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{ 2007 10 24 }

a sceptic writes

Is this really true?

Giant garbage patch floating in Pacific
An enormous island of trash twice the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii.

Chris Parry with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco said the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has been growing a brisk rate since the 1950s, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

The trash stew is 80 percent plastic and weighs more than 3.5 million tons.

“At this point, cleaning it up isn’t an option,” Parry said. “It’s just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues.”

via.

Twice the size of Texas?

(psst! Texas is slightly bigger than France)

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Posted by tyger on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at 12:58 pm, and filed under science, usa, world. Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

{ 6 } Comments

  1. Matthew Revell | October 24, 2007 at 2:12 pm | Permalink

    If it’s that size, it’d show up on Google Earth, wouldn’t it?

  2. anticant | October 24, 2007 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

    Who’d have thought it? A breakaway from the giant garbage patch anchored between the Atlantic and the Pacific?

  3. tyger | October 24, 2007 at 9:19 pm | Permalink

    Matthew,

    You’d think. Not sure you can though. As I said, sceptical.

    anticant,

    You tease.

  4. mikepower | October 24, 2007 at 9:37 pm | Permalink

    Who weighed it?

  5. jams o donnell | October 25, 2007 at 4:44 pm | Permalink

    Twice the size of Texas? Bloody hell! If it is safe to walk on (or even if it isn’t) it would make a great place for all those American militias, seccesioists et al. Perhasp some rednceks should plant a flag right now and call it New Dixie

  6. poons | October 25, 2007 at 9:34 pm | Permalink

    Snopes seems to draw a blank, so it must be true!