It is very sad that plastic is more than three times the size of France in the Pacific Ocean. There are so many legislative changes that are being made in California to reduce plastic pollution. However, some may not understand the depth of the issue. The size of this area in the pacific is so large it is now called the "Garbage Patch" which shows the importance of the issue. This large area with a high volume of plastic is a wide variety of debris from fishermans nets to plastic bottles from the shore. It seems that the mass of it is increasing more than the overall size which still is a huge problem. However, this article discusses more about the severity and underlying problem of the issue rather than how they are going to solve it. I think there needs to be an ocean clean up team out to the specific area to clean up as much of the floating debris as possible before they sink to the bottom and do damage that way.
Reference:
Mooney, Chris. (2018). Plastic within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 'increasing exponentially', scientists find. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/03/22/plastic-within-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-is-increasing-exponentially-scientists-find/?utm_campaign=400e6943bd-Science_saturday&utm_medium=email&utm_source=EHN&utm_term=.cb7dc0ad9976
I think you are right, Tina. There needs to be some sort of massive ocean clean up team to begin solving this issue. We cannot just continue to talk about it without taking action because it is only going to become worse. I am appalled at how big the "garbage patch" is. Clean up needs to begin right now if we do not want any more issues arising from it.
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