The Great Pacific Garbage Patch | Hacker News Reader

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

nationalgeographic.org

2 pointsanyfoo6 comments

Most of the plastic in the oceans comes from Asia, with over a third of the world's plastic emitted coming from the Philippines. Any policy changes in the U.S or Europe that seek to reduce domestic plastic usage are unlikely to have a major impact.

Source: https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics

Asia does not exist in a vacuum, though. There is diplomacy, and there is raising awareness.

True, there are some things Western countries can do. Policies that aim to subsidize or assist with the development of effective waste disposal in such countries would have a major impact.

Agreed, your link corroborates this:

"First, plastic pollution is dominant where the local waste management practices are poor. This means there is a large amount of mismanaged plastic waste that can enter rivers and the ocean in the first place. This makes clear that improving waste management is essential if we’re to tackle plastic pollution."

46% by mass of the plastic in the vortex comes from synthetic fishing nets. The biggest sources of microplastic (in general) are carpets and tires. Most of the waste in the vortex comes from the East Asian shipping and fishing industries. If we wanted to do something about this garbage patch, we would have demanded changes there first.

Instead, a lot of municipalities banned plastic shopping bags and drinking straws, which are insignificant in the grand scheme, but highly visible.

That's what raising awareness gets you as a streategy. With the best intentions but the worst prioritization, people just make ostentatious, ineffective displays they can brag about, while things grind on as usual.

I don't necessarily mean raising awareness in the general population in order for people to perform insignificant actions, but to at least consider prioritizing policies and regulations that aim at addressing the problem. Be it voters, members of governments, diplomats...

What do you suggest instead? I feel like you are criticizing me, but I'm not sure what cause you want to advance by doing so.

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