3rd Hour - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Visit YouTube.com to view either CNN's "Garbage Island" or "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Good Morning America." Then read Charles Moore's "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Reflect on the video & article, and answer ONE of the following questions. In addition to your posted reflection, respond to the postings of TWO of your classmates.

1. Why should we care? How does the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ultimately impact humans?

2. Suggest a solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. How can we solve this problem? Why is your solution better tahn other options?

The article by Charles Moore can be accessed at: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm

Initial Posting: Due Thursday, September 8 at 11:59 pm
Response Postings: Due Sunday, September 11 at 11:59 pm.

This is Bri Joe.. So I feel that we should care about the debri in the Pacific ocean. Not only is it killing animals put there but it affects us. Sea men can't fish out there because the water is contaminated and gross. You can't sail out there because the water is gross. Chemicals from all the debri sinks into the water which could spread to other places. In my opinion we should not litter and start to pick the stuff up. In the story it tells how the guy did it so why can't we? Not only does it contaminate the water but, it makes us as americans look bad to other country's. I mean there was a volleyball out there. It does not even make sense to why a volleyball is in the middle of a ocean. So we should just clean it up and care because its harming our earth and makes us look dirty.

I can't believe that we didn't see this coming! Oh my God how could we have been so careless as to just let this happen. We're all to blame here. Anyone who has ever eaten a Hot Pocket or opened a package is at fault. The question is now, how do we make every disposable item recyclable, how to use less packaging, how do we clean the oceans quickly, safely, and economically?

We should care because, animals are dying because of our careless ways. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch impacts humans because, when those animals die, they cause their predator(s) to die aswell, just causing a chain reaction. Then ultimately, the animals that we eat will be affected bedcause, they won't have anything to eat, so then our food will start to run low.

We should care about it being a large garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean because it is affecting the animals in the ocean. Instead of the animals eating the other animals that they usually eat and survive off of, they are eating plastic. Ultimately this will affect humans because humans may need some of the animals in the ocean to be used in their food. Also humans will be affected because slowly the number of animals living in the ocean will slowly decline and become extinct.

[quote="Jonesayy"] I agree with you that we should care because the more debri being put into the Pacific Ocean, the more animals are disappearing. This is making it impossible for people to find these kind of animals anymore.

[quote="Keith E. Reece"] I agree with you about us needing to recycle because most of the debri in the ocean is plastic. Instead of us throwing the plastic out the windows of cars, we need to start recycling. If not, you will see the number of animals living in the ocean dissapear quickly.

It is truly amazing to know just how much trash is being dumped into our oceans, and how long it lasts there. We should definitely care about this because we are desturbing a delicate food web by just dumpning our trash wherever. When fish try to eat the plastic, they can either suffocate or be poisoned and die. The lack of these fish will lead to a lack of food for other fish. This stars a chain reaction of fish dying of starvation. Also, like the video said, we could be eating our own trash. Since plastic does not decompose, it could transfer from animal to animal when the animal is eaten, and will sooner or later end in our stomachs. And trash in your stomach is not a pretty thought.
Also, with a trash mound that big, it is assumed than many of the fish had to relocate away from the trash mound. Introducing foreign animals in a new environment creates a problem for both the new and old animals. This leads to a fight for food, and can lead to the extinction of certain species.

[quote="Jonesayy"] Not only do we need to pick up after ourselves but we also need to recycle. The less stuff that needs to be made, the less petrolium we need, the less destruction of environements, and also the less chance of trash being dumped into the ocean.

[quote="dkeiyathomas"] Not only do the few species eating the plastic become extinct, but the animals as well that depend on a plentiful population of food. Even a small chink in the food web can lead to a chain bomb, greatly decreasing our fish population.

I think that we (people) should care because that means that the population has acknowledged the problem (the great garbage patch), we know that the garbage patch is out there and it will be the first step to solving the problem. If we know the garbage patch is out there and people really care about the ocean the swim in and eat fish out of, change will be inevitable because many people are no longer ignorant of it. Ultimately if people keep ignoring it or remain ignorant, the garbage patch will not get fixed and only get worse. The food chain will probably collapse rapidly and if that happens that means less carbon-dioxide consumers (algae and other sea stuff...), less fish populations, less aquatic resources in the pacific and probably more wars or bad things. I'm also confident that seafood prices will jump, not rise, jump. Not only this stuff, but the GGP (great garbage patch) is toxic and a giant toxic polluted ocean is the last thing we need in the face of climate change, air pollution, and other dirty, cheap, corrupt corporate practices.......maybe we should cause political upheaval as a generation in the sixties...?...

[quote="adamobrock"] -I totally agree with Adam because what he has said coincides with my ideas. Not only is this plastic indestructable(sadly) but it is poisonous and deadly once it breaks down. Fish in their natural ecosystems who eat the plastics are not to blame for their problems and die as a result of human error. Because people eat fish, who's to say the plastic won't end up in your stomach and after we eat we wonder why we have 'this disease or cancer'. The 'GGP' could not only lead to the extinction of species but the destruction of an oceanic ecosystem and new health problems.

[quote="Jonesayy"]-Bri Joe is right. The 'GGP' is gross and that's the last place a person should find a volleyball or anything of the sort. I personally find it hypocritical that the United States' government would gladly police the world on multiple things instead of taking care of issues at home such as 'loose' waste programs and environmental policy. The U.S. govt needs to tighten environmental, corporate, and waste policies to cut down on waste and create programs to lesson the amounts of trash improperly disposed of that harms the environment. Not only is the government 'filthy' but its so filthy that it does not seem to care if we live in trash as long as they have their lives paid off by political entities, corporations, and wealty constituens....

I Think The Best Thing To Do Is To Produce Enough Biodegradeable Plastics That The Non Biodegradeable Plastics become almost rare. This way the plastics that seem to be caught in the ocean are at least able to biodegrade. As far as clean up I think that once the issue is maintained then clean up can be takin care of little by little.

[quote="camenistic strickland"]

Jonesayy wrote:-Bri Joe is right. The 'GGP' is gross and that's the last place a person should find a volleyball or anything of the sort. I personally find it hypocritical that the United States' government would gladly police the world on multiple things instead of taking care of issues at home such as 'loose' waste programs and environmental policy. The U.S. govt needs to tighten environmental, corporate, and waste policies to cut down on waste and create programs to lesson the amounts of trash improperly disposed of that harms the environment. Not only is the government 'filthy' but its so filthy that it does not seem to care if we live in trash as long as they have their lives paid off by political entities, corporations, and wealty constituens....

I COMPLETELY AGREE! Unfortunately the government is far from being worried about the enviornment right now due to the need for jobs and economic stability. So I dont think that we can put all of out eggs in the government basket because that is just not going to be enough.

First of all, we should care because that is our trash, no matter if you didn't put your trash in the ocean or not, it is our trash. Another reason we should care is it is going to harm us because the fish and some birds will eat it and then we are going to eat them. Eating the plastic must have some type of bad effect on, not only us, but the animals also. Even if it doesn't harm us, there is no way that it can be good for you. Also have all that plastic instead of water will look very ugly. If I ever go out to sea, I would rather see the sea instead of random pieces of plastic.

The Pacific Garbage Patch concerns me. Out in the middle of the ocean is a mass of garbage the size of Texas. Not only does this take away the beauty of the ocean, but it also harms many different creatures. It hurts the creatures who eat the trash and then eventually it could harm us humans because we eat the fish that eats the trash that has harmful chemicals in it. I personally don't want to have medical problems because trash just wasn't exposed of properly.
Ultimately, I think everyone should care because this is our world we are messing up and eventually we will be messing up our own health. If this is not a good enough reason to fix it, then how about people who like to go diving and other fun ocean adventures because this will effect your fun time by limiting it.
This seriously disturbs me and we all need to try to figure out how to fix this problem!!!!!!!!

Jonesayy wrote:This is Bri Joe.. So I feel that we should care about the debri in the Pacific ocean. Not only is it killing animals put there but it affects us. Sea men can't fish out there because the water is contaminated and gross. You can't sail out there because the water is gross. Chemicals from all the debri sinks into the water which could spread to other places. In my opinion we should not litter and start to pick the stuff up. In the story it tells how the guy did it so why can't we? Not only does it contaminate the water but, it makes us as americans look bad to other country's. I mean there was a volleyball out there. It does not even make sense to why a volleyball is in the middle of a ocean. So we should just clean it up and care because its harming our earth and makes us look dirty.

Bri Joe I totally agree that we need to stop littering, but how are we going to get other people to stop doing it too? If only a handful of people try to fix it and succeeds, eventually it is going to repeat itself again because other people are not changing their own actions. How can we convince other people to stop littering so we don't see bad side effects on wildlife and even our own health?

JessLockette wrote:We should care because, animals are dying because of our careless ways. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch impacts humans because, when those animals die, they cause their predator(s) to die aswell, just causing a chain reaction. Then ultimately, the animals that we eat will be affected bedcause, they won't have anything to eat, so then our food will start to run low.

I totally get the whole food chain reaction thing. It effects the animals that eats the trash. What about the fish we eat that have these harmful chemicals in them and we eat them causing us to have major health problems? This is a very serious problem.

1. Why should we care? How does the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ultimately impact humans?
Having the ocean so polluted impacts humans. Fish will begin to die if they consume these pollutions which in turn will effect larger fish that we eat. The fish population will decrease quickly; the ocean will not clean itself. The plastics in the ocean won't go away without human intervention. We are the only people that can do something about this because the fish can't. The pollution in the ocean will also affect other water supplies on earth if it gets too bad.

adamobrock wrote:It is truly amazing to know just how much trash is being dumped into our oceans, and how long it lasts there. We should definitely care about this because we are desturbing a delicate food web by just dumpning our trash wherever. When fish try to eat the plastic, they can either suffocate or be poisoned and die. The lack of these fish will lead to a lack of food for other fish. This stars a chain reaction of fish dying of starvation. Also, like the video said, we could be eating our own trash. Since plastic does not decompose, it could transfer from animal to animal when the animal is eaten, and will sooner or later end in our stomachs. And trash in your stomach is not a pretty thought.
Also, with a trash mound that big, it is assumed than many of the fish had to relocate away from the trash mound. Introducing foreign animals in a new environment creates a problem for both the new and old animals. This leads to a fight for food, and can lead to the extinction of certain species.

I agree with your response. I didn't even think about how some fish will probably migrate and affect other fish in new areas. People need to care more about the possibility of a species becoming extinct especially if it's our fault.

Keith E. Reece wrote:I can't believe that we didn't see this coming! Oh my God how could we have been so careless as to just let this happen. We're all to blame here. Anyone who has ever eaten a Hot Pocket or opened a package is at fault. The question is now, how do we make every disposable item recyclable, how to use less packaging, how do we clean the oceans quickly, safely, and economically?

I agree with you all the way up to the part where you said that "ANYONE WHO HAS EVER EATEN A HOT POCKET OR OPENED A PACKAGE IS AT FAULT". Some people do recycle. However, most don't. I think that the best way to fix this problem is just for everybody to recycle and reuse.

This mess is disgusting and infuriating. It is extremely frustrating to me that people just throw their crap in rivers, lakes, oceans, you name it, and somehow expect that it will take care of itself. Everything we do has an impact on our environment! This constant trend of waste and apathy to the effect it has on our world is truly frightening. All this waste impacts us and wildlife in major ways. Fish and birds are eating this broken-down plastic, which obviously is not good for them. Then some of these smaller fish are eaten by larger fish, until we eventually eat the fish. Then all that plastic originally in the fish is now inside us. That's not good for us either! We need to make some adjustments, and make them fast, before we end up destroying our oceans, wildlife, and ourselves.

We should care about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch because we are the reason why the garbage is there and it is harming innocent animals. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch ultimately impacts humans because we eat the sea animals that eat the plastic and become toxinated. So, humans would gain toxic chemicals from those sea animals.

I knew that we had a waste problem, but I never realized how bad it is! To know that there is 3.5 millions pieces of trash floating around in the ocean is really unbelievable! I find myself asking the question, How could we let this happen? We are not only harming sea life,birds, but in the long run we are harming ourselves. I think it is important that we all start making a change whether it be recyling or not littering. It is not fair that the sea life and birds are suffering because of us.