プラスチックごみ問題、世界一深い海まで浸食！

マリアナ海溝でプラスチックごみが発見されたそうです。

その他にもGPGPやspace debrisの問題に対して、人類はどのように解決していくのでしょうか？

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From the deepest depths of the sea to the highest mountain peaks (ain’t no mountain
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high enough? thanks diana ross!) — humans seem to have seen everything there is to be
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discovered on Earth.
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But is it really so?
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In fact, not in the least.
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Our planet hides so many secrets that we might spend another thousand years and still not
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see it all.
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And yet, recent discoveries make scientists all over the world ring the alarm bells: the
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Earth might be in more danger than we thought.
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As you might know, the deepest point on the planet is the Mariana trench in the Pacific
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Ocean.
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There have been many attempts to explore it, and they’ve been rewarded with fascinating
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discoveries of new and amazing species.
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Marine researchers say, though, that biodiversity of the ocean is much greater than that.
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We have only found about 5% of creatures dwelling under the sea, and we’ve no idea what else
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can be lurking down there.
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Some even say there could be a Megalodon shark somewhere in the deeper waters!
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But that’s another video.
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In the meantime, several people have gone to the deepest place there is in the world:
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the Challenger Deep.
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Its bottom is at 35,853 feet, which is deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
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There’s no light there, it’s freezing cold, and the pressure of water is so high
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that a person would be squashed in a blink of an eye.
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And yet something has been found there.
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Something disturbing.
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You see, there are still plenty of places in the world where humans have never stepped
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foot.
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It might come as a surprise when we have advanced so much in technology, but it really is so.
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Most of these places are, of course, under the surface of the Earth: there are huge unchartered
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cave networks underground and vast spaces beneath the seabed that have only been explored
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instrumentally.
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For example, there’s a large maze of caves under the island of Mallorca in Spain that
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hasn’t been mapped yet; and recently, an enormous sea of fresh water has been discovered
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beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
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But even without stepping into these wondrous places, humans have managed to leave their
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trace there.
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When I told you about the Challenger Deep, I mentioned that several people have been
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down there.
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One of these brave explorers was Victor Vescovo who dared the abyss in his submersible called
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The Limiting Factor.
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He ventured there alone and broke the record for the deepest solo dive set previously by
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James Cameron.
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He dropped to the very bottom of the ocean and stayed there for a while, looking out
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for signs of life and making incredible photos.
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But even as he made another photo of the otherworldly seascape, he noticed something strange.
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And that was a plastic bag and candy wrappers.
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Imagine the shock he felt when he saw these things in the place where no human can survive.
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This finding could only mean one thing: human trash has found a way even in the most pristine
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corners of the Earth.
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Either that, or the deep-dwellers share our love of Reese’s cups.
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Anyway, Vescovo’s discovery shook the scientific world, and researchers who supported him in
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his endeavor decided to run tests on the creatures he found down below to evaluate how much plastic
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there is in them.
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Such a revelation is nothing but very troubling.
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It appears that human waste has penetrated even in places where people themselves have
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no access to, and that’s a dangerous situation.
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Who knows when the Mariana trench becomes so polluted that its ecosystem is destroyed?
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The worst of it is that we won’t even know about it until it’s too late.
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And the whole thing might be even graver than that.
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You see, there are many initiatives worldwide to preserve the oceans from plastic waste,
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but not even one of them goes as far (or rather, as deep) as the Mariana trench, let alone
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the Challenger Deep.
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Until today, people thought that pollution only concerned the outer layers of the ocean,
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but with the recent news the trouble seems to be much bigger than that.
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What’s worse, what must be done with it is still unknown.
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Maybe you have some ideas on how to improve the situation?
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Let me know down below!
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Yet even so, ecologists have already sounded the alarm and mobilized people around the
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world about the problem’s nature has to deal with because of us.
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For example, some suggest that the map of the world should be updated with a new continent
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— a trash one.
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Right smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there’s a huge area littered with
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pieces of plastic waste.
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It can’t be seen from above, but when you get there, it becomes painfully obvious.
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If you go to this place and scoop some water from the surface, you’ll end up with a pile
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of garbage in your hands.
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And this place even has a name: the Great Pacific garbage patch, or Pacific Trash Vortex.
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The patch spans about 580,000 square miles, and it was estimated that it contains 100
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million tons of trash.
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One.
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Hundred.
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Million.
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This is larger than some of the biggest landfills in the world — and all that is right there
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in the ocean waters.
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Marine life in the area is badly damaged.
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Sea creatures and birds get trapped in the trash, and fish living there eat it and become
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inedible.
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No fishing is allowed in the zone because it’s simply dangerous.
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What’s more, the patch keeps growing: its emergence was predicted in 1988, and since
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that time it’s grown at an incredible rate.
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Humans haven’t reduced their waste disposal, so the question of what to do with the garbage
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patch is wide open.
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But if you think it’s the worst that could happen, then I have even more news for you.
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Yes, today I’m on the darker side of things, sorry.
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It’ll get better, though, promise!
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So, where do you think people mostly leave their garbage?
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We’ve seen land and sea trash fields, even the Mariana trench… but what about space?
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Yep, we’ve reached as far out as the Earth’s orbit.
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You see, many countries of the world send their satellites into space, and that’s
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really a good thing: these devices help us get connected with the rest of the world,
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predict weather changes, and do a lot of other useful things.
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But have you ever thought about what happens to them when they get out of order?
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In fact, they mostly stay out there, untouched, drifting slowly in the vacuum.
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Same goes for the rockets launched into space: parts of them fall back to Earth, adding to
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the pollution in the oceans, while the rest of them stay in the orbit.
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By most accounts, the amount of space garbage is about 7,000 tons right now.
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It sounds like a trifle compared to the Great Pacific garbage patch, but the alarming thing
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about it is that it keeps growing by 2-4% every year.
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So in just about 25 years this amount could easily be doubled.
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Imagine looking at the skies and seeing nothing but a layer of debris floating high above
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you?
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Well, this just might be our future.
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But hey, I promised you some brighter news, didn’t I?
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So here it is: ecologists and volunteers all over the world are actively inventing more
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and more new ways to fight the trash invasion.
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For instance, there’s a method of trapping the ocean waste in nets that is affordable
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for anyone, so even you can participate in saving our planet!
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Moreover, governments across the globe also get actively involved in the process.
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They encourage people to produce less waste and promote ways to do so.
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Old clothes get recycled instead of just being thrown away.
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Plastic cups and plates get replaced with biodegradable ones made of natural materials.
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They’re no less durable than plastic ones but don’t pollute the environment.
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Can you imagine there’s a startup that makes coffee cups out of used coffee?
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So even the dregs become useful.
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Humans are not as careless as they used to be in the past.
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We are now conscious of what we’re doing to our home planet, and there are lots of
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people who help the environment.
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Let’s just hope everyone will become equally caring soon.
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And what about you?
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Do you know of any ways to help reduce the amount of waste on Earth?
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Let me know down in the comments!
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Hey, if you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with a
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friend.
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But don’t go deliberately diving drastically deep down dangerously just yet!
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