A retired oceanographer has created a website dedicated to the Friendly Floatees which has an interactive map for sights of them. People have been sending him pictures of rubber duckies that they believe belong to the patch lost almost 20 years ago. What it truly amazing about the location of these duckies is their ability to help us better understand the North Pacific Gyre. The gyre stretches between Japan, southeast Alaska, Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands. They have helped scientists determine just how long it takes for the circuit to be completed. 3 years the friendly floatees have determined!
But something more concerning that is the rubber duckies have brought up is the issue of garbage dumped into the ocean. The North Pacific Gyre is also home to the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. This patch is a large, floating pile of garbage the gyre accumulates and manages to stir. This patch consists mostly of various plastic debris, however, not quiet as cute as our friendly floatees. These rubber duckies have brought attention to a very grim situation that we as humanity has managed to get ourselves into. Globally there are 11 major gyres which could all potentially be sites for these large patches of floating trash that have an unknown impact on our aquatic life. If the friendly floatees can really teach us something its how durable plastic really is and that it is a global issue.
As cute as the rubber duckies are they can really teach us something about ourselves and the state of our planet. Years and years of producing and discarding plastic objects without much regard for their impacts is starting to show. The duckies are a strong motivator to reconsider the plastic items many of us still decide to throw away instead of recycling. If these giant patches of garbage were in your frontyard it would be unacceptable so why is it okay for the ocean and its inhabitants to deal with our wasteful ways? If we don't want our garbage I am sure they don't want it either.
This is a great and fun way to get more information out about the global garbage issue.
ReplyDeleteThe North Pacific Garbage Patch truly is a massive floating island of garbage. 80% of its composition is plastic material and it is estimated to weigh over 3.5 million tons. Although recycling and other green practices have become integral to modern human society, the recycling of plastics is still less than 5% worldwide. So if we are generating large quantities of garbage, and are failing to recycle the majority of it, especially plastics, where does it all go? The answer, into the world’s water sources, namely the oceans. For centuries humanity was able to produce and take care of their garbage, in recent times however lack of space, lack of funds and in some cases lack of responsibility has left garbage to free float through our oceans, and that is having negative effects on the oceanic ecosystems.So where do we go from here? Are there even any solutions to this quite literally huge garbage problem?
The only thing is that this issue is way more complex than the rubber duckies are making it out to be. However I think they are having an impact on non-science based people and finding a medium to draw interest is essential in allowing for greater understanding. In fact rubber duckies are being used in many different scientific studies in recent times.
Great post Rylea! I thought this was a very interesting topic to bring up. I personally do not know very much about the gyre but I think that this is a great way to open up the eyes of people like me, who are unfamiliar with the subject. I think it is important that more attention is brought to this problem and that hopefully through the publication of events, such as the re-discovery of the rubber ducks, there will be a greater global awareness.
ReplyDeleteHi Rylea
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. Who would have thought that rubber duckies could be used to collect scientific data?
I must echo Sarah and ask: Is anything being done to get rid of these gyres? Are any organizations or countries stepping up?
Rylea, I loved this post. I've seen a few documentaries on the North Pacific Garbage Patch and it's really astounding. I feel like people don't really understand the magnitude of the problem - it goes so far beyond our landfills. The rubber duckies are a super interesting way to get your overall message across!
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