Garbage Island: Our Newest Continent

An island of free floating plastic garbage twice the size of
Texas is located in the North Pacific Gyre

Marine research biologists are trolling the surface of the water 10 miles off the coast of Long Beach California to get some idea of the extent of plastic pollution. It's a common misconception that the worst kind of spill in our oceans is an oil spill. But the ocean is the absolute worst place for the tons of plasticsthat we dump to be. These bits of plastic bottles and other objects will never degrade and remain in our oceans forever.

Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A is a chemical used to make 7 billion pounds a year of hard, clear plastics called polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a non-recyclable plastic that is being thrown away into the environment with much of it finding it is way into our oceans. A US study found that 90% of us have traces of bisphenol A in their bodies. A study in Japan indicates that women with high levels of bisphenol A were the ones found to have repeated miscarriages. They were capable of achieving pregnancy and carrying to partial term but would miscarry at some point.

Garbage Island

The ocean is full of these plastic products. After years of producing these toxic plastics we would be hard pressed to find anywhere in the world not exposed to them. To get an idea of what we face we need to get a sense of the extent of this pollution. Off the coast of California is a region of the Ocean called theNorth Pacific Gyre. The Gyre is an area were currents entering the western region off the coast of Japan and exiting from the coast of California form a swirling current pattern. This swirling pattern acts as a collecting point for debris. This area is so prevalent with ocean trash that it is commonly referred to as the "Eastern Garbage Patch." This region is about twice the size of Texas and is getting larger with every passing year.

The Newest Continent

The trash in the North Pacific Gyre is 80 percent plastic and estimated to consist of more than 3.5 million tons of bottles and other non recyclable plastic containers and objects. Many who have heard about this floating plastic mass do not believe it, writing it off as an urban myth. With a span twice as large as the state of Texas we can classify it as a new continent. Perhaps we should claim it as a testament to our impact on our planet and include it on our maps.