An Island of Garbage?

There's another reason to re-use those plastic grocery store bags, or better yet use the canvas reusable ones. In fact, this story should encourage all of us to use less plastic. I was listening to the Bryant Park Project on NPR this morning and they were talking about a huge problem in one part of the Pacific Ocean. It's a huge plastic garbage mass. It is nearly TWICE the size of Texas! The mass can be found halfway between Hawaii and Los Angeles. Earth Day isn't until next month, but this is definitely something to think about. The garbage mass deposits in this particular area due to the ocean currents and lack of wind. 80 percent of the garbage comes from land based areas, about 20 percent from cruise ships, according to the man who has made 8 trips to this area. It takes about 6 months for plastic garbage to make its way from Asia to this particular spot, and about 5 years to make its way from the United States.

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Earth Day is April 22!