Pacific+Garbage+Patch

Pacific Garbage Patch The Pacific Garbage patch was a historical disaster that started back in 1988. It's a patch of rubbish that has accumulated and spanned across the North Pacific Ocean for miles. It has a large effect on marine life because they end up swallowing the plastics. Black-footed Albatross and Sea Turtles are among some of these species. Some species have also been contaminated by toxins that are created when the sun heats up the chemicals in plastic. The garbage patches form when the strong ocean currents pull the garbage in together and the pile keeps accumulating. This has been happening a lot over a long period of time and that is why the patch has gotten so large. According to the //Mother Nature Network,// Captain Charles Moore makes a good point when he said the cleaning up process for this problem is difficult because it "would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went." That statement is very true because it would cost a large amount of money to organize and it would harm animals in the habitat by doing so. This is an ongoing problem and Oprah even devoted some time on her Earth Day episode to talking about what she calls the "giant island of trash".

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