... great pacific garbage patch

[moon]

Can we talk about this? I didn't even know this was a thing. Why aren't we all talking about this and trying to stop this from getting worse in any way any person can, immediately?

What can we do?

I'm horrified.

 

[gimmepie]

Why aren't we all talking about this and trying to stop this from getting worse in any way any person can, immediately?

Because ludicrously rich corporations who care more about profit than the planet control everything.

What can we do?.

For the average person, recycle as much as you can and use as many biodegradable materials as you can. If you have the money or time, you can donate to a charity or other organisation working to combat the problem or even actively lobby to do something about it. Even what you did by posting this here is doing your bit to help. Also just generally not being the kind of dick who litters.

Ultimately though, what we as a species do, comes down to what a very small percentage of us do. The politicians running countries and the people running big businesses that are running the people running our countries. A systemic change like that is going to have to come from the top, from the people who most directly are causing the problem.

 

[Nah]

would probably need to find a better way to dispose of our non-biodegradable waste than burying it in the limited space we have on the planet

 

[Kai]

The average person can recycle, make sure their trash is properly disposed of instead of tossed out into the environment, clean up trash that is left or washed up on the beach, boycott companies who use the ocean as a landfill, and support legitimate organizations that are trying to clean it all up.

 

[Corrin]

I've known about this for years actually, and there's people testing things but they never actually get done? Tbh it is the corporations because any attempt to really clean it will be followed by how do we prevent it and people will realize it is a lot of mega corporations because us average joes could not do that.
But yeah, don't swim or eat anything pacific because it's really close to the western us.

 

[gimmepie]

Worth noting that scientists actually have worked out how to produce biodegradable plastics. It's just going to be a bit longer before it's viable to actually produce things with them commercially and they'll be fighting an uphill battle getting big companies to convert.

 

[Megan]

What can we do?

Take it as an opportunity and create a business that involves collecting all the garbage? That would play nicely into trying to reduce the amount of unemployed people as well.

Ultimately though, what we as a species do, comes down to what a very small percentage of us do. The politicians running countries and the people running big businesses that are running the people running our countries. A systemic change like that is going to have to come from the top, from the people who most directly are causing the problem.

Ultimately, what they do, is still at the mercy of the masses. The people who vote and go buy the products. If those people from the bottom who are in the majority start openly demanding changes then the higher ups are forced to react or otherwise end up damaging their reputaion if nothing worse.

Worth noting that scientists actually have worked out how to produce biodegradable plastics. It's just going to be a bit longer before it's viable to actually produce things with them commercially and they'll be fighting an uphill battle getting big companies to convert.

They have. But at the end of the day it's still plastic. In this sense "biodegradable" just means "degrades a lot faster". That stuff's still going to lie around as trash for a while before it starts properly decomposing.

 

[moon]

Seems there are a lot of efforts being made! There's just a question between - do we keep cleaning up the shit or do we focus on not releasing more shit first? Can we focus on both?

https://www.theoceancleanup.com