described as “trash vortexes,” and except for fishing buoys do not appear above the ocean surface. They are also referred to as the “Eastern and Western Garbage Patches,” although we prefer vortex because the word “patch” does not do justice to their more or less million square mile size.”

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Wow. Let us repeat that very last little bit: “More or less million square mile size.”

And regarding the official word on cleanup: “It is not something that can be cleaned up” - we’re still not convinced it can’t be cleaned up. With enough money and motivation, there has to be a solution out there and we will do our best to help find it.