A weird question and pondering - Democratic Underground

MichaelHarris

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:47 PM
Original message

A weird question and pondering

You know how some sides can exaggerate a story to make it more appealing? I just read this news story about a plastic garbage patch the size of Texas in the Pacific. I looked on Google images but could find no real definitive photo of it. There are drawings and close-ups of garbage but no aerial views. There is even one of a guy in a flat bottom boat with garbage all around him but there is no way he's in the Pacific in a johnboat. If it's that big will if show up on Google images?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Incitatus

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:49 PM
Response to Original message

1. per wiki

Edited on Tue Aug-04-09 06:51 PM by Incitatus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bbinacan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:50 PM
Response to Original message

2. My understanding is that

the plastic is very small and that you can't see it until you're on it. I'm curious about where it came from.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Kali

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #2

5. get out and walk along the grass beside an interstate sometime

look down on the ground. Now extrapolate what you see to cover nothing but the roads all over the world. Without considering actual garbage dumps, just the trash from roadside littering, washing down watersheds to rivers and on out to sea is enough to generate what you are talking about many times over.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Laelth

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:51 PM
Response to Original message

3. As I understand it, the plastic in the ocean breaks up and sinks.

Most o it is not visible from the surface. Most of it is broken down into pebble-sized chunks and submerged between 2 feet and about 12 feet deep. It should not be visible from satellite because it's mostly submerged.

iirc.

:dem:

-Laelth

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

BrklynLiberal

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:55 PM
Response to Original message

4. It is not a solid mass.....It is an area of the Ocean that is visibly polluted to the saturation

point with plastic garbage debris

http://www.gvsmedia.com/video-2/z7rNYzSH-BA/Garbage-Island

http://web.piczo.com/zone/item/AsLIgwALwicAAAAZqKiJxHgo

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL&hw=pacific+patch&sn=001&sc=1000

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Poll_Blind

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Aug-04-09 06:59 PM
Response to Original message

6. Sadly, it's real. I really wish someone was making it up. Link upthread. n/t

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Sat May 04th 2024, 01:40 PM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.