We will tell about a lot of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Imagine a mass of floating waste two times the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than six hundred and seventy-eight thousand square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.
The waste includes bags, bottles and containers. Plastic products of all kinds -- even shoes. There also are lots and lots of extremely small pieces of plastic.
All together, this mass of waste floating in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about three million, five hundred thousand tons.
VOICE ONE: The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about one thousand six hundred kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The two patches of waste are connected together in the shape of a dog bone -- a really big bone about nine thousand kilometers long.
The waters surrounding the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch are known as the North Pacific Gyre. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert, with light winds and slow moving water currents. Slow enough that garbage from all over the world collects there.
Experts say the garbage gets trapped in the currents for years before being pushed out. Some of the trash finds its way to coastal areas around the world.
VOICE TWO: In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. America's Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about one hundred thousand sea animals die each year as a result of the plastic waste. An estimated one million sea birds are also affected.
Scientists say thousands of the animals get trapped in the floating waste, resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The plastic can block air passages. The trash can also make the animal feel full, lessening its desire to eat or drink.
The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection and disease from polluted waste, and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic, and it can get caught up in boating equipment. The plastic also releases chemicals into the water. Some of the chemicals are harmful to both humans and animals.
VOICE ONE: The existence of the North Pacific Garbage Patch first gained public attention in nineteen ninety-seven. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event.
Five years earlier, another oceanographer learned of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
Charles Moore and his team at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation have spent ten years studying plastic waste and testing water from the ocean. Their studies found up six times more plastic in the water than zooplankton, the small organisms normally found floating near the ocean's surface. They have also found small pieces of plastic inside the stomachs of fish like mahi-mahi.
VOICE TWO: Last month, a team from the University of California at San Diego became the latest group to travel to the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. The team of students and research volunteers set off on a three-week boat trip to examine the area.
They were shocked by the amount of waste they saw. They gathered hundreds of sea creatures and water samples to measure the garbage patch's effect on ocean environment. There were small pieces of plastic in every sample.
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by June Simms and Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Caty Weaver. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember. VOICE TWO: And I'm Doug Johnson. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
