20100508

The Great Pacific Garbage

When a friend of mine recently told me about the Great Pacific Garbage, I thought it refers to the Tsang administration - the load of xxxx who are governing Hong Kong. After all, who else or what else can be better qualified for this label?

But according to Wikipedia, it actually refers to "a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean". There are different estimates about how big the patch is, ranging from the size of the state of Texas to larger than the United States. The patch is characterised by a high concentration of plastic, chemical sludge and debris that has been trapped by ocean currents.
Research shows that at least 267 species of wildlife are affected. Not only does some of the plastic marine debris end up in the stomachs of birds, fish and animals. When the fish in turn end up in the stomachs of humans, so do the toxic chemicals. Efforts have been made to clean up the debris, but this is by no means an easy task.

Sad to say, it is not easy to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage that is governing Hong Kong either.

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