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Cleanup Group Says It's on Track to Eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (futurism.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/upliftingnews@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36161054

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[–] 44 points 1 year ago (16 children)

True, but let's not the baby out with the bathwater.

98% or 90% or even a verifiable 50% reduction is insanely amazing news

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    So far, the nonprofit claims it has fished out a million pounds of trash from the patch, a mere 0.5 percent of its total. But within a decade, it says, it could ramp up its operations to get rid of it in its entirety.

    :-/

    They're asking for $75B for the full project and currently relying on start up capital with a tiny fraction of that. Apple's "committed" $7.5B tentative to Ocean Cleanup Project raising the rest on short notice.

    This isn't "on track". It's a pilot project that's in the middle of a Series B funding round.

    Also - most critically - it's not clear in the article what they're doing with the waste they recover. Simply moving it around doesn't eliminate the garbage. And the project does not appear to include a budget for recycling or otherwise repurposing what they recover.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (8 children)

    it’s not clear in the article what they’re doing with the waste they recover. Simply moving it around doesn’t eliminate the garbage. And the project does not appear to include a budget for recycling or otherwise repurposing what they recover.

    I found this with three clicks on project's web site:

    "Once our containers are full of plastic onboard, we bring them back to shore for recycling. For each system batch, we are making durable and sustainable products. Supporters getting the products will help fund the continued ocean cleanup. Catch, rinse, recycle and repeat - until the oceans are clean. The sunglasses are a proof of concept for this."

    It might not seem like much yet, but it's better than nothing, and we have to start somewhere.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    It might not seem like much yet, but it’s better than nothing

    I've been hearing this line repeated ad nauseum since the 80s. Occasionally they pan out, but far more often you're looking at a Google Graveyard of underfunded ideas and abandoned projects.

    In this case "we're going to turn the Texas Garbage Patch into sunglasses" doesn't fill me with excitement.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    doesn’t fill me with excitement.

    I'm skeptical too, but I choose to retain some optimism in a world with so much terrible stuff. This project seems to have more than zero potential, without introducing obvious great harm.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Only using the plastic junk to make more plastic trinkets is not successfully recycling, no matter how they market it as such. It needs to be used for practical value products at least in part or it's just another way of reformatting the trash

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    We all look forward to the success of your superior alternative.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    People will say this to pretend you shouldn't criticize any incentives that have decent effects. Cleaning it and putting in landfills is better than oceans. But making more trash to be thrown out isn't solving anything

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I understand the cynicism, but I'm not going to let it distract me from the good that is being done.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    You can hold space for both, and both can be true at the same time and not invalidate each other. Optimism is a hugely important quality, it's focusing on moving forward and seeing the glass half full, and it keeps the darkness out. Pointing out problems is just troubleshooting, and finding ways to be better, that might seem like focusing on the glass half empty, but what if it's just focusing on achieving a better half full, glass. The important thing is to hold onto what keeps you afloat, especially right now. This is awesome news, whether it needs more work or not.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

    Isn't the majority of plastic in the ocean caused by fishing?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It's the largest individual source, by far. Whether or not it accounts for the majority depends on the exact stats you're looking at

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