JapanProbe Friends - Featured Members


Giant Garbage Patch Near Japan

February 7th, 2008 by James

The Independent reports that some scientists believe there is a gigantic “plastic soup” of garbage in the Pacific ocean:

garbage-patch-at-sea

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.

Check out the full article for more information and a larger diagram.



Related Posts:
 

Video: Japanese men shout declarations of love to their wives

Car Falls Into Garbage Pit

An Interview with the Founder of Giant Robot Magazine

Post-hanami garbage causes problems for parks

How To Clean A Giant Buddha


RSS feed | Trackback URI

9 Comments »

Comment by stereo
2008-02-07 15:51:41

“Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water’s surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs.”

There are things that sink in water, and there are things that float on water. What are the things that stays “just below the water’s surface” for years? Do they mean the plastic debris has the same density as water?

Comment by Alex
2008-02-07 23:22:32

It has the same density as Godzilla.

 
 
Comment by kabocha5000
2008-02-08 10:17:59

This is total conspiracy!

The country that claims to have generated the most garbage will try to lay claim to the territory surrounding the these soups: my garbage my territory. The Takeshima/Dokdo dispute ain’t nothin’ compared to this!

Alternatively, if these so-called “soups” really do exist, they’re probably just part of the Earth’s natural cycle anyway. You know, like the natural fluctations in global temperature that gave rise to the “global warming” conspiracy.

Comment by The Overthinker
2008-02-08 12:40:06

No doubt generated by all those volcanoes spewing plastic lava.

Comment by 404error
2008-02-09 01:59:35

xDDDDD

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by morningstar
2008-02-08 11:12:18

OK then how can this garbage be cleaned?

 
Comment by Will
2008-02-09 09:22:38

Do a google search. This article is debunked each time it appears (about every 3 months). I don’t know who keeps putting it out there, but they are misinformed and should put there energies into actually doing something about many REAL trash problems.

 
Comment by Bernt
2008-02-10 04:25:56

“OK then how can this garbage be cleaned?”

Teach whales to eat garbage.

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment. (Please close your HTML tags.)

If your comment isn't showing up, it's probably stuck in the spam filter or in moderation. Instead of typing the same comment over and over and sending it, contact us. Most comments are visible within a few minutes of their posting.
This site is not an open forum: we have rules. Read our discussion policy for more details.

Trackback responses to this post