• ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    “The Ocean Cleanup” is a great effort and I support their mission wholeheartedly. BUT looking at the bigger picture; it seems completely asinine to fish garbage put of the ocean and call that the solution to pollution, instead of preventing it from getting there in the first place. This is not meant as a criticism of “The Ocean Cleanup”, but of global society in general. One minute you see them removing the Pacific garbage patch and the next you see whole rivers covered in plastic waste flowing out into the ocean from certain countries.

    Edit: Fishing it out of the rivers before it enters the ocean is also a good effort. But it doesn’t address the underlying problem any better than cleaning ot out of the ocean. Also; some people seem to think I’m bashing “The Ocean Cleanup” and similar organisations. I’m very much not. They do great, necessary work. I’m just frustrated that said work is needed, and more importantly; that it doesn’t seem to be on track to stop being needed anytime in the near-ish future.

    • Luminocta@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      They are doing similar tryouts in Big Rivers now too. But that’s a lot harder than cleaning what’s already stagnant.

      The sheer force of the water and waste is difficult to hold in place with nets. But they’re definitely working on it.

      I trust programs like this and admire the work. It’s a good thing for life in general to get rid of that shit. It’s just abysmal that companies still use so much plastic for everything.

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Climate is a thing where no matter how big your solution is, it’s only part of a larger solution-cluster.

      We need it all, and then the rest of it, too.

      • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Same issue though; it shouldn’t end up in the rivers either. The rivers were just an example in relation to the ocean patches specifically. Plastics shouldn’t end up in the environment at all. Catching it a step earlier, is still treating the symptom instead of the cause.

    • emiellr@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Except they’re not calling it the solution, just a remedy to a literally growing problem. Even if people stopped polluting the ocean in an instant, you’d still have to clean up the patch. Now, they’re taking the initiative to go clean it up as best they can, which is a heck of a lot more than the average person lemme tell ya that much.

    • aramis87@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      The majority of the great Pacific garbage patch material - over 75% of it - comes from fishing and aquaculture activities. I’m sure some of it is accidents or storm related, but I also have a strong suspicion that a good percentage of it is from China’s ghost fishing fleets - the ones they deny exist, that over-fish and poach other countries’ waters, and that cut loose their nets and pretend innocence it approached.

    • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      It’s important to celebrate the wins that we have in order to build some tailwind behind the general effort.

      We should still recognize how far we have to go, of course, but celebration matters.

      • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        No one specifically, but in a lot of cases it feels like certain interest groups, tout projects like this as the be all and end all of solving the issue. I just fear for a sentiment where people go: “Look at what “The Ocean Cleanup” is doing! We don’t need to abolish single use plastics. Any that end up in the environment is simply picked up!” That is of course a bit of a caricature, but at this point my trust in humanity as a whole, is not very high…

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          The kind of people who care about plastic at all don’t seem the type to say “oh well we can clean it up go wild boys”

          • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            No of course not. It’s the people who have an interest in keeping plastic around, who I fear might use an excuse like that.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              People who don’t care about plastic pollution aren’t really the audience of efforts to combat it.

        • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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          3 months ago

          Or one could view it as regardless of efforts at future prevention, we still need to pick up from the past. If we stopped every scrap of plastic in production today that pile of junk would still be floating about for the next millennia.

    • asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Where do they say anything like that? I’ve been following them very closely for years and they’ve always been super transparent that there isn’t one solution. They also do a lot of work to prevent trash from getting to the ocean in the first place.

    • Jesusaurus@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      There are similar groups with near identical solutions for tackling “problem” River that are some of the worst offenders of plastic pollution.

      Ultimately there is still a problem in the ocean, and to some extent, it is inevitable until we have a realistic solution for plastics.

      • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        How in the heck do you mean? I’m happy for the accomplishment. It’s excellent work. I’m just angry that said work is necessary in the first place.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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          3 months ago

          I would not have had the opinion that you are happy about the solution. Your reply is basically “not appreciate a larger situation, problem, etc., because one is considering only a few parts of it” (the origin). We cannot fix the reason the problem is there. IT IS. Fixing the problem is the only reality and now that is within reach. Complaining about the origin is missing the point.

          • DrDominate@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            If I can add to the discussion here. Problem is the the solution isn’t a solution. Heck the headline is a lie because the first sentence is “If the project raises 7.5 billion dollars”. The article makes people feel like the problem is solved already but it’s not. And to say that we cannot fix the origin of the problem is just not true. To think so is to actually miss the point of the project which is that monumental problems CAN be solved, but cleaning the patch isn’t done and it won’t be the end of the challenge.

            • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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              3 months ago

              We will not be able to go back in time and stop all the plastic from being created. We can’t stop the motion of the ocean that puts it together in the current configuration.

              We can’t stop the human activity that causes plastic to end up in the ocean.

              We can’t stop the production of plastic.

              We can’t demand that governments force their population to behave in specific ways.

              The issue is what it is. We can only deal with the situation as it is. The article details a plan and a possible conclusion in 10 years if everything works out. That doesn’t make me feel like it’s solved.

          • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            We cannot fix the fact that the patch is there no. But we most certainly can fix continuing supply of garbage to it. That is exactly the argument I put forth in a different reply. “Oh well; we can just fish out the garbage, so we don’t need to fix the underlying issue of single use plastics.” Complaining about the origin of the pollution is very much not missing the point.

            I very much doubt the goal of an organisation like “The Ocean Cleanup” is to get to pick up garbage in perpetuity. I would very much hope, that its end goal is to outlive its own usefulness.

      • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It shouldn’t be river plastic either though. That’s just pushing the problem back a step instead of solving it outright. It’s a step in the right direction, but it shouldn’t end up in the rivers either…

    • Ltcpanic@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      There will always be the lost who care not for fellow man. I can only hope those that do care, outnumber those who don’t.

      Be kind to one another

    • burgersc12@mander.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Also, what are we gonna do with the trash? Moving it isn’t gonna magically make it disappear lol

  • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Proving once again that every man-made problem on Earth can be solved through appropriate resource allocation, which is only hindered by those hoarding the wealth, and those in our governments whom they pay to protect their wealth from practical use.

    • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      It’s not really a solution as it will be a perpetual requirement until we just stop putting out so much plastics

    • PiousAgnostic@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Wait, but it’s on track to being completed. I think this doesn’t support your argument people think it supports.

      I mean, in this individual instance, people with money gathered together and started solving a global problem. The poor people didn’t do shit. The hoarders of wealth gave freely to fix the problem. Capitalism saved the day here, comrade. Now, quit littering, so they don’t have to do it again.

      • Baguette@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        The garbage patch isn’t even primarily from people littering. The majority is from agricultural and fishing industry.

                • PiousAgnostic@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  It’s futile to fight this type of internet rhetoric with logic. The sophomoric arguments of pure communism, socialism, or capitalism are made from great minds of the early 1900’s. Yet people in lemmy flock together behind “capitalism” is bad.

                  Why use logic against childish arguments. It’s more satisfying to poke at the echo chamber.

      • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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        3 months ago

        Wait, but it’s on track to being completed.

        Except it actually isn’t. If you read the article, they say they could clean up the whole thing by 2034 but they need 7.5 billion dollars. So in fact people with money haven’t actually done anything yet.

        • PiousAgnostic@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I see that’s what this crowd is getting out of the article. Title literally mentions it’s on track. And funds have been raised and being raised by the evil rich.

          • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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            3 months ago

            The title is a lie, and it becomes clear in the very first sentences:

            the Ocean Cleanup has announced that it’s on track to eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 2034.

            If it can get the necessary funds, that is.

            That’s a big if.

    • Ranta@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Claims 5, but says 10, by 2034…

      It’s like the second line of the article

      • Homescool@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Unfortunately it is this attitude that is responsible for effectively zero actual motion. When we “look at the positive” in this situation, it does not help the situation, it hurts. “If I save a single Sea Turtle” by using an aluminum pipe for a straw. . . is my Mother’s way of patting herself on the back, getting the microdose of dopamine, and moving on to solve the next crisis.

        We did it for 40 years, walking an extra 10 yards to a recycle bin to toss that water bottle and feeling good because we didn’t make the Indian (sic) guy cry . Yet, with all that time and technology, we haven’t made more than a 9% dent in the bulk of “recyclables” (excluding metals $$). And we are actually losing ground.

        Instead, we have green washing grifts, like this one, which may have once upon a time, actually tried to do something, but later realized they couldn’t continue their effort without a corporate partnership. And somehow, rather than just failing and creating the vacuum, they linger, for a decade, clean up nothing, save for the staged Instagram vids that are WAAAAY more impressive than the actual footage of failure. Those vids are necessary to fund the important research, of course.

        • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Yeah the only way to achieve actual change is up to the government. Or maybe it big corporations want to help out, which seems like that will never happen.

  • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I wonder if they figured out how to remove the garbage without hurting the blue sea dragons that are living in there.

    Obviously the garbage has to get out of the ocean, I just remember that the last I heard about it a few years ago they had to stop because they were accidentally hurting and killing the very wildlife they’re trying to protect. It’s a shitty catch 22 we’ve created, but I hope they succeed. That garbage has been there too fucking long.

  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    …prompting conservatives to send even more garbage. “Ain’t nuthin in the bible about cleanin up no oceans, you marxist satanists! That garbage patch is part of our heritage!”

  • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

    Nonprofit environmental organization the Ocean Cleanup has announced that it’s on track to eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 2034.

    If it can get the necessary funds, that is. In a press release, the organization claimed that eliminating the patch once and for all would cost a whopping $7.5 billion

    The title seems rather misleading. “We’re on track if someone just gives us 7.5 billion USD” is a really big if. It doesn’t seem like they are close to raising those kinds of funds either.