Unlike air pollution which we can see and smell, most think plastic is harmless, or merely an aesthetic eyesore when seen on the ground or in the water, Woodring says, and is perceived of as less of a planetary problem by the public.

The old 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle don't begin to deal with the problem of synthetic pollution made from petrochemicals that has steadily increased since its introduction in the late 1950's.

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: California burning; Killing wolves; Recycling the Great Pacific Garbage Patch... PLUS: A Fracture in the Clean Coal Coalit...

Discovered 10 years ago, The Garbage Patch or Plastic Vortex, is a huge area of floating plastic garbage, stretching hundreds of square miles northwest of Hawaii in the ocean's No Man's Land.

Hundreds of square miles of ocean, just North West of Hawaii, are covered thick with floating human garbage. The ocean doesn't clean itself.