jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This was surprising. That giant clump of floating plastic in the Pacific consists largely of small and microscopic particles. Within the patch are thousands of colonies of life that have made a home there. A man is going to swim 300 miles through that area collecting samples.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2019/05/30/300-mile-swim-through-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-will-collect-data-on-plastic-pollution/?sh=770eb1bb489f

As an aside, we all have microplastic in our bodies, even newborns. I wonder what would happen if those micros clumped together to form macros.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Reminds me of the lines from the famous movie, "The Graduate"

MR. MCGUIRE: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

BENJAMIN: Yes, sir.

MR. MCGUIRE: Are you listening?

BENJAMIN: Yes, I am.

MR. MCGUIRE: Plastics.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, I keep remembering that conversation. There's no getting away from plastic. It's here to stay - literally.

hippi Loc: Sedalia MO

yes they are, but all we need to do is to switch to hemp after use they biodegrade in 60 days are so

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

I read the same thing; that these huge patches are becoming their own ecosystems. I also find it interesting that there is an amazing array of life where nuclear reactor discharges warm the water and of course coral just loves to set up shop on sunken ships and such. In the meantime, we have peregrine falcons raising record numbers of chicks on top of downtown skyscrapers here in NH.

Just goes to show you how adaptable life is. Even if we humans wipe ourselves out from climate change, toxic wastes, etc., other more adaptable species will happily take our niche over.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There have been a couple of shows on TV about "Earth After Humans." Interesting.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Not only are the oceans getting filled with plastic, they (at least the Atlantic that I pay attention to) is getting warmer. This year we are 1-2 deg C warmer than last year off the southeast coast and that means more powerful hurricanes, which is bad news. The chart below (from the EPA) correlates well with the increased hurricane strengths/activity the last 7 years.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

1° C doesn't sound like much, but think in terms of 2° F. Think about how much water is in all the oceans of the world. Then think how much energy it takes to raise the temperature of all that water just 2°. Once the temperature is raised, the oceans radiate that much more heat than before. Hurricanes love heat.

I hate to say it, but any efforts now to control global warming are too little too late. We knew about this in the 1970s, but the oil and coal industries liked the status quo. Changes will come gradually, so the politicians and businessmen who are fighting change won't suffer at all. Their children and grandchildren, however, will curse them. The only thing that counts in this world is money.

England is producing so much electricity from wind that it is running out of storage, so it is cutting back. In 2020, they got 24% of their electricity from the wind. Unfortunately, we are held hostage by the oil and coal industries.

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

Yes, and the drought in the SWest is causing massive loss of real grass to artificial turf. So if you walk on artificial turf you create micro plastic that ends up in the ocean! Then again the loss of natural grass loses the cleansing ability of the natural grass and increases pollution. But we don’t have a shortage of water on the earth, we have a distribution problem. We need more intelligent polititions, but that in itself is an oxymoron!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

We have to find a way to import some of that monsoon rain.