A disgusting environmental disaster

[MattSullivan]

I don't normally do "causes" especially environmentalism. But a person at work forwarded this to me and it just floored me ( watch the video ) There's this gigantic ocean garbage dump just floating around the Pacific ocean. Its disgusting!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/2 ... 90552.html

Please forward it around to others. They have to know about this.

[*nagowteena*]

That is absolutely horrendous.

I had no clue it even existed, something needs to be done about this, and fast.

[Berserker]

Sadly, nothing will be done about this. It would cost billions of dollars to clean up. Money beats the environment 99% of the time. Until, of course, the cancer rate hits 99% too... then people might freak out enough to cause the massive revolution in thinking necessary to change this course.

[Wingman]

Oh, this thing. I thought you guys already knew about this.

[Whisperwind]

ugh. things like this make me ashamed to be human.

[Xiroteus]

Oh, this thing. I thought you guys already knew about this.

I saw it a long time ago, it is disgusting.

[Shadow Wulf]

Ive never seen anything like this in my life. Such disgusting site, I'm with Whisperwind on this one, I'm ashamed to even be human.

[Baphnedia]

Being ashamed of the race you are doesn't fix the problem, I'm afraid. Has this gotten more attention than on Oprah? As in, is there some organization stepping in to clean up this mess?

[Shadow Wulf]

I think we are all aware of this Baph, and as far as Im aware the situation still hasnt stuck with mainstream news yet for some reason, it made it in a lot of news reports but no one is even keeping tabs on it. I bet you anything that someone is trying to keep a tight lid on this.

[Sevena]

the world would be a much better place without us(humans).in my opinion most people wont regret or try to change what we have done to world until they are about to be removed from it.it seems for most of the human race regret is always there in the end, i should have done this , i should have done that.its hard to change the way people think and act, and that is whats needed if we are to treat the earth with respect.we are very selfish beings.

we will get whats coming to us in the end.until then, may we all treat our great mother with love and tenderness.

[RedEye]

I keep hearing that the world would be better off without us, and I offer this in reply.

What we did, we can undo... but only if we're here to do it. We are the only creatures who actually care about our homeworld, no other species does or has the ability to do so.
Don't be ashamed of your species: be ashamed of Ignorance, which is the source of such things.
Ignorance is curable, easily, with education. Have you contributed to it?
The best gift we can give future generations is the start-up technology aimed at abating these horrors. They will refine it; but we have to show them the way (seriously, doing the start-up work is tougher than the actual cleanup work itself!)
Finally, the only time pointing a finger accomplished anything was when the Dutch boy plugged a hole in the local dike. Temporarily.

[Sevena]

i agree that what has been done can be undone.without us (humans) the earth would recover quicker,than us taking our time getting around to actually doing something about the devastation we have already caused.10 years of us going back and forth on the proper way to do things, compared to 10 years with us just not being here.i would totally love to see the day when things actually change for the better, i know we are taking steps in that direction but our progress is slow.we all contribute to the trashing of our planet in one way or another.be it litter or the use of products tested on animals or that contain animal by products, right down to the leather shoes your wearing.each act no matter how small makes a difference.and that applies to both the creation of the mess and the cleanup.

[Howlitzer]

I agree that this is quite disgusting...

but I see the whole "the world would be better off without us" as a rather counterproductive attitude.

You see, we ARE here, we have *been* here, and nothing we do will change that. If we never existed, there would be nobody around to even contemplate that notion....so it's rather a waste of time bothering to do so. It's just wasted bitterness, ultimately it won't help anybody.

We are here, we are a product of nature....and yes, we can muck things up quite a bit, but ultimately, nature will keep chugging along....with or without us. What we have to worry more about is wiping *ourselves* off the map. So, it's our job to clean things up such that we can enjoy continued, quality survival, not kill ourselves so the rest of the planet can live without our species.

Environmentalism with the attitude that nature should be saved at the expense of the human race is foolish, in my opinion. Nature always finds a way to keep going....however we may not. In such a case taking the more selfish attitude....trying to save ourselves first rather than saving everything *except* us....is more apt to result in the most favorable outcome overall. A cleaner planet for everything else will result from making a cleaner planet for us if we do it right. That little selfish aspect of humanity called "survival instinct"... that's what will make more people want to act.

Having said that, that trash heap is something that most definitely should be dealt with. Heck, technology has recently been developed that would soon allow that trash heap to be turned into a source of useable energy...( http://www.michaelbehar.com/popsci/longo.html --> this was recently in an issue of Popular Science)... trash goes in, energy comes out, none of the nasty byproducts are left behind. Everybody's happy.

[Sevena]

ok let me explain alittle more so the assumption that im saying the world should be saved at the expense of the human race doesnt goes to far.i totally see what everyone is saying about us being here to clean up the mess we have created.and that humans not being here is not a positive attitude toward real accomplishment in the cleanup.im not saying we should just die off so that the planet can go on and heal itself without us.what i am saying is, that it would clean up faster without us.species dieing off would see a rather big boom in their numbers regenerated.air pollutants would see a significant decrease within just 5 years.i could go on about this.dont misunderstand me,i fully believe that we have to power to change and ive already said so, i also believe that peoples attitudes towards the conservation of our planet is key in this.we can live in harmony with nature, it is wether we choose to do so or not.im not gonna sit here and try to convice people that the world be better without us, thats not what im doing at all.i mearly made a statement based on my opinion.we all have the right to discuss and argue an opinion,and please dont assume that im saying anyone has come down on me in anyway for expressing mine.besides things that largely contribute to our way of life , what have we as humans actually done to contribute to the earths wellbeing? without first making huge mistakes and trying to make up for them later. yes we have come out with new ways to save energy,decrease the amount of waste we produce and many more things, but have we not destroyed first and then rebuilt.trial and error is something ingrained in us as humans, we learn from our mistakes, if we make no mistakes then what do we learn.can we learn with out making mistakes?if we had taken the back seat and let the great mother drive from the begining , she could have shown us the way.but being who we are , we were unable to do so.ok im stop rambleing, i realy hope everyone can see what saying.

[Uniform Two Six]

if we had taken the back seat and let the great mother drive from the begining , she could have shown us the way.

Sorry to kick a dead horse here, but... "The Great Mother" (or if you're me, "Evolution") gave humankind the intelligence (ie: the capability of non-linear logic, not to be confused with wisdom) to accomplish our rise to the top of the food chain... and severely screw up the planet in the process. So... to my way of thinking She's been in the driver's seat the whole time. If you want to take the spiritual view of things, why is it impossible that the the whole "plan" from the beginning was to let us screw up the planet as part of the learning process that "screw up planet = bad. Fix stuff we screwed up = good."

Also, the most likely scenario for humans disappearing off the face of the planet would be global thermonuclear war. Planet Earth will not be recovering all that fast from something like that.

[Shadow Wulf]

I think another dilemma that we have today (Now I could be very wrong on this) is that the issue of cost vs convenience. For example, we COULD turn trash into usable energy like howlitzer said, but how much more would it cost to do so than just dumping the trash in a landfill? Will it be more convenient? That is the mentality of some people have on these issues believe it or not. Now I'm sure using that equipment to allow trash to become re-usable energy is pretty cost efficient and they might be able to make a profit out of it if anything, especially in the eastern part of our country, Im just using it as an example.

Recycling our products is the most common thing we try to help our planet but the problem with it is that it also requires fuel and energy to be able to recycle, and that can also cause pollution. But people are finding new ways to turn our garbage into something useful, and Howlitzers link is a good example of that. And as others said we really are the only species that truly care about the planet, no other animal or organism has the ability to even do that, they don't think that they are part of something bigger than them, WE DO. I wouldn't lose faith in humanity yet, there are tons of people who care for the environment, and unlike other animals, we can do something about it.

[Howlitzer]

Shadow, once the technology is refined enough, the cost/convenience thing with turning trash into energy is beyond argument.

Think about it....you plop the trash in a landfill....where it's still trash and is wasting space and thus wasting money.

Or, you put an initial investment into said devices to convert trash into energy....which, since they form a self sustaining reaction and can continuously process trash into energy and useable materials, will eventually pay for themselves. You don't have to find more landfill space, and by cleaning up existing trash, you gain new usable land.

[Aki]

ok let me explain alittle more so the assumption that im saying the world should be saved at the expense of the human race doesnt goes to far.i totally see what everyone is saying about us being here to clean up the mess we have created.and that humans not being here is not a positive attitude toward real accomplishment in the cleanup.im not saying we should just die off so that the planet can go on and heal itself without us.what i am saying is, that it would clean up faster without us.

I sincerely doubt that we're capable of doing any real damage to this planet.

This place has weather meorite blows from time immemorial. Catastrophic volcanic eruptions (which is the new popular theory for the Dinosaur's extinction) and so on and so forth.

We could use every nuclear device ever created and life would still persevere on this mudball. Life's too tenacious and adaptive. Even if it's just some cockroaches and some bacteria sitting on the ocean vents.

[Berserker]

I sincerely doubt that we're capable of doing any real damage to this planet.

What, as in the kind of damage that would disrupt a natural system forever with no hope of recovery?

No, probably not. I mean, we can certainly try. We love to try.

Turning a portion of the ocean into a carcinogenic, non-biodegradeable sludge will probably only last for a couple of hundred, or maybe a thousand years. Definitely not forever. The fish will get over it.

[Aki]

I sincerely doubt that we're capable of doing any real damage to this planet.

What, as in the kind of damage that would disrupt a natural system forever with no hope of recovery?

No, probably not. I mean, we can certainly try. We love to try.

Turning a portion of the ocean into a carcinogenic, non-biodegradeable sludge will probably only last for a couple of hundred, or maybe a thousand years. Definitely not forever. The fish will get over it.

I'm not saying that's not bad. It's terrible. I'm just pointing out that to say we could kill all life on this planet and irreparably damage it is to vastly overestimate our (current) abilities and underestimate life's determination. This planet's dealt with worse than us. And will continue to, long after we eventually die.

The fish could, eventually, get over it. Not that we should let them, as it should be cleaned up. But if we vanished tomorrow without cleaning up our mess it'd work out in the end. Life adapts and goes on.

[Morkulv]

That turtle... Looks very painfull.