Why 19-Year Old’s Ocean Clean Up Array is Getting Dissed by Environmentalists
When 19-year-old Boyan Slat told the world he had developed an ocean clean up array, the news went absolutely viral.
He claimed that more than 7 tons of plastic could be cleaned from the world’s oceans in a few years. This idea from the CEO of The Ocean Clean Up is certainly thought-provoking, but it isn’t without its detractors. Considering that no one knows exactly how dire the plastic problem truly is, we can trust in an underwhelming estimate that roughly 15-40 percent of all plastics we make end up in our oceans. Scientists still don’t know where more than 99% of ocean plastic debris ends up either, but it is killing ocean life and choking our ecosystems in ways that are mind-numbing. It is noble that a nineteen-year-old would feel more angst over the plastic trash accumulating in our oceans than most would feel over finding a girlfriend, but some say that Slat’s device won’t help matters. Rather, they might make them worse. He is accused of fundamentally misunderstanding marine plastics, and worse, according to some, his invention is “going to damage and kill marine life.” The primary arguments are that: Though the Clean Up Array is a wonderful idea for a wicked problem, it is likely insufficient for addressing the issue at its core. Until we get our consumerist, wasteful, petroleum habit in check, the world’s oceans wont be safe – even with genius technology like Boyan Slat’s. .
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References:
- http://www.theoceancleanup.com/
- http://www.boyanslat.com/
- http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2015/02/here-s-how-much-plastic-enters-ocean-each-year
- http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/06/ninety-nine-percent-oceans-plastic-missing
- http://discardstudies.com/2015/06/05/how-the-ocean-clean-up-array-fundamentally-misunderstands-marine-plastics-and-causes-harm/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_gyre
- http://www.5gyres.org/
- http://inhabitat.com/the-fallacy-of-cleaning-the-gyres-of-plastic-with-a-floating-ocean-cleanup-array/
- http://www.nationofchange.org/50-percent-our-oil-habit-makes-plastics-hemp-can-curb-our-addiction-1393253982
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_time
