Re: Removing Trash from the Great Pacific Garbage RingDear, Worldwide pollution is a growing problem that affects the entire planet. As humans continue to consume more and more products, the waste produced by these products also increases. Unwanted bottles and packaging from land, as well as buoys and boat nets end up in the sea. These objects float on the surface of the water and drift at the mercy of ocean currents. The gyres, which are circular surface currents, collect trash from the open ocean and turn it into a huge rotating vortex of pollution in the middle of the world's oceans. These wastes have a negative effect on the organisms that interact with them and must be cleaned from the water and prevented from entering it again. As NOAA Administrator, I hope you will support and fund my project to remove pollution from the ocean and prevent further contamination. How pollution enters a vortex: Charles Moore first discovered the garbage patch in 1997 between Hawaii and the California coast. It is about twice the size of Texas and can reach 30 meters deep in some places. The increase in the amount of waste in the gyre is due to the increased use of plastic on land (Kostigen 2008). Non-biodegradable pollution in the ocean results directly from the carelessness of human consumers. When a consumer throws away waste, such as a plastic bag or empty soda bottle, there is a risk that it will reach the ocean through ocean dumping or wind blowing. These pollution methods are the causes of this large mass of pollution. The waste that makes up these landfills comes from both the east coast of Japan and the west coast of the United States S...... middle of paper ......om EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.Dumas, D. (2007). Landfill at sea. The Ecologist, 37(7), Retrieved February 16, 2010, from http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_single_fulltext Ehrenberg, R. (2009). Styrofoam degrades in seawater, leaving behind tiny contaminants. Science News, 176(6). Retrieved from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.Hoshaw, L. (2009, November 10). They float in the ocean, expanding into islands of trash. NewYork Times, D2Kostigen, T M. (2008). Rubbish area. Discover, 29(7). Retrieved February 18, 2010, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.NOAA (2010). Demystifying the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Retrieved February 18, 2010, from http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html#1The Trash vortex. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2010, from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex