Rubbish Dump Found Floating In Pacific Ocean Is Twice The Size Of America!! This Is NO Joke!!! ~~~ RE-POST From 02/07/08

I can NOT believe this news I'm reading today!!! This is simply DISGUSTING! I swear the human race does not understand or does not care about the consequences of their actions!! This enormous garbage dump has been found floating in the pacific ocean. This is mainly CAUSED by large cruise lines, oil platforms and ships!!! It has infected our eco-system and will eventually infect us!

This news was reported two years ago and NOTHING has been done about it! Not one country has stepped up to the plate to offer to clean up this mess! Of course I do not expect the IRRESPONSIBLE FOOLS who created this enormous toxic mess to offer to pay... they wouldn't admit to this CRIME of EPIC PROPORTIONS! Now ask yourself, don't you think the leaders of the WORLD at Copenhagen would be ADDRESSING THIS ISSUE?! Don't you think the 100's of BILLIONS of dollars being offered by the wealthiest nations at Copenhagen could be better used for cleaning up this TOXIC WASTE?! The is the most obvious, in our face proof and those in positions of power CHOOSE TO IGNORE IT! That's a BIG WHY for me!?

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The Independent UK
written By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden,
The world's rubbish dump: a tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
Tuesday, 5 February 2008.

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region.

He warned that the rubbish could double in size over the next decade if consumers do not cut back on their use of plastics. More than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic rubbish. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have all been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds.

The rubbish can also be dangerous for humans, because tiny plastic pellets in the sea can attract man-made chemicals which then enter the food chain!!! "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," said Dr Eriksen.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: "It moves around like a big animal without a leash." When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. "The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added.

The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land. SHAME ON THEM!!!

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The following are comments posted in response to another article in the Daily Mail regarding this subject:

• It would be very easy for ships fitted with large surface netting equipment to scoop up this garbage and bring it to shore for disposal. Why isn't it happening? Because, as always, no one wants to be the one paying for it.- Max Hess, Folkestone UK

• I worked on the cruise liners in the 80s and we threw all the ships rubbish in to the sea at night via a chute inside the ship. 1000s of black sacks over the months I worked there. No one thought about the problems it would cause in those days.- Brian, Grays

• This is a disgrace and goes on to fortify my belief that the human race is just a form of lice on planet Earth!- Diana, UK