The Great Pacific Garbage Patch perfectly illustrates our pathological approach to the environment

a great pacific stain of garbage

Have you heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ? It is such a marine dump, which has grown to such an extent that it has its own name written in large letters. A young man wanted to clean her up. The plan, however, failed.

I am talking about the Ocean Cleanup project, in which an ingenious young Holender came up with the idea that with little effort, most of the garbage drifting freely on the surface of the ocean could ... be towed to the shore.

The Great Pacific Spot Rubbish has not given up so easily

a great pacific stain of garbage

The whole plan was to put a large, air-filled horseshoe near the illegal dump, which would pick up the trash inside. After a few days of such drifting, one could arrive after her by ship, get trapped in the garbage trap, return to the sea and leave it there again. This very ingenious concept turned out to be a failure. After a few days, the inflatable horseshoe was completely empty. Nobody was too concerned about the failure of this project.

This situation perfectly sums up our approach to global environmental protection

How do you think - was Ocean Clean Up Project an action organized by the UN? Or maybe the European Union? Or maybe it was funded by countries that subscribed to the Paris Agreement (of which nothing great has so far not emerged)? No, no and no. The entire project was financed thanks to, mainly, private grants for The Ocean Cleanup foundation, founded by 24-year-old Dutch boy Boyana Slat. Yes, only Slat decided to do something about it. And yes - it did not work out, but I do not even dare make fun of it. Everyone, except Slat, pretends that the problem of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch does not exist.

Instead, we will carry out another social campaign in which random celebrities will be proud to talk about how they managed to break off drinking plastic straws and once again we can breathe a sigh of relief. And then go shopping to the supermarket and bring from there a dozen or so more plastic packages and bags, because otherwise you can not.

It's just the tip of the mountain ice plastic

Already, at the bottom of the oceans, there are about 400 million tons of plastic rubbish. For a better picture of the situation: a billion adult elephants weigh about the same. As for the surface of the landfill itself, it is twice as large as the state of Texas. The news of the huge amount of plastic garbage lying on the bottom of the oceans becomes even worse if we take into account the fact that they are decomposed into plastic microspheres.

This is done in the following way: large fragments of plastic packaging and other debris become brittle under the influence of UV radiation, and then are crushed by waves and large sea creatures. Such a microplastic is reminiscent of plankton, which of course makes the diet of many sea creatures enriched by this product of our civilization. In extreme cases, such an addition to the diet ends in the death of many animals. Scientists say that such micro plastic particles are able to block, for example, their digestive tracts, which naturally lead to death from hunger.

What's more, these plastic microspheres are reminiscent of the crystals of sea salt that we use to spice up the dishes. What is the conclusion? The fact that salt available in Europe, including Poland, has been for some time a plastic admixture . Enjoy your meal.

We stubbornly ignore the growing problems related to the ecosystem of our planet.

The plastic hypocrisy that accompanies our consumerism is so huge that I personally do not believe in any effective changes in our approach. And that this landfill is constantly growing? Well, no one goes there on holiday anyway, so who cares? Well, it will be bigger, so big.

With the right sense of humor, the whole situation can be quite ridiculous. Look: this is our civilization, which, for granted, recognizes such things as satellite communication, genetic engineering and the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. Homo-sapiens. Rational people.

Having a huge (and constantly growing) knowledge of processes that have a great impact on the planet's ecosystem, we still try to ignore it and what's more uncomfortable things to sweep under the carpet. Literally. The idea of ​​inflating huge balloons with an excess of carbon dioxide and placing them on the bottom of the ocean proposed by Steve Goldthorpe seems to be an increasingly rational solution.

A similarly crazy idea for combating the warming up of our climate is the project of scientists from Harvard University on solar geoengineering . It is about emitting a sufficiently high dose of gases into our atmosphere that would keep some of the infrared radiation away. In short - scientists are looking for large solar glasses for the Earth's atmosphere. Something in the Eyjafjallajökull eruption style, only less troublesome for airplanes.

In March this project was criticized by UN experts on climate change. However, taking into account our negligible commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, in a few years we can say that this is a sensible plan.

Such crazy ideas will be more and more.

Our approach to environmental protection can be called pathological . Most politicians continue to trivialize the ongoing process of climate change. Some of them are perfectly aware that the implementation of the provisions presented, among others at the climatic summit in Paris, it would drive the global economy into a long and painful period of recession.

No developed country that currently uses coal can simply afford to give up this raw material. I'm not just talking about Poland. Our German neighbors use even more of this raw material. I do not even mention China or the United States.

That is why we are looking for the simplest solution that would not require too much effort. Oh, let's spray over the Earth a few hundred tons of some magical gas that will miraculously shield our planet from global warming. Or, let's sweep the excess of carbon dioxide under the carpet.

Whatever, if only too much, do not change current dependencies in the economy, because we will lose a lot of money. And the growing problems with the climate and pollution of our planet? Well, let the next generations worry about them. It was not easy either ...



The Great Pacific Garbage Patch perfectly illustrates our pathological approach to the environment

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