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A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

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Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#61

Post by phireal »

pbreit wrote: post #48
readams wrote: post #8

I think when people imagine these "garbage patches" they picture a floating garbage dump you could set a lawn chair on. The reality is that they are regions of slightly increased concentration of plastic. Here, the worst areas are between 100-500 grams of plastic per square kilometer. That is 5 empty water bottles in a square kilometer. This doesn't mean that having this debris is a good thing but it's important to g…

I was wondering why there were no pictures. Hard to get to concerned about what seems like extremely minimal amounts of rubbish. I'd be surprised if it's particularly dangerous or troublesome for wildlife.

The plastics are not inert and interfere with the smaller organisms feeding in the ocean. Since these form the base of the ocean food web, if their growth is disturbed, the rest of the food chain suffers negatively.

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#62

Post by thinkMOAR »

phireal wrote: post #60
thinkMOAR wrote: post #58

This is as much as a discovery as finding that banknote of 100 in your old jeans that you forgot about.. Garbage can't be 'new' Don't get me wrong, horrible issue and glad to see some articles pass by on HN that try to address this issue. But calling it a 'discovery' is a bit odd imho.

This is an odd attitude: we have all sorts of new discoveries of things that are ancient. The whole field of geology is based on very ancient things and it makes discoveries all the time. A discovery just means it's new to us, not necessarily that it's entirely new (whatever that means).

i agree, odd attitude towards odd claimed discovery. There is a difference between ancient things, which have gaps between civilisations vs garbage we threw out the last 30-40 years and chose to ignore?

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#63

Post by gambiting »

Serious question - where does this plastic come from? Living in a 1st world country I can't imagine any significant amounts are thrown into the sea, sure, an occasional tourist will throw a bottle into the sea, but how do you end up with millions of tonnes? Are there any countries where dumping garbage into the sea is a standard procedure?

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#64

Post by shepardrtc »

readams wrote: post #8

I think when people imagine these "garbage patches" they picture a floating garbage dump you could set a lawn chair on. The reality is that they are regions of slightly increased concentration of plastic. Here, the worst areas are between 100-500 grams of plastic per square kilometer. That is 5 empty water bottles in a square kilometer. This doesn't mean that having this debris is a good thing but it's important to g…

Your usage of the term 'rhetoric' is interesting. Are you suggesting that the perspective we should have is that it isn't a problem until the water looks like a sewer?

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#65

Post by phireal »

thinkMOAR wrote: post #62
phireal wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an odd attitude: we have all sorts of new discoveries of things that are ancient. The whole field of geology is based on very ancient things and it makes discoveries all the time. A discovery just means it's new to us, not necessarily that it's entirely new (whatever that means).

i agree, odd attitude towards odd claimed discovery. There is a difference between ancient things, which have gaps between civilisations vs garbage we threw out the last 30-40 years and chose to ignore?

The 'new' aspect of this discovery is that we didn't know it was there before. I think that's a perfectly valid thing to call new.

I don't think anyone's claiming the plastic is new.

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#66

Post by sdrothrock »

pitaj wrote: post #51
spodek wrote: post #18

Let's talk personal responsibility and what we can change. What percent of readers of this site drank water from a plastic bottle in the past, say, 24 hours? ... in places with potable tap water making bottles unnecessary... Or nalgene containers... Or soda, juice, etc in bottles... I recycle what I can, but I've taken to treating recyclables as landfill garbage, since most of it ends up there, which means I avoid co…

Forget about Nalgene containers. Just reuse your old plastic water bottles. Then you don't have to worry about washing or anything.

Not recommended due to bacterial growth: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12353459

Also, if you decide to wash with hot water or a dishwasher, BPA is an issue as well. A Nalgene bottle in lieu of PET bottles is probably safer and more durable in the long run.

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#67

Post by mansigandhi »

saagarjha wrote: post #43
dingo_bat wrote: post #39

Meh, who cares. The Arctic is useless to us anyway. Also, it seems there is no "patch of plastic garbage". It's just microscopic debris over thousands of kilometers. Do people really think 7 billion humans will not have any impact on the planet? They will. Things will change. As long as it serves our purpose, we must utilize this planet to the maximum.

Are you serious?

Yeah, I really couldn't make out if it the comment was in all seriousness or some lame attempt at sarcasm / wit.

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#68

Post by rimliu »

spodek wrote: post #18

Let's talk personal responsibility and what we can change. What percent of readers of this site drank water from a plastic bottle in the past, say, 24 hours? ... in places with potable tap water making bottles unnecessary... Or nalgene containers... Or soda, juice, etc in bottles... I recycle what I can, but I've taken to treating recyclables as landfill garbage, since most of it ends up there, which means I avoid co…

How do I carry my tap with me?

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#69

Post by NoGravitas »

rimliu wrote: post #68
spodek wrote: post #18

Let's talk personal responsibility and what we can change. What percent of readers of this site drank water from a plastic bottle in the past, say, 24 hours? ... in places with potable tap water making bottles unnecessary... Or nalgene containers... Or soda, juice, etc in bottles... I recycle what I can, but I've taken to treating recyclables as landfill garbage, since most of it ends up there, which means I avoid co…

How do I carry my tap with me?

Ideally, with a stainless steel water bottle. Nalgene water bottle a close second.

Re: A big patch of plastic garbage has been discovered in the Arctic

#70

Post by NoGravitas »

spraak wrote: post #4

We're continually creating our own demise. As much as technology has been intended to extend our life, it's more often just used to extend someone's wallet, and trash everything else.

It's not the technology per se. Technology is an expression of a culture (google Lewis Mumford and Murray Bookchin). It's our culture (late stage capitalism) that is creating our own demise. We have a responsibility to grow/evolve a new culture and develop the technology that enables that culture.
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