4 ms·

Not to detract from the man's project (which I think is cool), but every little piece of garbage in the ocean does add up. Oceanographers have mapped garbage pa

by nhebb 15y ago

Not to detract from the man's project (which I think is cool), but every little piece of garbage in the ocean does add up. Oceanographers have mapped garbage patches in each of the oceans, e.g.: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/atlantic-plastic/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/atlantic-plastic/

burgerbrain 15y ago
And in this case, it adds up to a mere 2000 plastic bottles. If this were a fad, you might have a point.
- kiiski 15y ago
  2000 plus what others throw there all the time and what was already there. That adds up to a <Big Number>.
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    'others throw there all the time' - 2000 = <Still a Big Number> He had no meaningful effect.
- epanastasi 15y ago
  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch) is a real problem. Estimates put its size between 270,000 sq miles 5,800,000 sq miles of floating trash, most of which is plastic. It pollutes the water, kills marine life, and introduces toxins into the food chain which can end up on your dinner plate. Saying 2000 bottles is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things is shortsighted and irresponsible. Millions of tons of garbage doesn't appear in the ocean for no reason. It exists because everyone thinks to themselves "hey, the ocean is a really big place... what harm does a few bottles really have?" The problem is only getting worse, and after all.. we haven't had plastics for that long. There's no justification for throwing plastic bottles in the ocean. It doesn't improve the environment in any way, but it currently negatively affects hundreds of species.
  - hnhg 15y ago
    A one-off deposit of 2000 bottles has a negligible impact on the Patch. To tackle that, we need to fundamentally re-think a lot of the ways we conduct ourselves.
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      Perhaps starting with modifying our views that tell us since 2000 bottles is negligible it's ok to do?
  - nobody3141592 15y ago
    Compared to the amount of oil burned around the world for all the computers reading HN I think you can ignore the bottles
    - bmelton 15y ago
      Perhaps a better, and more rational argument, is that we should care more about the oil being burned around the world, and not less about the amount of trash being thrown into the ocean.

by nhebb 15y ago

burgerbrain 15y ago

And in this case, it adds up to a mere 2000 plastic bottles. If this were a fad, you might have a point.

kiiski 15y ago
2000 plus what others throw there all the time and what was already there. That adds up to a <Big Number>.
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  'others throw there all the time' - 2000 = <Still a Big Number> He had no meaningful effect.
epanastasi 15y ago
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch) is a real problem. Estimates put its size between 270,000 sq miles 5,800,000 sq miles of floating trash, most of which is plastic. It pollutes the water, kills marine life, and introduces toxins into the food chain which can end up on your dinner plate. Saying 2000 bottles is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things is shortsighted and irresponsible. Millions of tons of garbage doesn't appear in the ocean for no reason. It exists because everyone thinks to themselves "hey, the ocean is a really big place... what harm does a few bottles really have?" The problem is only getting worse, and after all.. we haven't had plastics for that long. There's no justification for throwing plastic bottles in the ocean. It doesn't improve the environment in any way, but it currently negatively affects hundreds of species.
- hnhg 15y ago
  A one-off deposit of 2000 bottles has a negligible impact on the Patch. To tackle that, we need to fundamentally re-think a lot of the ways we conduct ourselves.
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Perhaps starting with modifying our views that tell us since 2000 bottles is negligible it's ok to do?
- nobody3141592 15y ago
  Compared to the amount of oil burned around the world for all the computers reading HN I think you can ignore the bottles
  - bmelton 15y ago
    Perhaps a better, and more rational argument, is that we should care more about the oil being burned around the world, and not less about the amount of trash being thrown into the ocean.