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16304
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Plastic junk spawns desert island disaster in Pacific
URL: https://news.yahoo.com/plastic-junk-spawns-desert-island-disaster-pacific-063617712.html
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Floating plastic garbage has swamped a remote Pacific island once regarded as an environmental jewel and scientists say little can be done to save it while a throwaway culture persists. Henderson Island is an uninhabited coral atoll that lies almost exactly halfway between New Zealand and Peru, with 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) of ocean in either direction. Despite its extreme isolation, a freak confluence of geography and ocean currents means Henderson has one of the highest concentrations of plastic pollution on the planet. "We found debris from just about everywhere," said Jennifer Lavers, an Australian-based researcher who led an expedition to the island last month. "We had bottles and containers, all kinds of fishing stuff and it had come from, well, you name it -- Germany, Canada, the United States, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador. "It was a real message that every country has a responsibility to protect the environment, even in these remote areas." Henderson lies at the centre of the South Pacific gyre, a vast circular ocean current that runs anti-clockwise down the east coast of Australia and up the west coast of South America. The gyre should be a boon for the 10-kilometre-by-five speck of land, carrying rich nutrients into the waters surrounding Henderson to feed huge colonies of sea birds. The atoll's ecosytem is so rich that Henderson was included on the UN World Heritage List in 1988, with the body hailing it as an untouched paradise. "As one of the last near-pristine limestone islands of significant size in the world, Henderson Island retains its exceptional natural beauty with its white, sandy beaches, limestone cliffs, and rich and almost undisturbed vegetation," it said. - South Pacific garbage patch - But three decades later, the gyre has become a marine conveyor belt dumping endless waves of plastic detritus onto Henderson's coast, making it the hub of what has become known as the South Pacific Garbage Patch. Lavers led her first expedition there in 2015 and on the island's East Beach found there were about 700 items of plastic per square metre, one of the highest concentrations found anywhere in the world. Compounding the problem, the churning waves have reduced more than half the waste to tiny particles almost invisible to the human eye, making them impossible to clean up but easily digested by wildlife such as birds and turtles. (story continues at link) |
16309
From: Polydactyl in N. Bay, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Plastic junk spawns desert island disaster in Pacific
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What a sickening and real picture of humans en masse waste problems. It looks like a giant threw up on that island after a very long night of drinking too much! Horrible but how to make cleaning up a business in a ponzi schemed global economy? Thanks for the links! |
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16305
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Plastic junk spawns desert island disaster in Pacific (visuals)
 
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