digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

See the original image at vbs.tv

Actual Footage/Documentary on the "Pacific Garbage Patch"

vbs.tv — For years we ’ve been reading about a patch of garbage the size of Texas floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ingeniously dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.For all the breathless accounts of the mess and its impact on the area’s sealife, however, no one seemed to have a picture of the buildup. Until now...........

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • gbudavid, on 06/08/2008, -34/+7Yes It gave the Russians something to do during the cold war. They used to follow us around picking up iur garbage looking for secrets
  • 24evita, on 06/08/2008, -10/+81This is crazy. Why aren't we all doing something about this faster???
    • DoctaLivingston, on 06/08/2008, -2/+77Simple, no one gives a flying *****.
      • overtoke, on 06/09/2008, -8/+18no, people do care (the intelligent ones). just like people care about what is happening in iraq, about gas prices, starvation, natural disasters

        corporations and governments get in the way of the will of the people
        • john2kx, on 06/09/2008, -20/+5Seriously, dude, it's a conspiracy!! Big Brother is watching us, and The Man is keeping us down!! The government is trying to kill me, man!!
          Uh... Corporations!!
        • Kzoo, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1That might be overstating it a bit, but it is true people care. Thing is getting people who care and people who can do something together. (Very handy if some of them happen to be one and the same already.)

          And then you have to wonder what you can even do about some of the messes we've made.

          Once you figure that out, where is the cash coming from to do it? If you can get over that hurdle, something gets done. It's not easy to get people to fork over cash for things, especially if they don't believe there's a personal benefit. (i.e. How does that patch that's very remote from me have any impact on me?)
        • twistymcgee, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2I think there are a lot of people who care. Unfortunately there are a lot more people that don't care.
      • Twaddle852, on 06/09/2008, -1/+8Because everyone cares but there's no individual incentive to fix it?

        Classic tragedy of the commons and one of the more unsolvable problems with free market capitalism.
      • Popsgg, on 06/09/2008, -2/+3Did you watch the video? I know they are spinning it as bad, but in that video every piece of trash had life on it. Some were supporting muscles and others had birds on it. Its like a whole new ecosystem that never existed. Not that I think its a good thing, but there is definitely a silver lining. Some sea life seems to thrive on non-toxic plastic.
    • thesparrowband, on 06/09/2008, -3/+25because we can't see it, therefore we can ignore the problem
    • jcaino, on 06/09/2008, -2/+9we've been waiting for pictures.
      • Tenlow, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3There have been pictures. I've read about this on digg no less than three times in the last two years, each time with pictures. Then a story hit a few days ago without pictures, and everyone forgot about all of the previous stories with pictures.
      • DarkDx, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Pictures? THere's even a video of a bird getting "opened" (I don't remember the exact word right now, sorry) and they found plastic in its friggin stomach.
    • wolferz, on 06/09/2008, -2/+11Because stopping the evil that is Microsoft/Comcast/AT&T is so much more important...
      • corvairkid, on 06/09/2008, -3/+2Because stopping people from pirating music/movies/software is so much more important.
      • Jonno549, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2i think it's all related
    • Langford, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3I suspect that whenever the subject comes up, those involved question who will pay for the removal of the garbage. I doubt they even get far enough to question where they will put it after it's collected.
      • ssmartina, on 06/10/2008, -1/+0Thiiiink about this. Even the research vessel was full of people using plastic on a daily basis despite the best of intentions. Its easy to write about unity and change on a plastic keyboard that you will probably trade in for a new one in a year, but you cant even get to brushing your teeth in the morning without contributing to the problem. We are all intertwined and unless we work together and through systems, we will be divided, swimming upstream.
    • EskNerd, on 06/09/2008, -2/+7Yeah, c'mon people! We need to get to work on this. Only if we combine our efforts can we complete a solid Texas-sized (and preferably Texas-shaped) floating island upon which to found our utopian nation. Next time you think about throwing away that bottle, think again--drive to the beach and throw it angrily into the sea, instead.

      Next year on the island!
    • brooklotzkar, on 06/09/2008, -1/+2because everyone who knows about it is on digg.
      digg users are world renown for doing ***** all about anything and jacking off the large titties. ummm... large titties.
    • LucifersDad, on 06/09/2008, -1/+2because humans have turned into the ostrich people.
      We think that putting our head in the ground the situation will fix itself, but of course we are just going to get ***** in the ass.
    • imeddy, on 06/09/2008, -0/+8Because there is no money to be made.
    • RSTaichi, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2"Tragedy of the Commons"
    • DustinHill, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4That was an amazing documentary. Thank you so much for posting it!
    • diggingaround, on 06/09/2008, -1/+1Just pour some kerosene and light it up... if it can successfully evaporate 100+ Ton of metal airplane, garbage should be a piece of cake...
    • Elliuotatar, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Because even though people care about it, they don't care about it enough. And I don't mean enough to do something about it. I mean enough to make it something politicians need to take seriously. People care far far more about the mortgage crisis and high gas prices than they care about whether or not their kids kids are going to be starving because half the fish species are dead. People only care about immediate problems.
    • vierce, on 06/09/2008, -1/+2I dugg it. My part in this war is done.
    • winampman2, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1It's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so no government wants to spend time and money cleaning it up. Imagine an overflowing garbage can at a party. People just stack their trash on top of the garbage pile and walk away. "Eh.. someone else can clean it up."
  • greytfriend, on 06/08/2008, -3/+22I hate to mention it again, but has anyone read Snow Crash? Reminds of of the raft.
    • Brainmodder, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Have you read The Diamond Age? Reminds me of Neal's short on garbage so light that it stays permanently aloft high up in the stratosphere.
    • Corr0sive, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2YOU. YOU THE BEGINNER OF THIS THREAD. I have head half only half of Snow Crash. I wanted to finish but i for some reason couldn't pick it back up. I got to the part where you figure out that the bikers heart/brain is hardwired into a nuke in his side cart. ***** awesome book. You are now my new Friend on Digg.
    • geehossiphats, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2This was required reading in my Unix scripting class. Kick-ass book!
      • greytfriend, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1SC is one of my favorites ever - a good test if a sci-fi reader is cool, you know? Also try Diamond Age - about a girl (which I happen to be) but still really cool. Lots of nanotech, reminds me of some of my fav digg stories. I had trouble with his newer trilogy, but hope to get into it soon. It's harder because it's historical.

        Brainmodder - is that the one with the boat? He's an ecologist or a guy who writes about pollution, right?

        Corr0sive - try it on audio book. The reading is great and it's fun in the car for getting back and forth to work or a trip.
  • grumpyrain, on 06/09/2008, -34/+27Oceans have been used for as garbage dumps for centuries, which does need to change. But if it truly was the size of Texas, then it would be more visible on google maps than Hawaii.
    • JohnJacob, on 06/09/2008, -1/+14I don't know. Do those satellites scan every inch of the planet or just known land masses? They could save a lot of bandwidth/cost that way.
      • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -1/+6I'm pretty sure that most satellites, at least for geoplanetary exploration, stay on and transmit photos in a continuous stream for the life of the satellite.

        After all, they no longer use film, they transmit digital photos, and turning off transmission does not save bandwidth, it simply wastes bandwidth, as each satellite is most likely on a dedicated frequency, therefore it never "wastes" bandwidth by using all the bandwidth it has. It is not like it can be doing something else with that bandwidth when not transmitting photos.

        Military and spy satellites may only transmit at chosen locations, but that probably has more to do with security than saving bandwidth (a transmitting satellite is easier to detect than one that is silent, and the more data transmitted, the better chance an adversary could figure out how to decode the intercepted data.)
        • JohnJacob, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Far enough. But consider Google who would have to acquire, catalog, and store roughly three times as much image data as they would have to otherwise.
      • Typhoon2009, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Aye. If you zoom in to antarctica... it's not very detailed.
        • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -2/+2it is actually very detailed. The problem is that rectangular photos merged onto sphere tend to generate a lot of distortion at the poles.
        • brownspank, on 06/09/2008, -1/+1You mean Polar Garbage Patch.
      • Mononuclear, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Even if satellites were to try and image this you wouldn't see anything. Can you see fish from satellite images? This isn't a land mass of garbage, it isn't an island of any kind. It's a huge area of ocean with a high concentration of trash floating in it. If you drag a net through the ocean for awhile you will get a net full of garbage same as if you drag a net around a fishing area you get a bunch of fish. The concentration of garbage is much like fish in the ocean. You can see some pieces here and there but it isn't concentrated all in one small spot but spread out over hundreds of miles.
        • shodanx, on 06/09/2008, -7/+2that's just because they lied
          like all eco-activist they use lies to deliver their messages
        • shodanx, on 06/09/2008, -4/+3that's just because they lied
          like all eco-activist they use lies to deliver their messages
    • AnotherBrian, on 06/09/2008, -2/+11Google maps doesn't show images of the ocean surface because it's all the same. The blue part is a depth map from sonar. However, since they know where it is now they could fly some satellites over. This could go a long way to getting it cleaned up.

      On the plus side, having it all in one place would make it a lot easier to go and skim off. Although, I'm not sure how much better it would be for it to be the same patch of garbage in a land fill.
    • toecutter169, on 06/09/2008, -3/+23Did you even watch the other videos or do any looking up to see what the gyre is? it's not an actual ISLAND, it's a concentration of garbage and rubbish that varies in size depending on the ocean currents, etc. Plus, the garbage doesn't all float on top of the water, some of it is up to 3m below the surface. I think they even show maps describing that it can get extra-concentrated (smaller) and absolutely massive (the size of Texas), depending on the currents.
    • nhansen, on 06/09/2008, -5/+8Don't let that pesky word "island" fool you - Oh, and maybe you (and SOOOO many others on digg) should actually read the story, or in this case Watch the video, before making ignoramus comments. Just a thought. Most of the "island" is partially decomposed plastics that make up a sort of jelly floating just below the surface, with the occasional big piece of junk here or there.
    • grumpyrain, on 06/09/2008, -3/+2We are not talking about fish here. Texas is over 700x700 miles, well and truly visible at the default zoom for google maps. We are talking about a garbage "patch" allegedly twice the size of New Zealand but some would claim that you can not see it in a low resolution satellite image of the Northern Pacific?

      Comparisons to an Island were not drawn up by me btw, but if you are going to describe it as a floating island, then get used to people interpreting it as having quite a high.
    • krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -6/+6im agreeing with rain on this one. claiming this is an "island" is ridiculous sensationalism.
      1) after watching the video, it's a just dirty water. there's no island. there's nothing even on the surface (despite the fact that virtually all household plastic floats). yes, it's possible that the density of the surface water is lower than that of the plastic (that's why seaweed can sit 3 feet under), but there should be SOME plastic on the surface.

      2) they do show plenty of jars full of dirty water, and nets full of garbage. however, they NEVER show themselves taking a jar and dipping it in the water, or the entire process of dropping their trawling nets and then lifting them out. with their ridiculous overstatements, i wouldnt be surprised if they had to trawl for that, or the jars were filtered to have more plastic than any random quart of sea water.

      i'm not saying this isn't a problem (it is), but ridiculously sensational descriptions destroy their credibility. this video, from the guys claiming it's an island, is proof that it's not an island.
      • centerblack, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Your comparison is totally illogical. (not trying to be a dick, but it is)

        The ocean is ***** huge. Taking a cup or a jar of water out of that massive volume can't possibly be representative of the average makeup of even 0.1% of the ocean.

        By trawling a given area for an hour and comparing the ratio of plastic and garbage to water and organic matter, they're actually collecting more accurate data. EG: They trawl "normal" waters for an hour, they trawl the gyre for an hour, then they compare the ratio of plastic to sea life.

        If trawling for an hour in normal waters got them 1:10 plastic to garbage, and trawling in the gyre for an hour nets them 60:1 plastic to garbage, there's obviously still something wrong.

        Frankly it ***** scares me that there are people out there who would come to the conclusion you just posted. What you proposed is identical to recommending that political opinion polls take a smaller # of opinions for better or more accurate data.

        Obviously taking a wider sample range is going to reduce noise and error in the data!
        • krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -0/+1i think you read my statement a little too literally. coming up with some data by using a single jar's worth and calling that conclusive is silly and nonsense (i agree with you there). but merely showing what's in the net after trawling is improper as it does not show the trash:water ratio at all. showing a single jar full of plastic junk is not representative of the gyre. taking 1000 random sample jars and formulating a ratio from that is much more scientific.

          they use exaggerations like "island" where there clearly is no island. so forgive me if they just present "shocking" pictures of trash without presenting any scientific basis as towards how much they had to trawl to get that trash.

          once again, i'm not saying that the trash is not a problem... just that this gross overexaggeration is not helping the cause.
    • Reaper2806, on 06/09/2008, -1/+2The "island" or whatever term for all the garbage, mainly sits just below the surface, and can be much more easily spotted from the deck of a boat, than a satelite image.
  • kakapu4u, on 06/09/2008, -2/+157I don't think anyone will do anything about this for a long time because of what the mess has going for it:

    1. Nobody can make money from it.
    2. It's partially somebody else's fault.
    3. It's far away, so most people can just shrug their shoulders and say "That sucks."

    If any of these things change - especially that first one - look out. We'll be back to clean ocean in no time.
    • crapmatic, on 06/09/2008, -1/+16Maybe it will happen if oil gets much more expensive. All those molded petrochemicals just floating around....
      • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -0/+7imagine a floating incinerator hooked up to a floating steam turbine. ;)
    • erhanaltay, on 06/09/2008, -14/+5There is one effective solution. Hold plots of the oceans for auction. Highest bidder has all property rights of the plot they purchase. They will be motivated to clean up their property then.

      Ta-da!
      • Patrickdnj, on 06/09/2008, -4/+8. . . . .fail
      • Risingashes, on 06/09/2008, -2/+2Such a mindset shows a complete lack of understanding about the issue you are talking about, which is public good exploitation.

        Air, and sea share the common feature that, as opposed to land, the damage done to surrounding areas directly effects every neighboring environment which makes prevention of damage extremely costly.

        How much do you think it would cost to 'prevent' the pollution from simply returning? What incentive is there to clean up your 'patch' if it is filled with garbage again by the end of the day?

        This is the reason carbon credits is being considered instead of auctioning off plots of air. As a good will gesture I'm authorising you as the owner of every piece of air currently above your house for 600 miles. Please clean it immediately.
      • DMCer, on 06/09/2008, -1/+3Somebody doesn't understand humor...(I'm looking at you, Risingashes).
    • HHP2K, on 06/09/2008, -2/+5Well, this is Digg. Let's find a way to make money from it. Google? Are you listening?
    • Brainmodder, on 06/09/2008, -1/+2I disagree that nobody could make money from it, I see a way one could profit greatly from all that free thermoplastic...
    • 4d669, on 06/09/2008, -5/+11. whoever figures out how to decompose plastic and somehow get energy from the chemical reaction can make money.
      2. who gives a ***** if it's someone else's fault. It's free fuel.
      3. Look at the little gay map below the video.
    • BlaenkDenum, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Maybe if we found a way to make fuel from garbage, and then somehow there was a garbage shortage...
    • Zlorp, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3actually, it looks like this guy might have figured out how to make money off of it
  • rebelcommander, on 06/09/2008, -15/+54According to my Oceanography professor, most of the garbage in the patch is plastic debris that has been worn down by the sun/water into a sort of plastic oatmeal goop. This layer of plastic floats about 1-3 meters below the surface, which is why it's not visible on satellite photos, however it IS very real!
    Of all the problems in the oceans from overfishing to destruction of reefs, I really doubt this mess of inert plastic trash in the gyre is really a big deal.
    • ifire, on 06/09/2008, -6/+37Except that the particles enter the foodchain and kill other sealife. Plus, plastics tend to degrade into more toxic chemicals.
    • Lukinator, on 06/09/2008, -2/+9Their servers are going to resemble a sort of plastic oatmeal goop when we're finished with them.
    • toecutter169, on 06/09/2008, -1/+10Watch the last or second to last video in the series, where a doctor explains what BPA can do to reproductive systems in animals and humans - that's one of the real dangers of this garbage patch, not to mention the mindset of just chucking stuff into rivers and oceans and thinking 'out of sight, out of mind'
      • serendipitously, on 06/09/2008, -0/+0I agree with what the BPA said but what about a life time exposure to canned food which have plastic linings. All the concern about plastic baby bottles. etc.
    • overtoke, on 06/09/2008, -2/+12It is in no way inert. The only thing that will be inert are the testicles of your great grandchildren if we don't stop toxifying our environment.
    • choppa1890, on 06/09/2008, -2/+11Really? Because the toxic chemicals being absorbed by the plastic, then this small pieces being ingested by fish, which, end up in our dinner tables does seem like a big ***** deal to me... Not to mention the fact that it destroys the ecology in the Pacific.
    • Kzoo, on 06/09/2008, -2/+8To repeat everybody :P, that plastic will break down, physically and chemically. It actually either outmasses or outnumbers plankton at that particle size, which means that plankton eaters are either eating a LOT of plastic (and subsequently everything along the chain above the base/very nearly the base of it), or having to search much, much harder to find actual food.
    • rebelcommander, on 06/11/2008, -0/+1I understand that the chemicals are dangerous, however with the location of the patch it is in a part of the ocean with relatively LOW animal population compared to other upwelling regions where there is high animal populations. All I'm saying is that we need to worry about far greater dangers facing our oceans than some admittedly harmful waste in the center of the Pacific.
  • gplpark92, on 06/09/2008, -6/+3and close up, its wouldn't seem really like a patch, because its not dense enough probably
  • digjam, on 06/09/2008, -16/+2IS this what they are talking about ?
    http://www.viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=202
    • mark076h, on 06/09/2008, -3/+2it's a whole documentary you can watch, i guess you did not look over the link good enough huh?
    • digjam, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2I did and am still watching those documentaries... I am just puzzled what the ***** that pic was about...thats all . dont need to be all wisey!
  • Haoie, on 06/09/2008, -5/+8Now there's a continent I have no plans to visit.
  • blackmesa, on 06/09/2008, -1/+30VBS.tv needs more servers and bandwidth. More I say!
  • mark076h, on 06/09/2008, -0/+25if you are confused it is a whole 12 part documentary you can watch, try this link and on the right it has all 12 parts http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1485308505
    • GangsterCompute, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4The documentary has some good info in it, but spread out over 12 episodes may have made it a little drawn-out, especially since the experts on this voyage were not the documentarians. They don't actually get to the 'trash island' until part 9, if you want to save yourself the intercalary meditations.
  • Andyl194, on 06/09/2008, -0/+9mirror?
  • dustin32, on 06/09/2008, -4/+5Wasn't this front page a couple days ago? I know I saw it somewhere.
    • mark076h, on 06/09/2008, -1/+11stories about this have been on the front page many times but some people claim this is not real, but this is a real documentary about a guy that went out to the middle of the pacific ocean to where this is and has actual footage and all sorts of info about it, this movie proves it is very real.
    • KillerLettuce, on 06/09/2008, -1/+5I submitted this exact same story from this exact same site about a month ago. It only got like 6 Diggs, ain't that a bitch.
  • pedepy, on 06/09/2008, -12/+6didn't know Texas was about the size of a large fish ... (?)
    • TobiasParker, on 06/09/2008, -1/+3What if we sunk this garbage patch to the bottom of the ocean using a similiarly dense object...I GOT IT! Another Garbage patch!
      • pedepy, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2was that the infamous Physics Burn ?
        • TobiasParker, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1apparently it was the famous "I clicked on the incorrect reply button" burn.
      • iMyst, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3No, no, no. Let's just pack it together into a giant ball and send it off into space!
  • teh_techie, on 06/09/2008, -1/+1All I did was click on a video link, and it took down the site. Woops!
  • franlee, on 06/09/2008, -28/+5Americans are selfish. You Americans are responsible for most of the pollution on Earth. Why don't you Americans outlaw plastic bags like China has? Or is it because you americans are so selfish that you don't care what happens to the rest of the world.
    • Typhoon2009, on 06/09/2008, -1/+16Oh shut up. Using your logic, China should be using all hydroelectric and wind and nuclear power, right? And if I'm not mistaken, China actually produces MORE CO2 than the US.
      • Trichomonas, on 06/09/2008, -2/+2Actually China doesn't. There was a really nice interactive CO2 "widget" that let you see how much each country produces at any set amount of time in real time. It was on digg before but I can't seem to find it right now.

        But franlee's statement is wrong on so many levels...
    • ohmysac, on 06/09/2008, -0/+11Plastic makes it possible.
    • Cubedude04, on 06/09/2008, -1/+6Get the hell off digg.
    • Zipko, on 06/09/2008, -1/+6I hate the rest of the world. What we should be doing though to protect the oceans is sending our garbage barges over to Europe and dumping it over there. They're all trash anyway.

      /troll food
    • smacksaw, on 06/09/2008, -0/+9Shouldn't you be in the middle of the ocean, floating around with the rest of the garbage?
    • MaxUSA, on 06/09/2008, -1/+5First of all, "Americans are selfish" is probably not the best statement to start a sentence with if you are trying to get people to agree with you. Why don't we outlaw plastic bags? Excuse me for not having the time nor interest to pursue a career in politics. That's not to say I'm not interested and active in politics, however. I have actually written to my local congressmen about this very issue, but you can't blame a national problem on an individual. Apparently, you don't realize how hard it is, and how much dedication and persistence it takes to get something like that changed on a national scale. Stores ARE now shifting from plastic to paper, as well as offering canvas bags usually for about a dollar, if not for free, but outright outlawing plastic bags with the snap of a finger is pretty unreasonable. We do care; we're not that self-centered, it's just that it takes a massive movement to get things done on a grassroots level here in the States. A change is being made, but it will take time, dedication, and persistence to complete.

      Oh, and finally, here's the obligatory "You sir, are an idiot" comment. You're welcome.
    • aaaantoine, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1At my house we collect a large number of plastic bags each week. The thing is, though, we don't throw most of them out; we turn them in to be recycled. We've picked up some "bring your own bag" grocery bags, which hopefully should reduce the number of plastic bags that come this way.

      Outlawing plastic bags probably wouldn't be a bad idea. But while we're at it, we should consider other sources of consumer garbage. Maybe we should start promoting "bring your own cup" for fast food drinks.
    • OrangeSoda31, on 06/09/2008, -1/+5because we are the only ones who pollute the ocean...

      Did you even watch the videos?
    • j0c1f3r, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1we are all guilty....the US isnt the selfish ones....humans are....the thing about the US is, it can set the example...if the world looks at americans as the bad one....then logically americans doing good would get the rest of the world following suit...because no one wants to hear " OMG were worse than americans"....
  • slightlygifted, on 06/09/2008, -9/+58why cant any of these sites ever just use youtube????
    • Jelly292, on 06/09/2008, -1/+28So they can get ad revenue.
      • mark076h, on 06/09/2008, -0/+8they can just embed the youtube video and get the same revenue and have google/youtube pay for the bandwidth
        • centerblack, on 06/09/2008, -1/+3Not.

          The second post above -5 will be:

          BLOG SPAM
          And say here's a post to the YouTube source! (with a link to a rick-roll)

          and the 15th post above -5 will be an actual link to the YouTube source.
    • Alex64, on 06/09/2008, -4/+8cuz they're idiots
    • Spoonicus, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2IMHO VBS is the best site on all the internets.
    • ahac, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Yea... Diggnation would also be much better on youtube!
    • SasquatchBill, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Because YouTube sucks!

      The quality is terrible, the design is deplorable, and the comments are idiotic... there are plenty of reasons NOT to use YouTube if you can provide rest of the infrastructure to support your videos.
    • InsaneOni, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1Because VBS sent their own crew. They make a lot of their own content and they put it up on their own site. Youtube sucks anyway since the quality is *****.
  • TDPaulson, on 06/09/2008, -7/+3Bahahahah Plastic Trash Bags have become Trash in itself.. So we should clean those up with more Plastic Trash Bags..

    Vicious Cycle
  • pedepy, on 06/09/2008, -3/+4futurama reference, anyone ?
  • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -2/+12I can't wait until someone confuses this with global warming. Lots of people have been tricked into focusing all their environmental activism on Man Made Global Warming, and have forgotten about the more pressing issues facing our health and daily lives: All the chemicals in our air, food and water, and the destruction of valuable farm land, and many other things threaten humans much more than global warming does.
    • wentwj, on 06/09/2008, -1/+6It's not an either/or. You don't have to think global warming is peachy keen to care about garbage in the ocean. Nor do you have to minimize global warming if you care about the other things.
      • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -1/+3But Global Warming has served to distract people who were at one time genuinely concerned about the environment. Others confuse the two issues, as if they are one and the same.

        That's all I'm trying to say.
        • centerblack, on 06/09/2008, -2/+1Obviously global warming is making the problem worse though because the plastic is melting into goop. If we could cool the earth down it would freeze into chunks we could build a road on.
















          /s
    • serendipitously, on 06/09/2008, -0/+0True, and there are a lot of things that aren't man made that are dangerous too.

      But what of the sunlight that is trapped. (depending on the prevalence, scale etc of this type of phenomenon & it's veracity) This could contribute slightly to global warming.
  • drakenlot, on 06/09/2008, -1/+53Man, this ruined my week even before it started.

    http://www.celsias.com/blog/images/sea-turtle-plas ...
    • cr250guy, on 06/09/2008, -1/+13That is absolutely terrible, but it is also a credit to the will of life to survive such a disfiguring injury.
    • Technohamster, on 06/09/2008, -13/+1Looks like photoshop.
    • Kzoo, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Oh I knew I shouldn't have clicked. That's why I cut all that kind of plastic before I put it -anywhere- (good habit, even if it's intended to be recycled).

      Reminds me of what I've read about girdles, but to the extreme; not entirely a surprise it could live like that (so long as one doesn't eat bulky food, which sea turtles generally don't), but. . . there's no words for it.
    • suzywang3000, on 06/09/2008, -3/+1worst turtle ever
    • Envenom, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1This makes me feel terrible.
  • dh122, on 06/09/2008, -2/+10Episode 1 on youtube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CVRFzLoEY
  • tikited, on 06/09/2008, -8/+2So that is where my porn was, darn.
  • slightlygifted, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2
    • mark076h, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1just for part 1, it has 12 parts to it
  • Mononuclear, on 06/09/2008, -3/+17There has been video and picture of this for a long time. No one posts the video or pictures of it though because there is nothing exciting to see. It wouldn't get headlines because once you actually see it, it doesn't look bad at all. It hurts the cause because it is a serious issue but from pictures and video you just see a few pieces of plastic floating around. It's a bunch of debris in the water spaced out over a very large area. Discovery Channel or National Geographic had a documentary and showed footage of it. You can see some trash floating around here and there but it isn't a giant pile of garbage all in one spot.
    • NeonDistraction, on 06/09/2008, -0/+11Then maybe they shouldn't use phrases like "continent of garbage" or "texas-sized island of plastic" to shock everyone into being concerned. I don't doubt for a second that this has serious environmental implications, but when you say things like "giant floating island of garbage", that is exactly what I expect to see. So when there are no pictures to be found of said island, the rational mind tends to cry shenanigans.
      • Mononuclear, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1I am not defending the misleading headlines at all. I think they are retarded. I was simply explaining why no one actually posts real photos of this. They are extremely underwhelming.

        Yes it is real, there is a huge area where garbage collects because of currents. No, it isn't a continent or island or any other mass. You can't see it from space because it looks like normal ocean with a few pieces of trash. Satellites don't pick up pieces of trash or schools of fish. If you drag a giant net around for awhile through it you will get a lot of garbage but the same is true for fish.. no one claims there is a giant island or continent of fish.
        • ColorBlind, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1Then someone should go drag a net around for awhile and bring all the trash back to the mainland so we can dispose of it in a more human manner.
  • Pinkertinkle, on 06/09/2008, -7/+30"no one seemed to have a picture of the buildup."

    So why didn't you just post a damn picture of the garbage patch instead of making us watch your damn videos.
    • pauleric, on 06/09/2008, -2/+11What!?! You don't think it's highly informative to see a scrawny kid saying ***** this, ***** that and feeling seasick?
  • Introversion, on 06/09/2008, -2/+11http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CVRFzLoEY
    Loads LOTS faster

  • barrakuda, on 06/09/2008, -6/+3Anyone else think this was going to be a link to a picture of a guido in a swimming pool?
  • FattJesus, on 06/09/2008, -4/+6We need to start launching garbage into the sun, or something.
  • orvl, on 06/09/2008, -2/+2why doesn't anyone have a mirror of part 2?!?!?!?!?

    GAAAAHHHHH!!!!
  • gfxluvr, on 06/09/2008, -2/+3Would love to watch, but seems if the site got nailed by the Digg effect.

    I watched part 1 on Youtube, and just as it got good, it was over.
  • tikited, on 06/09/2008, -3/+1There is nuclear waste also in the Atlantic ocean.
  • AZTriGuy, on 06/09/2008, -9/+4Anyone able to find it in Google Maps / Earth? If it's "the size of Texas" I would think you could see it pretty clearly...
    • DekarCorvus, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2the plastic floats 1-3 meters below the surface...

      Buried for not reading before posting.
  • sonicularulus, on 06/09/2008, -8/+2"pics or it didn't happen..."

    stupid pictures...
  • rorster, on 06/09/2008, -2/+1Maybe Spiral Island was a bad idea after all. Maybe sailing out on the SS Junk wasn't such a good idea either.
  • Reston, on 06/09/2008, -9/+3While some of the stuff seems true, nothing in the ocean stays in one place, nothing. Their science says plastics dont degrade, so why isnt it visable from satellitte? Organic material floats below the surface, like driftwood. but plastic sits on top. Also apparently my boat is the only think that Ocean water does eat because I need to fight off decay on my plastic parts and seals monthly.
    • PhilLesh69, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Nothing in the ocean stays in one place? I shouldn't even have to mention the Great Barrier Reef, or any other coral reef that seems to stay put for thousands of years.

      How about the Sargasso Sea?

      Nobody says that plastic does not degrade. Everything degrades. Nothing man made or natural does not decay, over time. Plastic might take dozens or hundreds of years to fully decompose, but it still decomposes.

      Organic material can float above or below the surface. There is no law of physics requiring it to float below the surface, exclusively. Plastic can also float above or below the surface. The plastic garbage bags you get from the grocery store do not have a significant amount of buoyancy, and can float several meters below the surface, or even sink all the way to the bottom in certain circumstances.

      Balsa wood will float above the surface. They used to make boats out of wood. Those boats were not submarines.

      Salt water corrodes lots of things. Especially steel and iron.
    • Kzoo, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Ocean currents are such that if you hit the right combination, things will collect. Brings to mind the "horse latitudes," where early sailors would get caught with no wind or current to help them along. It's not like a giant hand scooping them together in a mass though. The pieces of garbage would have to come in contact with each other by chance and happen to catch on to each other to start a patch like we all think of when this is mentioned.

      And plastic does degrade, it just takes a long time (also happens differently in the ocean than in a landfill). Even then it's not gone, it's in teeny little pieces that teeny little animals can eat.
    • DekarCorvus, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1you fail at life...

      most garbage floats a few meters under the water...
      the fast moving waves and ripples in the water prevent most of the decomposing plastics to stay above water...
  • randomchar, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Reason for garbage patch:
    http://i-eclectica.org/wordpress/wp-content/my%20i ...
  • johnlancia, on 06/09/2008, -5/+2This maddness must end!!1!! Won't somebody think of the children???1??
  • goodposter, on 06/09/2008, -12/+4I Don't Give A *****.
  • BigMacMcChicken, on 06/09/2008, -8/+2I see videos of Oakland all the time. Buried....
  • ComstockGordon, on 06/09/2008, -1/+15A few years ago the government of California and a few other states actually defeated a bill that would have banned bisphenol A, even though they knew the health risks. Meanwhile, places like Canada have already banned it because it is toxic. Mighty fine government you have there, Cali. http://www.bisphenol-a.org/whatsNew/20060412.html
    • centerblack, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Don't worry, we're working on it by cutting education funding.
  • Seaton, on 06/09/2008, -10/+4Well, I read this sentence from a "correspondent" on their "blog" and the article pretty much lost all credibility.
    "Before this trip, I was never all that crazy about the ocean. I’ve always appreciated the fact that it generates the majority of the world’s oxygen and keeps us nice and far from places like Britain..."

    Wow, thanks for the update, but you are no Walter Cronkite. This is the most sensationalistic piece of ***** media I have ever watched. The reason there are no pictures of the "Trash island the size of Texas" is because it does not exist. If you cruise out to any body of water, you find trash floating in lines. Some of it is plastic, driftwood is also trash, but because it is "pretty" and "artistic", people pick it up and sell it for art.

    When watching the YouTube video, nobody takes in to account that they are cruising around on a plastic (fiberglass) catamaran sailboat, drinking out of plastic bottles. Do you really think people on a two week sailing excursion keep all their trash onboard? Do you really think their 30 gallon holding tank held all their "waste" until they returned to port to pump it out? Especially the douchebag with the glasses, he was seasick, so I'm sure it was coming out of both ends. I'll bet the owner of the boat never told them where the poop goes when they flush the toilet. The VBS crew was also too stupid to figure this out.
    • Kzoo, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1Driftwood is natural trash. It's been in the ocean since trees started growing on the beach. Feces are also natural trash. Other organisms (mainly phyto- and zoo- plankton in this part of the ocean) will get the benefit of the nutrients in them. The paper is a separate issue, but you didn't mention that. Then again, it's not very difficult to degrade paper. These examples don't really compare to plastic.
      • Seaton, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Since feces in the water is so natural, beaches should not have to be closed when a high percentage of it exists in the water.

        I still have seen no pictures of a "Trash island the size of Texas" because again, it does not exist. Yes, I agree the plastic in the water is not beneficial, but this is sensationalist ***** journalism.

  • goalie3773, on 06/09/2008, -2/+8If you go a bit farther into the site, you'll find a picture of a turtle with a plastic ring which disrupted it's growth, very depressing.
    http://www.celsias.com/blog/images/sea-turtle-plas ...
    What are we doing to our world?
    • mordea, on 06/09/2008, -5/+4Sea turtle?! But I don't see any flippers! That's because it's a common snapping turtle; it lives in freshwater environments and was surely not affected by the "pacific garbage patch"! That poor turtle's mishap (misshape?) was caused by some sort of a ring found in a river or a lake. Total *****, obviously.
    • datastorageguy, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1The most dangerous predator the world has ever seen is bound to cause a little mayhem.
  • drommer, on 06/09/2008, -0/+6VBS.tv is Vice magazine's own webTV effort, meaning that all the content you see there is their own content and is exclusive. That's why they only put the first part on youtube, so you want to check out the other parts on their website. It just seems they didn't prepare for the digg hit :)
  • robsonde, on 06/09/2008, -0/+14what we need to do is get funding from bill gates or some such.
    then make a X-prize type thing out of it.

    make a solar powered robot boat and it can spend a year or three doing laps around the area filtering the crap out.

    25 MIT students and a few million dollers from a rich dude = no problem

    for the cost of finding ice on mars we could sort this problem.
  • waldo21, on 06/09/2008, -2/+9The language is NSFW... Well in most offices anyway... So if your at work turn the speakers down, or put in your headphones before you blast your co-workers with the fbomb about every 10 seconds.
    • SuperCujo, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1*****, it isn't offensive at all.
      • waldo21, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1Well then.... go get all the hr departments to agree to that....

    • kristoaster, on 06/09/2008, -0/+1It adds emphasis, the state of the sea is more offensive. And why is it a bomb? It's just a word :(
  • loveandrockets, on 06/09/2008, -3/+49*****' Hell. The narrator ***** swears more than I do. *****.
    • marnaq, on 06/09/2008, -1/+1*****.
    • chenley1, on 06/09/2008, -1/+3I cuss like a sailor, but I feel like he takes away from the seriousness of the point by saying "*****" every ten minutes.
      -C
  • Elliottx, on 06/09/2008, -5/+2It's.......beeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaauuuutiful.......
  • DeFex, on 06/09/2008, -2/+33wal mart could scoop it up and put it back on their shelves.
  • devila2208, on 06/09/2008, -0/+5FTA: "I had assumed (completely without any basis in research or common sense) that there was some contiguous mass of concentrated garbage the captain was steering us toward, but (sadly?) this was not the case."

    I was thinking the same thing :-/
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 101 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.