Now, I don't normally hold with most environmental arguments, seeing them usually as hidden taxation agendas, but this article shocked me < CLICKY >




There really is no need, just as there's no need for people to toss cigarette wrappings from their cars. I think the G8 countries should contribute to a massive clean-up, a sustained maintenance and monitoring program and massive penalties for unlawful dumping of waste at sea.

 

That is shocking and I personally find it upsetting too.

I agree absolutely with what you say.

Les

 

I find that disgusting too As a nature lover, I detest litter bugs... I even crush my cans before they are sent to landfill so the little animals dont get stuck in them (I dont do recycling) and I even rip up the plastic things that hold beer cans together

I did watch a programme recently about a little tiny island that I think that is in the pacific somewhere... The people who lived there are the decendants of a colony who decided that this island would be a great place to live, despite being in the middle of an ocean and at its highest point only a few feet above sea level
Anyway, when there is a very high tide the island gets flooded, and to make matters worse, the islands floorpan is made entirely out of coral So it is completely pourus
So, the govenor of these little islands is demanding "the west" save the island because it is the wests fault that the tides are high because we drive 4x4's and use patio heaters
I almost peed my strides when I heard him blaming me for his people settling down on a reef in the middle of the sea and it getting flooded once in a while

So while I dont like human litter ruining natures beauty, there are some things in the pacific that natures beauty is ruining all on its own - or is it really all my fault?

 

"About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land."

No point in making a law against it, it would be totally unenforceable.

A clean-up would be nice though. Get a few converted whaling factory ships and some trawlers out. Take a fair bit to clean up "100 million tons" though...

 

20 million tonnes has to be better than 100 million surely though?

 

Absolutely agree, but I can't imagine a factory ship holding more than 10 000 tons. What does a supertanker hold these days?

Then when you've got it, what do you do with it all? Drop it down the throat of Mauna Loa, or spend a month shipping each boatload to mainland US?

So look at the amount of effort involved, and it is still going to be, um, a drop in the ocean.

 

I used to work on Oil rig support ships (Stena) and if you threw anything overboard, even a *** end you would be in serious ****, however I doubt all shipping companies have the same sort of laws!

 

wiki says supertankers hold vaguely 300 000 tonnes. Could be a possibility I suppose. Take a shipful of low-waged [asians, central americans, pick low income country of your choice nr pacific rim] to live on board for 4 mths and sort it as it comes in so it could be instantly processed when it arrives on land... getting there, even if not very politically correct...

 

Have you been watching blazing sadles

 

The sheriff's a Ni.. ding