- Apr 1, 2011
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Thanks, bripat. Here's a short film (under four minutes) by Jean-Michel Cousteau on what a Gyre is and garbage found on remote islands in the Pacific, and the damage done to ocean birds at the North Pacific Gyre, the world's largest garbage patch, a regular garbage super highway:95% of the garbage in the ocean comes from a few rivers in Africa and Asia. Two off them are the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.The EPA said we can help if we cut single use plastics: Please list some ways we can do that. I'll start:
#1. Recycle plastic solo cups by washing them in the top rack of your dishwasher. I've been doing a lot of that lately and guess what. You can wash plastic solo-type cups you get at WalMart in that top area of the dishwasher, and they don't melt. If you have an old Iron Nellie dishwasher that melts melmac, you can always wash them in the sink in their own water, dip them in warm water you put a 1/2 teaspoon of dishwasher rinse-aid in, let them air dry on a clean cookie - cooler rack. Once they're completely dry, just restack them and put them into a baggie, and yes, you can wash and rinse the baggie, too, when it's empty, and when it's dry, you can put the next cycle of cleaned plastic cups too.
Please someone add #2 idea on recycling another formerly single-use plastic item. Thanks!
How does that alter what I posted? Garbage in the ocean doesn't come from Europe or America, so you're wasting your time preaching to us.
No offense, Mr BriPat. I'm sorry you consider my afternoon of research into worldwide accumulations, but I didn't get a chance to post them last night, and this morning was spent with my best friend who is dying of lung cancer. Did you know the airplane that crashed in Australia a number of years ago was not found due to trash in the accumulation of another gyre than the one that was created by oriental discharge? It's on every single map I found, and had intended to post them as I can in the upcoming week. I also found several areas in the Atlantic and have heard of smaller areas in and around the Gulf of Mexico. All of the accumulations are deleterious to aquatic life, and the fishing industry that human beings depend on greatly in Asia, while here, I'm not certain it amounts to 10% of the American diet, but that's yet another field of research. This in no way undermines your findings of the largest gyre and the location of its source, imho, and when I'm done, I'm certain you can rest assured your findings are true, due to the size and currents of the massive gyre in the Pacific in our hemisphere. There is, I am sure a lot less down Australia westerly out, but it was enough to totally confuse searchers for that lost plane and the wreckage a few years back, that should have been clear to them the week following its disappearance. They could not determine plane parts from massive areas of gunk.
My findings are about all the oceans. The USA has little to do with garbage in the oceans, as posted by another forum member, there are 10 rivers in Asia and two in Africa that are responsible for 95% of the trash in all the oceans. Preaching to Americans about this issue is a waste of time. We aren't responsible for it.