Digital Railroad member Peter Bennett in Long Beach CA has a front row view of the latest event to highlight the growing problem of pollution in the world's oceans.
© Peter Bennett/CaliforniaStockPhoto.com / drr.net
A raft made entirely of, and named, "Junk" will be setting out this weekend to sail from Long Beach to Hawaii. Floating on pontoons made from 15,000 plastic bottles culled from trash and recyclers, the trip is meant to call attention to the "plastic soup" and "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- a huge field of trash and debris in the Pacific. See the project blog and background here: http://junkraft.blogspot.com/
As Peter notes: "The big misconception about the marine debris is that is a big garbage dump; it’s actually a soup of flotsam, more macro particles of plastic and other marine debris. The reason I get technical about this is that I have heard more than once frustration at not being able to find photos of it. It’s actually impossible to photograph from above because the particles are so small and spread out. Size estimates vary from an area equivalent to the state of Texas to double that of the continental United States."
Peter has been covering the genesis and progress of the project, and will be there for the launch on Sunday and four days of sailing until the raft is clear of the shipping lanes and into favorable winds. Check out his images from the project in his Archive here: http://www.digitalrailroad.net/californiastockphoto/my/glbs.aspx?msid=789&lid=16670894&e=0&p=0
