Re: 5th Hour - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Azia Aldridge Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:38 pm

lindsay-moody wrote:People should care about the garbage in the ocean- it is undeniably man-made. Pollutants from plastic can inhibit ocean wildlife and ultimately contaminate human food. People should be less lazy and recycle plastic because that is the only proper disposal of plastic waste.

I think so to. Because i feel like i have ate plastic. I feel like everything that everyone is throwing out and not recycling, is going right back to me and i am eating. I'm not trying to eat it, but things that i eat is eating it. I think the Government should create a better law about waste management. I think everyone should get arested if they don't recycle their plastic, instead they throw it away.

Hayz.Adkison Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:00 pm

BriannaMoore wrote:Why should we care?! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is absolutely embarrassing and is disgusting! Who in the world would want to life like that? It was stated in the video that not only is this "island" affecting the sea life but humans as well. For Christ sake, the issue has reaching China, one of the most important countries we depend on for most of our supplies. Its not fair that some women in China can not have children because others do not want to properly dispose of their plastic. I would HATE to go out into the sea and see nothing but floating trash every where! Why would we NOT care about whats going on in the place we live?

I agree with you completely. Having this "island" is embarrassing and disgusting. I think a lot of Americans throw trash out around the world because it isn't in front of their own home. I don't think that everyone really understands where all their water and everything really comes from. I'm sure if they really found out where it was coming from and how that area is treated, then behaviors would change. If still after what they see their behaviors don't change then that just proves just how spoiled, selfish, and ignorant Americans are now a days. I think it is very sad how they just don;t mind any attention to what they are doing to not only animals and everyone else but also to their selves.

Hayz.Adkison Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:15 pm

BrittanyE wrote:I think that we should care about the garbage that is seeping its way into our oceans.It not only affects the ocean, it affects the fish, the plants in the ocean, our ecosystems, and most of all our health. people are too concerned about themselves to think, hey i'm harming another creature, because of me something that lives and breathes will one day cease to exist. Instead they think, Oh as long as it's not me i don't care.

Hey Brittany i totally agree with you we should care and it is sad that nobody takes the time to think about what they are doing and they are effecting everyone and everything. I think we all need to realize what we are doing and somehow come up with a way to stop it before its too late. SOON!!! "the sooner, the better" :-/

kurt.ragan Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:51 pm

we should care because this problem could get out of control and quick. the garbage patch could ultimately impact humans by threatening our food source and water supply. it could threaten our food by fish feeding on the plastic unknowingly and then dieing which could follow the food chain up and up. this trash could also break down to put other pollutants into the water that could be harmful.

kurt.ragan Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:55 pm

DanManzella wrote:We as humans should care because we are eventually eating our own garbage once it cylces through the food web and back to us. The great pacific garbage patch has linked us with the early diabetes, problems with the liver, kidney and other crisises around the world. Also the effects have been linked with more women having miscarriages. we should care because the "patch" is already the size of Texas so if we don't do something about it its just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger and if its already 3 million tons in weight, that seems like too big of a problem already, so why let it get worse and worse. The suns rays are just gonna break the plastic up more and more making the plastic harder and harder to pick up. Animals are dieing because of our mistakes, does that seem fair?

i agree with you, it is not fair to animals or the environment to suffer over things that we as humans could control.

kurt.ragan Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:07 pm

BrittanyE wrote:I think that we should care about the garbage that is seeping its way into our oceans.It not only affects the ocean, it affects the fish, the plants in the ocean, our ecosystems, and most of all our health. people are too concerned about themselves to think, hey i'm harming another creature, because of me something that lives and breathes will one day cease to exist. Instead they think, Oh as long as it's not me i don't care.

I agree with what you think. humans are very selfish and always think about what they can do for themselves to make things easy and not what will happen it return to other people or things.

ScubaSteve.Smith Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:32 pm

In my opinion we should care because this will effect not only humans, but animals lives as well. Fish are consuming the plastic and there is more plastic than plankton in that region which means less food for the fish which will kill fish and then bigger fish that feed on the smaller fish will also die from hunger. This could affect whole ecosystems if the problem doesnt stop. The issue has reached China, one of the most important countries we depend on for most of our supplies. This is definitely something we should be concerned about. In conclusion, please recycle your plastics and metals and paper.No need to litter. do your part in saving the sea animals and cleaning up the Pacific ocean.

maryamnewman Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:00 pm

I believe that the most we as humans are capable of doing is recycling so that useful materials may be made into product to use over again. With the remaining trash, us citizens have no control over where it goes and how it is decomposed of. It is in the hands of our leaders to do so properly, keeping in mind the conditions of our enviorment that we also share with plants and animals. It is not enirely the governments fault, because as citizens we do not bring this situation to light ourselves and take for granted the very building blocks of our enviorment. So to answer the question, we should raise awareness and illustrate that not only are plants and animals are in jeopardy, but our lives as well.

maryamnewman Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:06 pm

BrittanyE wrote:I think that we should care about the garbage that is seeping its way into our oceans.It not only affects the ocean, it affects the fish, the plants in the ocean, our ecosystems, and most of all our health. people are too concerned about themselves to think, hey i'm harming another creature, because of me something that lives and breathes will one day cease to exist. Instead they think, Oh as long as it's not me i don't care.

True, but I think that there's more to the situation than just that. There's a great number of people that are concerned with the issue but rely on their government to take care of problems like these, as they should. Others simply dont know what to do or have no acces to the materials needed or steps taken to improve the situation.

maryamnewman Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:12 pm

lindsay-moody wrote:People should care about the garbage in the ocean- it is undeniably man-made. Pollutants from plastic can inhibit ocean wildlife and ultimately contaminate human food. People should be less lazy and recycle plastic because that is the only proper disposal of plastic waste.

& it all starts w/ us making our friends & families aware. We have the knowledge of the issue and therefore are responsible for it. So lets do something about it

Cassandra Carpenter Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:55 pm

We should care about the pacific garbage patch becasue it doesnt only effect the animals and the land, but humans as well. We should want to improve the way things are. If we dont have certain animals in life, then it ruins the food chain we have and things are scatterd. We need birds, fish and turtles, its the way of life. We may not think much of whats happening, because as of right now, things that are happening are now effecting us indirectly, but remember that it is effecting us. It is important to think of how the animals feel or how you would feel if you were put in their place. Lets try to help the enviroment as much as we can, because what we do to help could just save tons of animals.

chrisprincivalli Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:16 pm

Ben Johnson wrote:We should care because this will effect not only humans, but animals lives as well. Fish are consuming the plastic and there is more plastic than plankton in that region which means less food for the fish which will kill fish and then bigger fish that feed on the smaller fish will also die from hunger. This could affect whole ecosystems if the problem doesnt stop. Also this could affect humans in the same way, as more and more animals die, the less food we have as well, although its a benefit to be on the top of the food chain, there is still only a limited amount of food supply not made from animals. Also all this trash could eventually build up and get into water supplies, which could contaminate our water, this garbage patch could turn into a huge disaster.

The garbage patch could be the slow start to the death of humanity! I absolutely agree that we should care about the garbage patch because it can slowly cause so many problems that would not just effect animals but eventually us.

chrisprincivalli Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:58 pm

maryamnewman wrote:I believe that the most we as humans are capable of doing is recycling so that useful materials may be made into product to use over again. With the remaining trash, us citizens have no control over where it goes and how it is decomposed of. It is in the hands of our leaders to do so properly, keeping in mind the conditions of our enviorment that we also share with plants and animals. It is not enirely the governments fault, because as citizens we do not bring this situation to light ourselves and take for granted the very building blocks of our enviorment. So to answer the question, we should raise awareness and illustrate that not only are plants and animals are in jeopardy, but our lives as well.

I agree with your views on the leaders but we can do more to help our environment like turning off lights not driving suvs ect. Sadly our leaders are very stubborn and only are concerned about there wallets so convincing them will be a rough challenge. Unless the citizens keep the awareness up and keep complaining nothing will happen for awhile.

ssaraheadess Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:51 am

ScubaSteve.Smith wrote:In my opinion we should care because this will effect not only humans, but animals lives as well. Fish are consuming the plastic and there is more plastic than plankton in that region which means less food for the fish which will kill fish and then bigger fish that feed on the smaller fish will also die from hunger. This could affect whole ecosystems if the problem doesnt stop. The issue has reached China, one of the most important countries we depend on for most of our supplies. This is definitely something we should be concerned about. In conclusion, please recycle your plastics and metals and paper.No need to litter. do your part in saving the sea animals and cleaning up the Pacific ocean.

I really liked the way you worded your reply. This would definitely be a good way to prove to someone why they should care about fish eating plastic, because it's affecting one of our economical resources. If they don't already care about the fish, they're gonna care about their money, as sad as that sounds.

ssaraheadess Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:58 am

DanManzella wrote:We as humans should care because we are eventually eating our own garbage once it cylces through the food web and back to us. The great pacific garbage patch has linked us with the early diabetes, problems with the liver, kidney and other crisises around the world. Also the effects have been linked with more women having miscarriages. we should care because the "patch" is already the size of Texas so if we don't do something about it its just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger and if its already 3 million tons in weight, that seems like too big of a problem already, so why let it get worse and worse. The suns rays are just gonna break the plastic up more and more making the plastic harder and harder to pick up. Animals are dieing because of our mistakes, does that seem fair?

I really like your argument. The first two sentences in, I started cringing, like I don't want that happening to me. Eating my own garage? Eww. It really makes you think how your actions are affecting you first handed.

lindsay-moody Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:41 pm

ssaraheadess wrote:Of course we should care about this. It's not only affecting the ocean, it's affecting the fish, the plants in the ocean, our ecosystems, OUR HEALTH. How people could just let that happen astounds me. I'm not one to judge others, but yeah, I'm gonna judge someone if they don't care about the horribleness the garbage patch is.

One real solution I have to this, not sure if they already have this or not and how efficient it would actually be, but What if we had a hydroelectric plant at the Mississippi Delta? We could be killing two birds with one stone. (Figuratively, figuratively)
Plus 1: We would get more energy there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been taught that Deltas have faster currents than in the rivers. If we have a strong current coming through the plant, wouldn't we get more energy from that?
Plus 2: Scientist are smart, so they could probably figure out a way to filter out the broken plastic before it actually reaches the ocean. If we had a way to control the plastic coming in, it would most likely be easier to get the plastic out in a consistent pace.
Con 1: Affecting the fish population. But if you think about it, it would eventually help in the long run. We would be filtering out the plastic, cleaning their environment and getting it back to the way its supposed to be. They would no longer die from the plastic, allowing them to breed more.
Con 2: We would have to spend money on making/running the plant. But honestly, in my opinion, Our health/Our Earth tromps Money. Politicians might disagree, but I think we should try saving our butts before our economy's. If we spend so much time trying to save the economy, there won't be a need to save our butts. For all we know, we could be dead by then.

Or we could really just try to educate people about the effects of putting plastic in the trash and not in the recycle. I bet a lot of people, just don't know about the effect. If they care about it and change their ways, who knows? Maybe that would be enough to decrease the plastic in the ocean.

I so agree... im bothered by people's laziness. we could make a difference if we all got up and did something.

lindsay-moody Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:42 pm

KristinaRider wrote:I think that we should care about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage patch reaches all the way to China, and many things that we buy in the United States are made in China. Another thing that caught my attention was that small fish are starting to eat the trash that is in that patch. I would be concerned with eating any type of fish that came from that area because I would be afraid that I would be eating plastic. Yuck. Personaly, I think that the Earth isn't a trash can, and that we should recycle recyclable items and toss the rest into the trash can. The government should create better laws about waste management.

I definitely think that legislation should be passed to make this world a less polluted and better place.

ScubaSteve.Smith Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:28 pm

BriannaMoore wrote:Why should we care?! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is absolutely embarrassing and is disgusting! Who in the world would want to life like that? It was stated in the video that not only is this "island" affecting the sea life but humans as well. For Christ sake, the issue has reaching China, one of the most important countries we depend on for most of our supplies. Its not fair that some women in China can not have children because others do not want to properly dispose of their plastic. I would HATE to go out into the sea and see nothing but floating trash every where! Why would we NOT care about whats going on in the place we live?

your absolutly right, thats why its our job to help.

ScubaSteve.Smith Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:39 pm

Arock iHurdle wrote:The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is definitely an issue I wasn't aware of. I think it's crazy on how big this "patch" is and how careless and unaware people are of this matter. This is definitely something we should be concerned about. Why? Well because our carelessness could severely damage oceanic ecosystems and threaten the aquatic wildlife. How does that affect us? If the animals in the ocean are beginning to die off or their ecosystems are thrown out of whack, this could affect their population. if their population decreases, then we won't have as much seafood. this doesn't mean if aquatic animals die off then we do, this is just saying that if we dont act on this matter, we might have to cut down on our seafood cosumption. Nobody who ejoys seafood wants to do that. So please, recycle your plastics and metals and paper. dont litter. do your part in saving the sea animals and cleaning up the Pacific ocean.

i completely agree with your statements. You aren't the only who was not aware of this. That is the true issue.People think recycling is a waste of time because they don't look at the big picture behind it.

JennyHuynh123 Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:57 pm

Of Course we should care!! HELLO??? did you not see all that trash? WOW, on Thursdays i think thats alot of trash already but this video sure does make our recycling looks like a puddle. We should definitely care because all of that trashy is just floating, it's killing so many animals most likely & its moving their way to China. We love China, most of our stuff is made from China.

JennyHuynh123 Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:59 pm

KristinaRider wrote:I think that we should care about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage patch reaches all the way to China, and many things that we buy in the United States are made in China. Another thing that caught my attention was that small fish are starting to eat the trash that is in that patch. I would be concerned with eating any type of fish that came from that area because I would be afraid that I would be eating plastic. Yuck. Personaly, I think that the Earth isn't a trash can, and that we should recycle recyclable items and toss the rest into the trash can. The government should create better laws about waste management.

"
"Earth isn't a trash can" Your exactly right. We should be taking care of the place that gives us a home, but we are slowly destroying it...

JennyHuynh123 Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:01 pm

DanManzella wrote:We as humans should care because we are eventually eating our own garbage once it cylces through the food web and back to us. The great pacific garbage patch has linked us with the early diabetes, problems with the liver, kidney and other crisises around the world. Also the effects have been linked with more women having miscarriages. we should care because the "patch" is already the size of Texas so if we don't do something about it its just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger and if its already 3 million tons in weight, that seems like too big of a problem already, so why let it get worse and worse. The suns rays are just gonna break the plastic up more and more making the plastic harder and harder to pick up. Animals are dieing because of our mistakes, does that seem fair?

i don't think any of us wants to eat our own trash... Sad

we need to make changes, seriously.

Cheli Foster Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:15 pm

KristinaRider wrote:I think that we should care about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage patch reaches all the way to China, and many things that we buy in the United States are made in China. Another thing that caught my attention was that small fish are starting to eat the trash that is in that patch. I would be concerned with eating any type of fish that came from that area because I would be afraid that I would be eating plastic. Yuck. Personaly, I think that the Earth isn't a trash can, and that we should recycle recyclable items and toss the rest into the trash can. The government should create better laws about waste management.

I agree nowadays the trash men even allow the trash to flyout of the trash cans into the street and dont even bother to get it. Like get oy trash off my lawn should definantly be a law Razz

Cheli Foster Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:18 pm

lindsay-moody wrote:People should care about the garbage in the ocean- it is undeniably man-made. Pollutants from plastic can inhibit ocean wildlife and ultimately contaminate human food. People should be less lazy and recycle plastic because that is the only proper disposal of plastic waste.

\

Unfortuantely LIndsay we all know people should be less lazy, but the bigger wuestion here is canwe GET them TO BE? can we show the need for our cause enough to change the thrones of our on country?

megan Gates Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:34 pm

BriannaMoore wrote:Why should we care?! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is absolutely embarrassing and is disgusting! Who in the world would want to life like that? It was stated in the video that not only is this "island" affecting the sea life but humans as well. For Christ sake, the issue has reaching China, one of the most important countries we depend on for most of our supplies. Its not fair that some women in China can not have children because others do not want to properly dispose of their plastic. I would HATE to go out into the sea and see nothing but floating trash every where! Why would we NOT care about whats going on in the place we live?

Yea I agree with you when you said that you would hate to go out at sea and see nothing but trash every were. I think we need to fix that problem know before it esculates into that.

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5th Hour - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch