At first, I struggled to come up with a topic to write my first blog post; after all, there are sadly many environmental issues to discuss. However, I realized that the best way to begin my blogging is to write about what caused me to really recognize the severity of the crisis that we are in: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Pollution of our environment has been a problem plaguing our society for decades. Thankfully, in our day and age, conversations about plastic pollution have increased drastically. One of the main images being pushed to display the problem of plastic pollution is The Great Pacific Garbage patch, which spans between the western coast of the United States to Hawaii. Its collection of debris covers over 1.6 million square kilometers; that is three times the size of France!! Its huge size is astounding, and allows viewers to truly see how much pollution has ended up in the ocean over time. Why, however, did it end up in the pacific ocean specifically?
The large island of trash is also known as the Pacific trash vortex and is made up of two different smaller patches: the Western Garbage Patch and the Eastern Garbage Patch, linked by an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called the Subtropical Convergence Zone. This area is formed by 4 moving currents that rotate in a circular motion (hence the nickname “vortex”), rallying all trash that ends up in the ocean in its direction and eventually into its rotation. Surprisingly, the center of the vortex is extremely calm which is why the trash clumps together and remains trapped in the area.
Although catastrophic damage has all ready been done, rising awareness has led to more efforts to clean the ocean and eventually try to get rid of the patch completely. The most simple solution is to use containers that are biodegradable! These plastics are ending up in the ocean as they take a very long time to decompose; using biodegradable materials will help as they are both compostable and can go right back into the earth. Millions of dollars in research have also been put into developing machines that can be placed in rivers to remove the trash before it ends up in the ocean. Organizations such as #TeamTrees are working with the developers of these machines and helping to create more of them.
Though the patch of garbage is a horrible sight to see, I hope that with more people understanding how it came to be, more awareness will be spread and the entire world can come together to combat plastic pollution.