Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Monitoring marine litter from space

esa.int

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 91 posts

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#31

Post by boffinAudio »

lukan wrote: post #30
boffinAudio wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ocean is a major source of energy which could be used to power the thing. And I'd prioritize ocean cleanup over landfill, first of all. I mean, maybe we use the ocean to construct the fleet, and then when its nice and clean, send the fleet to land ..

You might want to learn something about engineering first. And run some numbers. And read about them, who tried something way less ambitioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ocean_Cleanup And still were not that effective.

Oh, this is just a thought experiment, the engineering isn't within our grasp.

I'd imagine some sort of floating device which can build copies out of itself with the plastics it finds is not far away, but it probably does involve a fair bit of science before it becomes more than just fiction..

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#32

Post by lukan »

boffinAudio wrote: post #31
lukan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to learn something about engineering first. And run some numbers. And read about them, who tried something way less ambitioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ocean_Cleanup And still were not that effective.

Oh, this is just a thought experiment, the engineering isn't within our grasp. I'd imagine some sort of floating device which can build copies out of itself with the plastics it finds is not far away, but it probably does involve a fair bit of science before it becomes more than just fiction..

If we would have that tech, we also could then release the engineered plastic eating bacterias. Way easier.

But currently we want some plastic to remain intact.

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#33

Post by dwighttk »

JR1427 wrote: post #24

One thing I find interesting is how much more traction the problem of litter in the ocean has gained, compared to litter everywhere else, or any number of the other problems we have. I wonder why this is. Perhaps people can still see the ocean as a wilderness, where litter doesn't belong, whereas we are very used to seeing highways etc lined with rubbish?

Huh… rubbish lining the highways always stands out to me due to its rarity.

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#34

Post by crazydoggers »

317070 wrote: post #10
agomez314 wrote: post #2

What’s the use of tracking waste if no efforts will be done to stop its production? Cleanups are nice and all but you gotta stop the bleeding where it starts. Maybe I’m being too cynical?

Now in the UN, or at the next climate conference, people can actually say: "Look, Vietnam, you are somehow responsible for 12.2% of the marine plastic in the ocean, with only 1.23% of the world population. We are making this trade agreement or that international investment conditional on that number improving by 2028." Before, there was simply no way of monitoring these things. I had to invent that number. That is a…

Interestingly The Philippines is responsible for 35% of ocean plastic waste.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/visualized-ocean-plastic...

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#35

Post by ffsm8 »

agomez314 wrote: post #2

What’s the use of tracking waste if no efforts will be done to stop its production? Cleanups are nice and all but you gotta stop the bleeding where it starts. Maybe I’m being too cynical?

Not cynical enough in my books.

As the saying goes: trust is good, control/verification is better

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#36

Post by sandworm101 »

mulmen wrote: post #18
agomez314 wrote: post #2

What’s the use of tracking waste if no efforts will be done to stop its production? Cleanups are nice and all but you gotta stop the bleeding where it starts. Maybe I’m being too cynical?

There are efforts to reduce the production of waste and to eliminate ocean dumping. There are thousands of such efforts. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. > Maybe I’m being too cynical? Yes. What’s the point in spreading negative falsehoods?

>> to reduce the production of waste and to eliminate ocean dumping.

>> Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

We need to stop conflating problems. Production of waste is different than disposal of waste. Reducing the volume of waste by a few percentage here and there isn't an efficient use of energies. Rather than teach developing countries to reduce/recycle, we need to get them to landfill garbage rather than dump it into rivers. That should be the focus.

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#37

Post by BenFranklin100 »

agomez314 wrote: post #2

What’s the use of tracking waste if no efforts will be done to stop its production? Cleanups are nice and all but you gotta stop the bleeding where it starts. Maybe I’m being too cynical?

As they say, you can’t fix what you can’t measure. This is a first step.

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#38

Post by maga_2020 »

Waste is a huge problem, clearly human made, clearly responsibility to address in every current generation.

Cost of products sold must include recycling and waste management costs.

Otherwise, the manufactures will keep making devices/items with built-in-obsolescence to make it 'fashionable' for consumers to replace them at the first opportunity.

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#39

Post by dylan604 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #36
mulmen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are efforts to reduce the production of waste and to eliminate ocean dumping. There are thousands of such efforts. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. > Maybe I’m being too cynical? Yes. What’s the point in spreading negative falsehoods?

>> to reduce the production of waste and to eliminate ocean dumping. >> Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. We need to stop conflating problems. Production of waste is different than disposal of waste. Reducing the volume of waste by a few percentage here and there isn't an efficient use of energies. Rather than teach developing countries to reduce/recycle, we need to get them to landfill garbage rather than dump…

So you build a landfill. How do you get the collected waste to the landfill? How do you do collections? Then of course, there's the training/habit breaking to use the new collection system.

I'm not stating this as a reason not to, but a realistic look on the logistics. It's a multi-generational solution, not a quick one in the least. So we should start now, not tomorrow

Re: Monitoring marine litter from space

#40

Post by LetsGetTechnicl »

317070 wrote: post #10
agomez314 wrote: post #2

What’s the use of tracking waste if no efforts will be done to stop its production? Cleanups are nice and all but you gotta stop the bleeding where it starts. Maybe I’m being too cynical?

Now in the UN, or at the next climate conference, people can actually say: "Look, Vietnam, you are somehow responsible for 12.2% of the marine plastic in the ocean, with only 1.23% of the world population. We are making this trade agreement or that international investment conditional on that number improving by 2028." Before, there was simply no way of monitoring these things. I had to invent that number. That is a…

I mean how much of that is because western countries take advantage of Vietnam and other countries in their region to cheaply produce their plastic crap?
Post reply on HN