Hello Everyone,
Visit http://allgoodart.blogspot.com to see some awesome artwork created by
a local Utah artist.
Enjoy this brisk winter day and God Bless!
Remember to recycle paper.
Peace,
em :)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Have you heard about this?
About 500 miles west of San Francisco lies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). It is a point in the Pacific where the water currents converge in a vortex of swirling waters. Amidst this lie Legos, plastic bags, plastic bottles, garbage, and assorted trash. "The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80% plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons - floats where few people ever travel," said Marcus Eriksen, director of research and education at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. His group has been monitoring the patch for 10 years. It covers approximately ten million square miles, about the size of Africa.
As if that was not bad enough, there are two other patches - one growing off the coast of Chile and the other near Antarctica.
Chris Parry says "the patch has been growing tenfold every decade since the 1950s." The majority of the trash is generated onshore, so it is preventable if we all think about where our trash ends up after we throw it in our waste cans. Even though this problem has been around for lots of years, early trash degraded at a higher rate than our current plastics as we manufacture them to resist breaking down.
The GPGP is so dangerous for birds and marine life. Birds will eat the plastic bits as they appear to be bits of food for the birds. Entanglement is also an issue. Plastic can kill sea life.
Please recycle your plastic water bottles and other items. Remove the lid for easier processing at the plant. It is well worth all of our efforts.
April 2009, the Plastiki, a 60 foot catamaran, will sail almost 12,000 miles from San Francisco to Sydney. The vessel is made of plastic water bottles. David deRothchild hopes his voyage will call attention to the GPGP and raise awareness of the importance of recycling. You can follow his blog at www.theplastiki.com . The blog will begin in April, but if you go to the site you can find out more information about Adventure Ecology. We will be following the progress in my science classroom.
PLEASE RECYCLE!
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