The North Pacific Garbage Patch Gyre
John Brand, Staff Writer
June 19, 2012
Filed under Top Stories, World Issues
Our earth has five major oceanic gyres, one them being the North Pacific Gyre. This gyre spins clockwise and is home to millions of species of fish and microorganisms. As of late, a ton of trash is being dumped into the ocean, and it’s affecting not only the life in the water, but the life on land too. Animals and humans alike who drink it may become sick. This trash is coming from major commercial boats, landfills, and anyone who decides to throw away their garbage into the ocean just because there is no garbage can around them at the time. Because this is a gyre, all of the garbage that is deposited on the outskirts of the ocean slowly spiral into the center of it and it collects and builds in mass.
These trash heaps are becoming almost like islands. They are so massive that some float, while others stay up because of a pillar of trash that starts from the surface and goes all the way down to the bottom. In some rare cases turtles and other aquatic life are getting caught in plastic lids and other similar objects. These creatures can’t get out, and end up dying because of it. You might think that because this is such a huge issue the government would surely do something about it, but no, they don’t do much because they are apathetic. I’m not saying all governments are apathetic, but if you are the one in a few who care and are willing to put some money into this problem then you will have a tough time doing something about it. Huge companies don’t care if they dump garbage into the oceans because they are making money and it really isn’t affecting them in any way that would affect their profit and that is why they don’t care. I’m sure if this problem made them lose money they would try to fix it at the very least.
Pollution has always been a problem for humans (given not all humans). We are taking the ocean for granted, and one day we will lose it. Think about it: we have a trash island in the middle and on the outskirts of our ocean. It’s pathetic. If we don’t soon fix it, we will lose this water, and everything living in it. If that happened, it really would affect those businesses that don’t care.
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