NOTE: All timestamps are in the future because WE are in the future. The care takers of Midnight Ridazz.com reserves the right to remove, edit, move or delete anything for any reason. None of the opinions expressed on these boards represent the Midnight Ridazz nor can anyone purport to speak on behalf of Midnight Ridazz.
This is a not to be missed presentation regarding the alarming state of our Pacific Ocean.
Algalita Marine Research Presentation
4/16/2008 7:00 PM
Join Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins, of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, to discover what they found floating 2000 miles west of Los Angeles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Their research has concluded that floating plastic debris, from 2 1/2 ton tangled nets to nearly invisible plastic fragments, outweigh plankton on the ocean surface by a factor of 6 to 1 - and it's getting worse. Learn the facts about coastal runoff, misconceptions about plastic recycling, and the bio-chemical effects of plastic marine debris. Marcus and Anna will have recent samples to show you, as well as a collection of images and objects to share.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” or “trash vortex”, believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region.
Historically, rubbish that ends up in oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. “Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere,” said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.
Me -
So it will be gone in 50 years if we stopped today. Charles Moore said it could last a 100 years.
Actually, what happens to plastics when they get broken down in the ocean is pretty alarming. Since they do not simply disappear, they wear down to microscopic bits of plastic. These are then eaten by plankton. Soon, plankton die, as this is not a food stuff. You can imagine that once plankton begin to die off because of this, it is only a matter of time before the food chain breaks down.
The plastic isn't eaten by the plankton. The plastic is broken down into ever smaller pieces. Then it's eaten by the fish and birds. You are right about the plankton being at the bottom of the food chain and that this plastic has the potential to severally disrupt the food chain. With alot of our seas reporting stocks being 90% depleted and global climate, this plastic just adds to the already dire conditions. What is happening is that the plastic is becoming a part of the diet of the fish and birds that depends on plankton.
Charles Moore did a short film on this. There's a copy of it on youtube below. The quality isn't the best, but the message is clear. You'll also see that these plastic pellets concentrate toxins. Making the ingestion of these pellets even worst.
actually NEWB310 appears to be partially correct, around 6:15 in the film they talk about how plastic particles become "embedded" in the plankton and other organisms at the bottom of the feeding chain.
we're fucked. big business will never allow this message to get through with the same voice as it's own advertisements in the mainstream media. thus the general population will remain ignorant and we'll all be... fucked.
I think he said zooplankton. Which are filter feeders that rely on plankton.
This presentation was well worth seeing. I hope everyone tries to make the one tomorrow in SM. There's a handsome looking doctor and a sexy looking education director if that makes a difference to you.
Some hipsters got a chance to float with gangsta Chucky from LBC.
Come aboard as the VBS crew takes a cruise to the Northern Gyre in the Pacific Ocean, a spot where currents spin and cycle, churning up tons of plastic into a giant pool of chemical soup, flecked with bits and whole chunks of refuse that cannot biodegrade.
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
Algalita Marine Research Presentation at REI.
...and then make atr out of it!
You don't say....