Pollution in the Pacific

Hello everyone, I am doing a project on Pollution in the Pacific.

Here is an online article from http://au.messages.yahoo.com/news/top-stories/989611?p=last

A rubbish dump twice the size of the United States has been discovered floating in the Pacific Ocean. The vast expanse of debris, made up of plastic junk including footballs, kayaks, Lego blocks and carrier bags, is kept together by swirling underwater currents. It stretches from 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. Because the rubbish, which has been called a �plastic soup� and a �trash vortex�, is translucent and lies just below the water's surface it cannot be seen in satellite photographs. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have all been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds. The rubbish can also be dangerous for humans, because tiny plastic pellets in the sea can attract man-made chemicals which then enter the food chain. Research director Dr Marcus Eriksen said: �What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple.�

I have my own notes for a kick start;

So far, I have researched on many websites, including another blog on blogger, an address of http://www.adelaidegreenporridgecafe.blogspot.com/, this contains comments AND information on the subject. There is also http://wwf.org.au/ourwork.oceans/ and http://kp.cqu.edu.au/undergrad/nkieec_assignments/env_village/4%20.html, which has a table of different litter and how long it stays in the ocean. I have found so many things that will help me with the project, including comments from university students, scientists and teachers, and all kinds of ways and opportunities to help. On futuremakers, it says that you can make a video and post it on http://www.flickr.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/, I have made a video and have a shared account on youtube, and the video is of me picking up rubbish and doing a little mathematics on the trash vortex. I will be working on an informative poster for school, make it as different and creative as possible, and I am also working on a diorama.

The polliution in the Pacific has been given so many names! Including 'Rubbish Superhighway', 'Trash Vortex', 'Plastic Soup', and a lot more. I am focusing on how to make a difference, how this issue came about, how people ARE making a difference now, and how this issue affects the sea, marine life, and humans.

Quotes from Charles Moore, FOUNDER of this heart-breaking issue.
*It is estimated to weigh around 100,000,000 tonnes
*It is twice the size of america, making it larger than the area of Australia
*It is kept together by circulating water
*Its home is between Hawaii and San Francisco
*If you had 1kg of rubbish, you would have to multiply that by 100,000,000,000 (one hundred thousand million) to be equivalent to what is in our oceans, MINIMUM.

"It's certainly true that all the countries bordering the Pacific contribue to this garbage patch"
He says.

Please take your time to watch this heart-breaking video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqzAHGXvs&feature=related