Giant garbage patch floating in Pacific

I claim this garbage in the name of George Bush!!!

Now all we have to do is figure out how to get Homeland Security personnel stationed on this patch.

Heil Bush!!!

Thats pretty weak - apparently you have not taken your humanities requirement yet.

Maybe you should go to gregpalast.com and read up a little.

There's some interesting reading there and you might find yourself agreeing with the poster that you were responding too.

you really are and idiot. there are pieces out there from the begining of plasitc's attack on this earth. it was in the 50s and 60s and 70s when garbage barges were dumping out to sea. enough garbage is washed into the ocean from the LA river to fill the rose bowl two stories high. Bush is not my favorite either........watch the documentary Who Killed The Electric Car, Then start dising bush, he is in kahoots with the oil companies to keep us hooked on the gas and fuel we need NOW....I think he should be impeached, but not for the garbage, For killing the electric car...the best thing for this earth since the crucification of our lord and savior 2008 years ago.

recently enlightened by essay paper due 4/7/2008 I didnt even know this existed!

I was trying to do a paper on garbage dumps and how we need more power plants like the one in Ames Iowa.......Look that up too.

bye bye..baby

I don't support Bush and I don't blame that plastic trash island on Bush either but I think you responded inappropriately to vermin's statement.

Vermin was only joking.

I agree with everything you said with the exception to your calling Vermin an idiot.

That was a reactionary response. I really don't think you thought that one out.

Hi Janissaries,

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'm afraid he's right! I am an idiot. However, that still puts me about three rungs on the ladder of life above our Fearless-Leader!

'three rungs on the ladder of life above our Fearless-Leader!'

But....so is yeast.

Anyway, I'm not against calling anyone an idiot, as long as they are registered so we know who we are shouting abuse at.

And I'm still waiting for a picture!

A picture?

Pictorial evidence of the floating island, old chap.

It's a little hard to get from satellite or other overhead observation... The whole thing is several feet underwater, primarily because of the life forms growing from underneath and sagging the whole thing down.

However, There are several people that have gone there and cast nets, which come up with loads of plastic and other stuff, including underwater life - corals, Algae, etc..

What I don't understand is that if this mass is so big, how come I've never seen anything on it from Notice to Mariners issued by the Defense Mapping Agency. They produce them monthly, weekly and daily.

I served in the Navy for 11 years and part of my job was conducting radar navigation.

It sounds a little like the pot calling the kettle black...

If you knew your garbage, you'd know that there are a bunch of environmentalists lobbying to keep the island of garbage intact, because hanging underneath that garbage is a very thriving "upside-down" reef community.

So what can I say, except "potato/patato!"

Is there a satellite picture of this monster?

Sorry, but I cant find it on Google Earth, therefore it cant possibly exist.

Sorry but you assume that google earth , or any of these mapping satelite thingies, are giving you a real live picture.

This is not the case as you can prove yourself with areal photos of your immediate area you are familiar with. Some photos will show up summer fetes in mid winter or cars parked up your drive way that belong to previous inhabbitants of your house.

Why would your patch of searched pacicfic ocean suddenly be "live" info?

well, google earth shows the sea bottom profile away from land

Throw it away? There is no 'away'.

3.5 million tonnes? Thats an impressive figure! As with all 'impressive' figures, I'm a bit sceptical. Who has been and measured it, and how? All the same, it must be on Google Earth...who has the link?

I was sceptical too! My math may be wrong (it's a bit early) .... 3.5 million tons but TWICE the size of Texas!! That means the average weight of garbage in a square foot is 0.2g?

You're right... twice the size of Texas... it has to be on Google Earth!

No one need go "measure" it. We know the approximate densities of plastics, and on this basis we can estimate the thickness of the mat. Based on that and clearly observable perimeter of the mat, one can make a reasonably accurate esimtation of the mass of the mat.

*GEEZE* I thought the readers of this forum were ENGINEERS, fer crying out loud.

avrFreak

Yes you are right, we ARE engineers.

That is why we are here meeting every day to talk about these things and try to make up our mind if they talk about abs crates for the automotive industry or just milk bottles thrown out by you and me on a daily basis. After that process we then come back here and meet to discuss the outcome of previous discussions and decide what is the best option proposed sofar. When , finally , we know what WE are talking about we then start discussing the possibilities of others knowing what we talk about. After that we need to establish if the others know what THEY are talking about and IF NOT, read hopefully NOT, we are safe and can decide what best to do about it. We then recommend the best course of action.

If we were politicians we would skip the whole middle bit and listen to the best sounding solution, read what is best for my public ratings, and decide to do just that.

Pfew, clear now?

OK then, you show us the evidence...

Or do you believe everything you see in the media?

Is this article ghost written by the "Canvas Bag" Lobby?

This is obviously a fake, DIGG has gotten so stupid these days, so much bogus stuff gets posted now. THINK about it for even just ONE second, TWICE the size of texas? You do realize how big that would be? it would fill in most of the space BETWEEN hawaii and california. you have to be an idiot to believe its true, forget just being able to see it on google maps, if it were the case it would show up on any satalight photo. and as someone has already pointed out, the size and space ratio would make the garbage compost of the lighest material on earth for that volume/weight.

I don't doubt there is a huge amount of garbage, it's the estimates of the size that I think is unrealistic.

I have heard of plastic and other rubbish poluting the seas and little offshore islands but I am dissapointed we cannot find a real photo of this floting dump at sea. I'm not saying it does not exist and I do actually believe it is real but why no photos?

Certainly not twice the size Bush's brain...erm sorry, his home state!

Clap, clap, clap!

" As I have stated in previous postings, there is a class or group of people in this world that cannot be happy unless they have a cause to champion "

And what might thou cause be o great sir robin?

Sounds like complaining to me.

Never thought about what that rubbish might do while it is not yet completely decomposed? It leaches hormone mimicking chemicals all the time from the plasticides and paints used on them. These hormone mimicking chemicals are the main reason why fertility is down accross the globe in several species of marine mammals, reptiles and fish. If it only were having that effect in humans, I would not be CHAMPIONING THE CAUSE but as it happens it is not only us that are affected. Even pigs do not piss in their own nest (so I have been told). If we start seeing the earth as our nest would be a good start.

My quest is for sanity and balance.

I complain about any one-sided argument. (Right or left !)

I certainly am not fond of rubbish floating or sinking in our oceans.

Hormone mimicking chemicals -- First I've heard of that. References?

"My quest is for sanity and balance."

So it should be. We all need to live and life without any form of risk or danger is not worth living.

To help make up the mind I use information. Please do not pick these pages apart and throw them back at me, I am aware that most will give good and bad and some the other way around. Just use the info.

http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/138/5/1777

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060121/fob4.asp

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20050318004108data_trunc_sys.shtml

This last one was where my quest for info started as my wife got breast cancer over 9 years ago. It came back after 9 years and we are now continuing our battle but things look good. Like I said, please do not take it apart and return it with quirky remarks. I truly believe that plastics are a bigger problem than "them" up there wants us to know about. Constructive debate over this I welcome with open arms.

I agree that girls are reaching puberty at an earlier stage than before. Recently I saw an 8 year old who were more developed than the average 16 year in my time (±1957 - 50 years ago). The reason may be plastics, growth hormones and lots of other. The initial post is however not about that.

The north pacific gyre however is of much more importance to me. Here in SA it is believed that a buildup of warm water in that area (almost exactly on the other side of the globe from us) influences our rainfall negatively.

Objects floating in the area might influence the energy absorption patterns and may have an even greater effect on our weather (in SA at least). I at least think the possibility should be investigated.

We have a principle in our law that "The polluter must pay". The polluter will therefore have to remove all the pollutants. Identifying all the polluters may be a challenge.

One thing I cant understand is why America calls an area to the west of them the far east.

isn't there a huge floating crap pile in the alantic, off of New York. (if your impressed with crap) not as impressive as the one in the pacific mind you.