The discoveryWhile returning to California after competing in a Los Angeles to Hawaii sailing race in 1997, Captain Charles Moore and his crew saw small traces of waste floating in the middle of the ocean, one of the last places anyone would expect to find plastic.
In discovering the Great Pacific Gyre, Moore was lost for words. "I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic. It seemed unbelievable, but I never found a clear spot. In the week it took to cross the subtropical high, no matter what time of day I looked, plastic debris was floating everywhere: bottle, bottle caps, wrappers, fragments" said Charles Moore. (Moore, C 1997 in Mindfully, 2009) He also stated that the word 'patch' doesn't nearly begin to explain the reality of its appearance. After returning from the expedition, he began writing articles that would be published to the world about his findings and how we can stop this problem from occurring. He also wrote about the extent of the garbage and what it will do to marine life. Moore's interest in marine life and debris didn't begin after discovering the Garage Patch. Since his early childhood he'd had a passion for sailing the oceans, but after discovering the Garbage Patch he was motivated to raise public awareness about plastic pollutants in the world's oceans. Because of this, Charles Moore founded his own research foundation in Long Beach, California that is known as the Algalita Marine research Foundation. In 2008 the foundation organised a JUNK RAFT project to raise awareness about plastic waste that is in our oceans. On 15,000 empty 2 litre plastic bottles members of the Foundation sailed 2,600 miles (4,200 km) from Los Angeles to Hawaii documenting their findings and evidence of the plastic pollution in the North Pacific Gyre. The journey took 88 days without a motor, relying on gyre currents and wind movement. To find out more about Moore's discovery and expeditions of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, click here. |
Charles Moore who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Source: http://pravaha.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/charles-moore.jpg A water sample from the Garbage Patch containing more plastic than ocean life. Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/ multimedia/archive/01391/drowning-in-plasti_1391171c.jpg |