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Comment by rmorrison | Hacker News Reader

It seems a shame to me that nowadays "protecting the environment" is virtually synonymous with "curbing CO2 emissions", which means that serious issues like ocean pollution get very little attention.

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We have serious problems to fix: like the pile of garbage the size of Texas that is sitting in the middle of our ocean.

I couldn't find a good article, and I am petty sure the wiki-has some incorrect data displayed, but I'll leave it to the curious to research =p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

There is an excellent video of reporters from VBS.TV going out with a researcher to visit this place. Very well worth watching despite its length:

http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/toxic-garbage-island-1-of-3--4

Uhhh. Calling it Garbage Island can only hurt that case. There is no large continuos plastic island the size of Texas (or smaller) in the Pacific.

That doesn’t make the problem any smaller. Microscopic pieces of plastic entering the food chain is not what you would want.

For more meat and less blah (1988): http://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/TM/SWFSC/NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWF...

This one is a bit fresher (2001), if not quite as extensive: ftp://ftp.sccwrp.org/pub/download/DOCUMENTS/AnnualReports/1999AnnualReport/10_ar11.pdf

PS, don’t wash your face http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19481226 :)

If you read that article it says that the patch being the size of Texas is conjecture by the media.

Don't worry, just wait a couple of years and it'll be the size of Texas.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-...

Totally agree! Mercury and other heavy metals make it potentially dangerous to eat much fish anymore.

Not that coal is the source of all of our ills, but I have read that to elevated levels of mercury pervading the environment are primarily from coal plant stack emissions. Given this, I wonder why it isn't a diplomatic issue between, say, Japan and the US or Japan and China?

It is. Reducing China's dependency on Coal is a huge priority for both China and the international community. It was a big point of discussion during last year's talks at Copenhagen.

Eat young fish. Typically, in a given body of water, mercury level in a fish is directly proportional to its age. Avoid, if you like, large fish (e.g. tuna, marlin, swordfish, shark) and small fish which take a long time to mature (orange roughy, grouper, etc), but don't be afraid of all seafood.

Coincidentally, eating small fish is much better for the marine ecosystem as well. They are much more difficult to overfish (not that humans haven't figured out how).

More info on mercury levels in seafood: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformati...

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