You want some ocean with that plastic?

The word "ocean" sounds closer and closer to "oooohhh.... sheeaat".

A friend just sent me a link to this article from Discover Magazine on the big plastic blob in the Pacific. It is called the East Pacific Garbage Patch. Bits of debris -- mostly plastic -- get swirled together from the ocean currents to create a concentrated plastic soup. It's big: possibly one and a half times the size of the United States and 100 feet deep. Like a monster, it changes shape and size depending on the season and ocean currents.

Remember that scene from The Graduate, where the guy says, "Plastics! They're the future!" So right, Mrs. Robinson. There are lots of ideas on how to "fix" this problem -- scoop it up! burn it! smoosh it together into an island! ignore it! But that's just dealing with the monster. We have to deal with the source of the monster: us.

Fishing for answers.

[photo = Madagascar, 2004]