Lets Travel!!

Want to go on a vacation?

 

 

 

et away? Would you like to see some marine animals? Want to have some fun?

Do you want to go on a trip where the water is all different colors?

                              

 Do you want to travel to place where the fish are swimming and the sea animals are pretty friendly? Would you like to travel to a place where every fish has its own home that you can actually see?   

So come on lets travel together down to TRASH ISLAND!!!!!

Now you must be asking yourself what is Trash Island. Well maybe you know it by its another name " The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or maybe " Eastern Garbage Patch". Well let me explain to you exactly what this island is. Trash Island is a particular spot in the ocean where garbage such as bottles, cans, and plastic bags come to hang out. The plastic is in many shapes, sizes, and colors so it makes the island look different ways as it floats around. No one knows the exact size of the island but it is constantly growing with the new current that is very strong bringing in more trash.

Components of Trash Island

90% of the trash that floats and calls this place home is plastic.

80% of the trash comes from land

20% comes from the boats and ships
Most of the plastic consist of items like water bottles, cups, bottle caps, plastic bags, and fishing netting.
But do not think for one second it is just big trash, most of the plastic trash consist of pellets that come from the excess waste of making plastic materials.

The Impact of Trash Island

You may be asking yourself well "How does this affect anything, its just trash?"

Well yes this is trash but not newspapers and magazines that will melt in water but plastic that has chemicals in it that are harmful. The chemicals contaminate the ocean water that the plants and animals feast on. Those chemicals then are apart of those animals and we as top of the food chain happen to eat them and then the chemicals are in us. Health problems then begin to rise.

Researchers have studied the island and have come to conclusions that there is just to much trash to clean in such a large area and that with this trash being plastic it wont melt and should last well into the future. 

To learn more about the World's Trash Islands visit those sites below.

http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/trashislands.htm
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/16/vbs.toxic.garbage.island/index.html


DON'T FORGET TO RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE.