Garbage Planet

Articles about a gigantic, floating mass of garbage have been making the rounds on the Internet. In an area of converging currents known as the North Pacific Gyre, a sludge of discarded plastic and other debris roughly the size of Texas is floating in the water, doing unprecedented damage to the ecosystem.

Disgusting. Disheartening. Tragic.

It has a lot of people worried about what we're doing to the Earth. I think differently. I take a cue from George Carlin on the subject. Our arrogance doesn't end with thinking we can dump our shit wherever we want without fear of consequences. We're also arrogant enough to think that we could threaten the very existence of life on this planet.

We are killing ourselves. Plain and simple. Earth will outlive us. We may take a few more species out in the process, but ultimately this is a suicide. Not that that's any reason to allow something this disgusting to happen. It's just a shame we humans don't know enough to recognize our own fragility.

But Earth? No worries. There are microorganisms that eat iron and excrete sulfuric acid. There are others that thrive in radioactive environments that are 200 times the levels that would kill a person.

Life will go on. We won't.

If you want to learn more about this topic there's video series on it here which includes actual footage.

I wonder who will present humanity with its posthumous Darwin Award? I hope it's the dolphins.