There are places in the world where the water is so thick with plastic that it looks like gelatin. Activists are rushing to rescue ocean creatures, either by cleaning up the floating islands of rubbish or trying to live on them.
It’s twice the size of Texas. Three times the size of Finland. It lies between the Californian coast and Hawaii but has no fixed location. It drifts, twirled by the Pacific currents; it grows and shrinks. Calling it an island is an exaggeration—strictly speaking, it’s not entitled to the name. Because what kind of an island is it that you can’t set foot on? Contrary to popular myth, you can’t see it from space. In fact, you can’t see it at all. The microplastics floating in the water are almost imperceptible, and that’s what the island of rubbish we’re talking about is largely made up of.
The formal name is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or GPGP. It was discovered in 1997. It’s the best known (but not the only one). Similar accumulations of rubbish and microplastics are found between Hawaii and Japan. The islands are created by ocean currents, which push together plastic waste, drifting and unable to fully break down.
Other People’s Waste
Since September 2017, the Great Patch even has residents. Former US Vice President Al Gore took on citizenship in front of the cameras. Most remember him for his presidential candidacy in 2000, when only a hand recount in Florida delivered a 537-vote victory to George W. Bush, who
