The 20-Year-Old Who Plans to Remove All Plastic from the Ocean. Boyan Slat is a an inspiring young man on a big mission, to remove all plastic from the ocean, and he has no plans of slowing down until his mission is complete.
No, he’s not some superhuman 20-year-old wunderkind who magically found a potential fix to a major Global Crisis. He’s simply a shining example of personal dedication, conservation of resources, hard-work and trial and error. Slat says, “But that’s what science is really, it’s a work in progress.” The Ingenious Plan for the Ocean to Clean Itself Is Led By a 20-Year-Old. The world's first ocean cleaning system will be deployed in 2016. There are five gigantic patches of swirling plastic throughout the Earth's oceans, known as gyres.
Because of ocean currents, a great majority of the plastic that ends up in the oceans finds its way into these garbage patches, poisoning marine life and ending up in the food supply of the planet. Toxic chemicals like PCBs and DDTs are absorbed by the plastic and cause diseases like cancer, malformation and impaired reproductive ability. That the plastic lands in these rotating patches is a double edged sword. It is horrible, yes, and causes a multitude of problems, but it also localizes the pollutants and gives us a place to start when cleaning up. It's estimated that 1/3rd of the world's oceanic plastic pollution is within the great Pacific Garbage Patch (number 01 on the map above). One young man saw the problem early in his life. The Ocean Cleanup, developing technologies to extract, prevent and intercept plastic pollution. 19-Year-Old's Ocean Cleanup Array Could Clean Half the Pacific Garbage Patch in 10 Years, Study Shows.
Last year we reported on teenage inventor Boyan Slat’s plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic waste from the world’s oceans.
His proposal for an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms received a lot of criticism – but now, just over a year later, Boyan is back with the results of a year-long investigation that shows his invention does offer a feasible method to rid the world’s oceans of plastic pollution. A Brilliant 20-Year-Old Built This Spacecraft-Looking Machine to Clean Up Earth's Oceans. Boyan Slat is not a typical 20-year-old.
After the Dutch native went on a diving trip in Greece where he saw more plastic than marine life, he resolved to do something about it. In 2016, The Ocean Cleanup, the company Slat founded, will be deploying the world's first ever system to passively clean the Earth's oceans on a large scale. Rather than actively collecting garbage, the unique approach uses the ocean's natural currents to steer the debris, where it can then be collected into solid floating barriers. The system is superior to nets, which also ensnare wildlife. If all goes as planned, the collected garbage can be recycled, with costs going to offset the cleanup. Take Action: Plastic Doesn't Belong in the Ocean - Ocean Conservancy.
Ocean Classroom. Join us Saturday May 2nd at these locations or contact us to suggest others.
Doing a cleanup elsewhere in Maine? Contact us about joining the celebration! Info@oceanclassroom.org May 2, 2015 8:30 - 9:30am - Check in (locations below) 9:30 - 11:30am - Community Cleanup 12:00 - 2:00pm - FREE BBQ We're collaborating with the City of Portland, Maine and several schools and organizations in Portland to do a citywide cleanup of the accumulated debris and garbage. There will be check in spots around the city on May 2nd from 8:30am to 9:30am for bags, gloves and assignments. Aurora Provisions (64 Pine St) PelotonLabs (795 Congress St) Shalom House (across from Seadog Stadium) SailMaine (near Portland Yacht Services @58 Fore Street) Clarion Hotel (1230 Congress Street) Baxter Woods (Stevens Avenue Entrance) Portland Maine Farmers' Market (Deering Oaks Park) Reiche Community School (166 Brackett St) Rosemont Market and Bakery (580 Brighton) Coffee by Design (1 Diamond Street) Rozalia Project. Beat the Microbead - Beat the Microbead.
Young humpback whale freed from crab fishing lines. SAN JOSE, Calif. — The passengers on the Point Sur Clipper had spent the morning of April 27 whale watching in Monterey Bay.
At first, they didn’t notice anything wrong when they spotted the humpback. But unlike the other whales, the 25-foot-long young adult stuck near the surface. It didn’t dive down to feast on the blooms of krill that attract humpbacks to the bay. “It wouldn’t fluke up,” said Nancy Black, a marine biologist on board the ship that day.
She was referring to the tail flip that humpbacks display before diving to feed. Black called the U.S. Passing Through Tricky Waters Centuries of whaling had nearly killed off the whale population. Most crab pots are removed from the water in the winter, after the largest crabs are taken, said Pete Kalvass, a marine biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Humpback Gets GPS Tracking Tag Black called the Coast Guard that Sunday. By now the seas were churning. Fearing for their safety, the crew turned back. Ingenious 19-year-old Develops Plan to Clean up Oceans in 5 Years. Image Credit / boyanslat.com By: Amanda Froelich, True Activist.
With millions of tons of garbage dumped into the oceans annually and repeat incidence of oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, it’s the Ocean which has taken the brunt of unsustainable methods from man. In effect, it’s estimated almost 100,000 marine animals are killed due to debris entanglement and continually rising pollution. To a degree, individual lessening of consumerism and utilizing sustainable methods to re-use and eliminate waste is very beneficial. Slat’s idea consists of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms that could be dispatched to garbage patches around the world. Economically, the Ocean Array Project also rises to the top due to its sustainable construct; it’s completely self-supportive, by receiving energy from the sun, currents, and waves. To find out more about the project and to contribute, click here.
Sources: Boyan Slat. How We Showed the Oceans Could Clean Themselves - Boyan Slat on The Ocean Cleanup.