1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,720 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Like so many of you, my love of 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: learning didn't just stop when I finished school. I wouldn't 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: be doing this show otherwise. 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Right. 13 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: He explores some of the universe's biggest mysteries in an engaging, 14 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: fascinating manner, and he talks about concepts like black holes, 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: quantum foam, and string theory. I'm a big fan of 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: The Great Courses Plus and I want you to try 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: it at too, so as one of brain Stuff's listeners. 18 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: When you sign up, you'll immediately get one month free 19 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: to start any lectures you want. Start your free trial 20 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: today by going to the Great Courses plus dot Com 21 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: slash brain Stuff. That's the Great Courses plus dot Com 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: slash brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, it's Christian Seger. I got a question for you. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: Where is the biggest garbage dump on Earth? It's only 25 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: miles away from California's shores, right in the Pacific Ocean, 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: and it's called the Great Pacific garbage Patch. It affects 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: our ecosystem by presenting hazards to marine life and the 28 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: fishing industry. Fun right, So what is this Great Pacific 29 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: garbage Patch? Well, it was found by a racing boat 30 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: captain named Charles Moore. When he was saying in from 31 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: Hawaii to California. More noticed millions of pieces of plastics 32 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: surrounding his ship. And the thing is this garbage patch. 33 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: It isn't really that thick. You can't walk on it, 34 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: you can sail through it. Most of the debris isn't 35 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: on the water's surface. Actually, it's more like this plastic 36 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: soup plastic to zooplankton. There is a ratio of six 37 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: to one there in the northern Pacific Ocean. There's an 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: ocean gyre, a system of circular ocean currents formed by 39 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: both the Earth's wind patterns and the rotation of the planet, 40 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: and the one in the North Pacific moves slowly in 41 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: a clockwise spiral of currents. It forms an area of 42 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: about twenty million square kilometers that's seven point seven million 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: square miles. Now the gyre actually forms two garbage patches. 44 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: There's the Western and Eastern Pacific garbage patches. The eastern 45 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: one floats between Hawaii and California, and it's twice the 46 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: side of Texas. The western one floats between Hawaii and Japan. 47 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: Now they're connected by a six thousand mile long current 48 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: called the Subtropical Convergence Zone. Trash debris accumulates there as well, 49 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: and it acts kind of like a highway between the 50 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: two patches. Fishermen and sailors rarely travel through this because 51 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: there is a lack of fish and only some gentle breezes. 52 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: Nearby land masses, however, receive large amounts of this trash 53 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: on their shores. Hawaii, for example, some of the beaches 54 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: there are buried in five to ten feet of trash. 55 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: Some say they can't quantify how much trash there actually 56 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Others claim it 57 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: holds three point five million tons of waste. There are 58 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: four other similar gyres in the world's ocean, and all 59 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: of them hold trash. So where does the trash in 60 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch come from? Well, eight scent 61 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: of ocean trash originates on land, mainly in North America 62 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: and Asia. Rivers and overflowing storm drains carry garbage out 63 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: to the ocean, and also some of it comes from 64 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: the litter that are on beaches now, Trash from America's 65 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: coast takes six years to reach the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 66 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: Trash from Asia, however, takes only a year to get there, 67 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: and it's mostly made of plastic. Plastic has been only 68 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: around for a little over a century, and today we 69 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: use two hundred billion pounds of it a year. Ten 70 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: percent of that ends up in the ocean. Plastic makes 71 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: up roughly eighty percent of ocean waste, and every square 72 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: mile of ocean hosts forty six thousand pieces of plastic. 73 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: These pieces are often less than a millimeter wide, so 74 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: for example, think of like plastic bags, or bottle caps 75 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: or water bottles or styrofoam cups all of those breaking down. 76 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: Like take a plastic bottle for example. It takes five 77 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: hundred years to break something like that down, so it's 78 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,679 Speaker 1: out there for a long time, and they don't wear down, 79 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: they just break into smaller pieces because of sun exposure. 80 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: These tiny pieces are called mermaid tears or nerdles. I 81 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: know it sounds cute, but not so much. The plastics 82 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: in the ocean have different levels of toxicity, and the 83 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: pieces concentrate and absorbed chemicals and poisons that are also 84 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: now in the water, like an oil spill for example. 85 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: The pieces also leach out pollutants, photodegradation, leeches out colorance, 86 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: and chemicals linked to environmental and health problems into the water. 87 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: All right, so how about some examples of how these 88 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: cause hazards for animals. Well, when animals eat the plastic, 89 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: both kinds of chemicals go into their bodies, and these 90 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: chemicals could be passed up the food chain. Plastic garbage 91 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,919 Speaker 1: kills one million birds a year and a hundred thousand 92 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: ocean animals like dolphins and turtles. Now, let's take an 93 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: albatross for instance. It ingests lots of plastic trash on 94 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: Midway Island alone. They can give birth to five hundred 95 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: thousand chicks a year. Two hundred thousand of these chicks 96 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 1: die because their parents accidentally feed them plastic and what 97 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: happens is that punctures their digestive tracks, killing them. Same 98 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: with loggerhead turtles. They mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, for instance, 99 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: or seals. They get trapped in fishing nuts and drown. 100 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: There's a term for this, it's actually called ghost fishing 101 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: an algae. Because microplastics block sunlight, algae and plankton communities 102 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: are also threatened. This could affect the entire ecosystem or 103 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: food web, with less food to go around in general, 104 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: making seafood less available for humans at the top of 105 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: the food chain. So how do we prevent this? How 106 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: do we clean up this great Pacific garbage patch? Well, 107 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: trawling the ocean for trash is just impossible, and it 108 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: would also harm the plankton that's already there. It would 109 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: take sixty seven ships a year to clean up less 110 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: than one percent of the North Pacific. So the best 111 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: thing that we can do is manage waste on land, 112 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: try to find alternatives to plastic, use biodegradables instead, expand 113 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: recycling programs, to accommodate for more types of plastic and 114 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: buy fewer plastic items, or you can always recycle. Check 115 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: out the brain suff channel on YouTube, and for more 116 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 117 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: works dot com