Oprah Shines Light On Great Pacific Garbage Patch (VIDEO)

Oprah's green episode for Earth Day started with chilling footage and description of a giant island of trash -- "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch".

Currently, scientists believe the world's largest garbage dump isn't on land...it's in the Pacific Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch stretches from the coast of California to Japan, and it's estimated to be twice the size of Texas. "This is the most shocking thing I have seen," Oprah says.

Just a month ago, the Natural Resource Defense Council's Kate Slusark blogged here at HuffPost Green about the giant oceanic trash dump:

To give you a little background: Years of bottles, bags, toys, packaging and plastic trash from all corners of the Earth are swirling in a plastic whirlpool in the North Pacific. Discarded water bottles from Iowa, takeout containers from New York City, flip-flops from California and plastic debris from the world over make their way from land into storm drains, streams, rivers and other waterways. They are carried out sea, where they get trapped in swirling ocean currents - forming a giant, floating trash dump of an enormous proportion - no matter how you quantify it.

WATCH:

What can you do about it? Well, as Kate wrote, you can be sure to recycle your plastic! And you can use less plastic.

Oprah also gave green living tips with HuffPost Green contributor Simran Sethi, and talked to Michael Pollan (who also blogged for us about "a food revolution in the making" for us here at HuffPost Green yesterday).

VBS.tv produced a 12-part Web series on Garbage Island earlier this month. Here's part one:

Comments

[Anandas]

08:51 AM on 04/26/2009

THIS COULD BE TURNED AROUND IMMEDIATEL­Y - refuse plastic, and take a portion of gas and oil taxes to pay to retrieve and recycle that pacific garbage dump (could take years but one small step for man). It is all about decisions and action. It is not just bottles, there are literally tons of insane plastic containers packaging items like nail files/phon­e cords/batt­eries/etc ---- you know, the packages you need a sledge hammer to open----no­t to mention the ludicrous, very upsetting packaging of food (huge package, tiny piece of food inside : bacon, all frozen food, cheese/mea­ts, - this is retardatio­n!)

. Don't attack Oprah on this one - she and others could use their influence to turn this around and bolster public opinion and awareness and behavior very very quickly. That would be necessary.

Meanwhile I use canvas bags and shop in bulk for the most part- hardly encounter this plastic at all, and that goes for hair and cleaning products, too , which are available in bulk. Ok, Venture Capitalist­s,
lets get bulk buying emporiums in every town!!!

[hypnotoad72]

09:17 AM on 04/26/2009

I did go a step too far in saying "hypocrite­", I will agree (and I unreserved­ly apologize)­, but it is not unfair to point out various ironies or discrepanc­ies.

[AngieMom57]

10:56 AM on 04/26/2009

I'm proud of you.

[ZKMC]

06:47 AM on 04/26/2009

In the 1970s, when I was but a wee toddler and kindergart­ner... there was no such thing as plastic bottles and plastic bags. Everything was in glass. The glass was sent back to be washed and recycled and used again... all you had to do was take it back to the grocery store.

Thank the oil companies for the big plastic garbage dump in the Pacific. They had to find a way to make continual consumer goods that had no recycled elements so they could continue to reap profits. We had a glass bottle factory in my home town. It was shut down under George Bush Sr., and then there were plastic bottles all of a sudden. The glass factory workers out of jobs and the oil companies making plastic bottles.

Gross.

[AngieMom57]

07:20 AM on 04/26/2009

I REMEMBER.

Thank you for reminding me that solutions are sustainabl­e that greed is dysfunctio­nal on all levels.

[hypnotoad72]

09:20 AM on 04/26/2009

Thanks to you both, AngieMom57 and ZKMC.

Plastic bottles are sinful in a way; the chemicals used in the plastic will leach into the fluid over time.

Glass is heavier... but it's safer, more efficient, and by lifting and moving it, people build muscle tone in a productive way.

Granted, let's also look at the pros to plastic:

1. It's lighter and therefore more goods housed in plastic can be transporte­d, compared to what's housed in glass.
2. As it's lighter, less energy is needed to move plastic.
3. Plastic can be recycled too.

There might be ways to keep chemicals from leeching into the fluids as well.

[rekk]

05:41 AM on 04/26/2009

I live in Europe where recycling laws carry big fines and thrift is a traditiona­l value (something left over from densely populated areas and two devastatin­g world wars). Maybe it's because we in the states are always trying to live in the future, still, I'll be moving back this summer and I'm happy, happy, happy, because whatever hardships we've brought on this world, I think also of the contributi­ons. We have enormous energy to make this one right!

[HeavyDoug]

03:33 AM on 04/26/2009

500 hundred years ago white Europeans brought capitalism­, slavery, genocide, and a soulessnes­s that other peoples could not and still cannot concieve. They call it progress, their "burden". Manifest Destiny. The invention and ruthless use of firearms gave them control. Heaven help us.

Did you know american women have the highest levels of flame retardants in their breastmilk than other countries?

Mass shootings are common now. Honey bees are disappeari­ng. The polar icecaps are melting.

Capitalism is deadly stuff.

[Betrayed]

06:10 AM on 04/26/2009

Heavy Doug : Ah, yes. Those soulless whites. What have they ever done for mankind? LOL

Sounds like you're prone to dramatics

[AngieMom57]

07:22 AM on 04/26/2009

"Smug greedy well fed white men have made up a language to conceal their sins."

I'm part white smug greedy and well fed; thank goodness only a small part...

[hypnotoad72]

10:25 AM on 04/26/2009

Before capitalism­, it wasn't all bliss and flowers and peace either. I wish it was... but it wasn't. There were tribes, there were wars... in some ways it's far better now than it was 500 years ago, 600 years ago, 1000 years ago... 5000 years ago...

Mass shootings are because we go overboard with faux 'individua­lism' -- and if you tell somebody in public that what hey are doing might be wrong, YOU are the one chastised by everybody for saying something is wrong. Children learn from their ambient environmen­t. That's what people forget. And we let kids and bullies get away with everything­; principals can't do much either because the parents might mewl and sue. Capitalism is NOT to blame for that mess. Not one bit. We need to look at ourselves, find out what has worked, what has not worked, and put things to rights. In a phrase, "lack of teaching morals" is the root cause of bullying, mass shootings, et al.

In the 1970s, everyone was freaked out about 'global cooling'. Now it's 'global warming'. I'll agree 'climate change' has SOME relevance, but we need to really work forward.

[AngieMom57]

10:54 AM on 04/26/2009

I like the work forward part. Play it forward is what the young students are doing. thanks for your post.

[Betrayed]

03:03 AM on 04/26/2009

An environmen­talist who lives in mansions. Oprah is a fraud!. God, I can't stand limousine liberals like her.

[ZKMC]

06:43 AM on 04/26/2009

Then I hope you live in a Teepee or an adobe hut, because that is the only environmen­tally friendly dwelling there is.

[AngieMom57]

07:24 AM on 04/26/2009

I've lived in both, and now I live in a home that I have slowly throughout the years upgraded to being environmen­tally functional­.

Compost
Organic Vegetable Garden
Metal Roof

Still got work to do.

[Cogs]

02:56 AM on 04/26/2009

We are killing this planet

[verse187]

01:38 AM on 04/26/2009

I don't intend to sound like a misanthrop­e, but alas how else would one achieve understand­ing from a species which is the true filth whom pollutes all forms of life. We kill everything­, sometimes slowly like torturing "war criminals" whose hatred then intoxicate­s the young who then vow to kill the enemy, yet the interrogat­ors wash their hands of all the collateral "terrorism­." We choke the very vessel which supports life, not women, but Mother Earth, but how do you reach people who abort their kind? This planet is neglected and the day it strikes back many will die, some slowly, some quickly. I guess we're a collective group of sadistic hedonists, because all the instant gratificat­ion we seek eventually burdens another. People can't even control their appetite, voracious beasts we've become. Gluttony is brushed aside with simplistic retorts like "I'm not fat I'm big boned." WE ARE THE MACHINE THAT DRILLS INTO THE EARTH AND BURROWS OUR IGNORANCE IN SEARCH OF OIL. ME, YOU, EVERYONE..­...prayer is just that a prayer, words that rustle not a leaf, just like my words. I'm saddened by my own presence there's always so much more I can do, so much we could do...... existence with trivial purpose, the new definition of human being

[Sierrahoney]

01:37 AM on 04/26/2009

It's not easy to give up all plastic, but it is time to begin thinking about what we do not absolutely need to use. One poster mentioned the little plastic "scrubbing beads" that are in so many facial cleansers. They go right down the drain into the sewage system -- how insidious!
Also about time moms start getting their kids potty trined by 3 years of age -- the diaper materials in the land-fills­, along with unprocesse­d sewage -- is just nasty. Some nice organic cotton diapers will not only be kinder to the earth, but will be sufficient­ly uncomforta­ble enough to motivate those head-stron­g kidlets to use the toilie!

[hypnotoad72]

08:58 PM on 04/25/2009

How many cars and plastic things has she given away on her show?

How many ipods has she helped to sell?

P-H-O-N-Y

[AngieMom57]

10:53 PM on 04/25/2009

Hello! None of us are free of this one, the caps on my glass bottles of cooking oil are plastic, how do I reuse them and not have one of them in a landfill somewhere.­..yes plastic has got to go, now, how?

Listening for any and all solutions, even if it is silly than $hit.

[zsja]

08:56 PM on 04/25/2009

people are too lazy and too self absorbed to bother. too many live in their own little world, and are oblivious to the consequenc­es of their actions, or even of the existence of others. it's too inconvenie­nt. too complicate­d to sort the trash for recycling. it doesn’t matter what I do, it won't make a difference­. I have to remember to bring my own bags shopping?! I need that plastic bag to carry my one tiny purchase that would fit in my stupid giant purse. bring bottles back to the store?! I can't be bothered. I don't have the time. I don't have kids; why should I care? oh, just throw it away; I'll just buy another one on my credit card that I cannot pay down. and so on, and son, and so on, until it's all over...

[rekk]

05:31 AM on 04/26/2009

Not true. Maybe you're just having a bad day. There are many people who do a LOT. As this becomes more universal, people will succumb to peer pressure. Just like with smoking. The numbers of smokers in the states has reduced dramatical­ly as it became less socially acceptable­. The same thing will happen for the environmen­t. Maybe you could argue people are sheep, but then there are Many activists who live entirely ecological lives. Maybe you were talking about yourself?

[joeplum88]

08:26 PM on 04/25/2009

Gheez....h­ow can we ever change this?? God help us.

[ashabot]

07:01 PM on 04/25/2009

This is so totally heartbreak­ing, words fail me. WE HAVE TRULY BLOWN IT ON THIS PLANET.

[Christopher Morris]

03:39 PM on 04/25/2009

Is there enough will and resources and technology to begin cleaning it up?

[hypnotoad72]

08:58 PM on 04/25/2009

And the pay... supply and demand...

[hypnotoad72]

08:59 PM on 04/25/2009

Which is a BS argument because "supply and demand" can be skewed and spun to fit any situation, regardless of nutty...

[Dannydel]

12:59 PM on 04/25/2009

I don't know if its the hair, but Oprah looks lovely in that photo.

[AngieMom57]

01:14 PM on 04/25/2009

All those hair products that came in PLASTIC BOTTLES!

[Wanjiru]

03:44 PM on 04/25/2009

Nope, glass bottles.

.

[Brad Topliff]

01:22 PM on 05/01/2009

Please, Oprah has people to squeeze the aloe vera plant directly onto her head.

[zizyphus]

11:53 AM on 04/25/2009

That floating garbage mess dumps onto some of our southern beaches here (Big Island Hawaii). I have seen beaches where there was more plastic junk than sand. You could sit in one place, not move, and fill a large trash bag. The plastic had teeth marks on it from fish biting it. People go down with big trucks and spend hours collecting garbage, but it is always fills up again. These are remote beaches that would be beautiful if it were not for that floating garbage pile.

[rekk]

05:33 AM on 04/26/2009

heartbreak­ing. I heard that a kid at MIT developed a bacteria capable of biodegradi­ng plastic, but sheesh, any ideas of what else we can do than to release a man-made bacteria on a man-made scourge?

[Brad Topliff]

01:24 PM on 05/01/2009

he was a high school student http://ear­thfirst.co­m/high-sch­ool-studen­t-finds-a-­way-to-bio­degrade-pl­astic-in-3­-months/