Gyres Made of Plastic

In recent years, plastic pollution in our oceans has gained a lot of attention. Some peg the size of the "garbage patch" in the North Pacific Gyre as large as twice the size of Texas. Others aren't so sure about that estimate. But the plastic problem has taken a life of its own. And now there's an increasing trend of people venturing to gyres to see it with their own eyes.

The trip is put on by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, a non-profit in Long Beach, CA. Dr. Marcus Eriksen, Algalita's Director of Project Development (he's also a co-founder of Five Gyres) who's explored polluted gyres all over the world, will be leading an expedition for regular folks on a 72-foot sloop to the North Pacific Gyre. 

"We've been going to the North Pacific for a long time," Eriksen told me in a phone interview. "But this is a chance to bring average citizens out there and see it for themselves. Once you see it, it's hard to deny it ever again. You see this endless soup of really tiny plastic particles you sail through."

His work in this field began after his military service during the Persian Gulf War, when he "realized what civilization does to get energy and the raw material for plastic, such as petroleum," he said. "Ten years later when I was a teacher, I went to Midway Atoll with students. All the carcasses of birds had plastic coming out of their chests. I couldn't believe what I was seeing –- cigarette lighters, toys, syringes and tons of small unrecognizable pieces of plastic.

"In 2003 I built a raft of plastic bottles and put it on the Mississippi River from Minnesota down to New Orleans, my home town. Along that route, I saw tons of plastic trash floating down America's greatest river. So I saw where it came from, I saw what we do to get access to it, and I saw its impact and where it goes."

People aboard the July 7-27 voyage will help hoist sails, cook, collect samples from the "soup" to examine its chemical composition, and haul in bigger things carelessly left in oceans, like fishing nets. "This isn't a clean-up effort though. But we will pick up what we find," Eriksen said.

There are no serious clean-up efforts because of the magnitude of the problem. Gyres are enormous rotating currents that act as a vortex and suck in floating debris. Eriksen said the way to clean the gyres is to focus on beaches. "Beach clean-ups are gyre clean-ups. Gyres kick out trash constantly to nearby islands and mainland shores. If we can stop adding more, that's the solution."

With plastic being so ubiquitous in our way of living, it's hard for someone like Eriksen to avoid it. But like a lot us, he does what he can. He said he refuses to use one-use forms of it, like straws and grocery bags. "If I'm at Starbucks, I'll ask for a for-here cup. It doesn't make sense that people stay in the shop to drink coffee with a to-go cup. That's ridiculous."

The Algalita voyage will meander between Honolulu and Vancouver for 20 days beginning July 7. The deadline for the early bird discount is Feb. 28. If you're interested in joining the trip or you want more details, click here. Net proceeds will support Algalita's scientific research and educational outreach.

(First photo credit: Jeffery Ernst; Photos courtesy Zan Dubin Scott.)

-- Brian Foley

Comments

[W. Stormer]

We can and should get rid of petroleum based plastics, and clean up both the beaches and the gyres both. Even the corn-based has environmental impacts. It won't go away on its own.

[Jeffery Ernst]

Beach clean ups are a great idea that have a myriad of beneficial social impacts. They provide a socially rewarding experience that helps bring people together with a tangible and very visually rewarding goal. It also helps people develop a stake in their local environment, and take personal responsibility for the sensitive and beautiful places in which they live. However, that said, they are not a direct solution to the problem as the above article would suggest. Something that I very much doubt Marcus said in that context.

Instead beach clean ups are a teaching tool that helps people have a healthy day of exercise while doing something positive that allows them to connect to their environment. They may help instill a repulsion to the more gratuitous forms of single use plastic in our environment, none of which I am advocating; and they may help people think about the end life for the thousands of other single use products that dispute there re-usable mug they still buy and use everyday because they are a ubiquitous part of our culture, but they will not solve the problem in any significant sense.

The solutions (notice the plurality), like many to the problems our world face; are far more complicated. In many cases they will involve new industrial development and new polymers, such as PLA; at production volume that will allow for more thoughtful product development at cost effective scales. There is also good old fashioned recycled cardboard and paper, which could easily replace many thousands of single use plastic packages, just not at the price point provided by the plastic alternative in our society.

Neither of the two options I just mentioned are full blown solutions to the problem and I don't present them as such, I just wish people would stop trying to understand complicated issues in single paragraphs.

Anyone interested in the Trip from Hawaii to Vancouver will not be disappointed (perhaps a poor choice of words) in the experience. I look forward to discussing the issues, which you will obviously have a passionate interest in; in great detain on-board.

Also for got sakes stop comparing things to Texas...

Finally...Zan Dubin Scott, that picture at the top of this article of Charlie Moore chasing that bottle around in the middle of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre was taken by myself unassisted by you. Please take credit for your own work next time.

thanks
Jeffery Ernst

[Zan Dubin Scott]

Dear Jeffery: Thanks for letting us know. We will credit you for the photo going forward. For the record, I did not take credit for this photo, I only forwarded it to the writer, who did not credit me either. He only noted that it was "courtesy" of me that he received it.

Zan Dubin Scott

[Brian Foley]

We've updated the credit to reflect that Jeffery Ernst took the first photo of this article.

[mratzel]

Thanks for this update and what you'll be doing on your trip. Is there going to be any kind of report about what you find? I study this phenomenon every year with my students and will share this with them...and I know they'll be interested to hear how things turn out?

Thanks again.

marsha

[Gina]

Hi,
After seeing a the 3min video clip on the Garbage Patch last year, I have vowed to live a virgin Plastic Free Year during 2011 to 'be the change I want to see'. I think Algalita is doing a fantastic job - keep it up!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Plastic-Free-Year/114804711924412

Gina