Comments on: The ‘Plastiki’ Expedition https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/ Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:46:25 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Marin - www.YourGardenShow.com - https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515854 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:46:25 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515854 hey greg,

it has both sails and an outboard motor, for less windy of times. it also has solar panels and two recumbent bicycles to power their laptops and electronics (thus how they will stay in contact through tweets and facebook).

*lightbulb*, just imagine if you had to power your internet by excersize…put wii to shame, it would.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515853 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:03:36 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515853 Marin, do you happen to know if there is going to be a follow boat of some kind or are they sailing alone? Also, they will need power (beyond wind) to get to the gyre. By definition (more or less) there isn’t much wind there. Thug the gyre. And the garbage. They’ll have to sail for hundreds of miles through a pretty wind-free zone.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515852 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:57:07 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515852 Murf and Jit, shame on both of you for being dumbasses about this. Are you trying to help or to hurt? Is your world view really so one dimensional that you can’t handle one order of complexity beyond “Arrr that’s baddddd” vs. “Ooooh, that’s goood” because if you really are interested in saving the planet you are going to have to get beyond this. Seriously.

]]> By: Marin - www.YourGardenShow.com - https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515851 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:54:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515851 in any case, it was great to be there at their launch, and to feel an energized crowd.

we were also hyped with their edible garden, which will provide them leafy greens throughout their voyage. if you guys are interested in seeing this engineering feat check out http://www.yourgardenshow.com/latest. it’s pretty unbelievable…

]]> By: jitpleecheep https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515850 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:14:25 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515850 “Also, I know of no peer reviewed replicated research that clearly indicates that ingestion of plastic bits actually kills seabird chicks.”
So, in your opinion, you’d have to feed a few thousand birds to death to proove this, yes?
Sorry, when exactly was inductive reasoning expelled from the sciences? You might have a look at chrisjordan.com. You might find more on the intertubes. If you’d care for looking.
There’s a difference between science and ignoring the obvious.

]]> By: Murfomurf https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515849 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:41:44 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515849 Although you might not have a photo of any great Pacific garbage patches, I’m inclined to believe there must be some out there. The tiny private island of Niihua (part of Hawaii) has a beach with a constant garbage problem. It’s difficult to believe that the garbage problem is small or insignificant if such a tiny place cops so much of it: See: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Niihau-Trash-Beach.jpg for instance.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515848 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:42:46 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515848 I’ve not see Whale Wars yet.

]]> By: José https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515847 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:40:34 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515847 On the subject of backfiring environmental stunts, have you ever watched Whale Wars? I never thought someone could make me root for whalers, but they somehow managed.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515846 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:17:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515846 Miriam, yes, I know … I’m just trying to not say anything about this myself, rather, I’m baiting you to chime in because you actually know what you are talking about. (I have not heard of any Woods Hole work on this, perhaps there is something? Probably not.)

What is sad/funny about this is that Kon Tiki sank or broke the first five or six times it was launched. IIRC the vessel was not good in the surf. They finally towed it a few miles out and set it free there, and it was then able to sail for some distance until running into more surf!

]]> By: Miriam https://gregladen.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515845 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:40:32 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/03/13/the-plastiki-expedition/#comment-515845 João Carlos and Greg – it was actually a Scripps Institution of Oceanography cruise (SEAPLEX), not a Woods Hole cruise. That’s like mixing up the Red Sox & the Yankees. 🙂 To find out more about SEAPLEX, check out our blog, which is linked under my name. We will post updates as our results are published.

There definitely is a lot of plastic out there, but most of it is very small and invisible to the unassisted eye. I agree that the photos in the video are confusing. The photo of the swirling plankton/plastic is clearly a concentrated sample in a jar, not what the plastic/plankton looks like in the ocean. The photos of piles of trash are from coastal areas. While out there this August, we did not observe a visible floating garbage dump. For photos & more info, see our blog FAQ – seaplexscience.com/faq.

I wish Plastiki well, but they are not actually going to the center of the Eastern Garbage Patch. That is because the definition of a subtropical gyre (all 5 of them) is that there is little to no wind. This is the Horse Latitudes/Doldrums of yore. They probably cannot go there under sail power. Judging from their map (which also has San Diego floating in the ocean!), they are actually riding the trade winds west to Hawaii. They might be skimming the edge of the high pressure zone – I’m not sure.

For the best and most accurate information, check out the excellent NOAA Marine Debris program’s FAQs.

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