Plastic vortex -- our oceans in trouble! please stop the plastic vortex!

Dear fellow paddlers, amidst your paddling, may I like to draw your attention to this project!

Our Oceans are in trouble........
If you are concerned at all about environmental issues, please read this email. It is urgent, and requires your attention. It will only take you one minute.

There is an area of trash in the Pacific Ocean , called the "Plastic Vortex" which has estimates of over 4,000,000 tons of plastic waste. This is almost four times the size of Japan, and over 1,000 times the size of Hong Kong. It has been there since we started making plastics, because plastics do not go away.

The plastic is killing bird and marine life, and new studies show strong links to this plastic coming back into our own food chain. Many people have tested positive for the toxins contained in or attached to this plastic. This is significant when we consider the billions of people in this world who consume seafood.

Project Kaisei is a mission that plans to draw global awareness to the problem of plastics in our oceans. We will be working with National Geographic for the distribution of our documentary, and will be conducting this mission in June-August of this year. The mission will conduct trials and testing for collection methods to clean up the trash from the Ocean, as new technologies now exist to process the waste if it can be caught.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project, please click on this link for the website www.projectkaisei.org

The website explains the project in more detail. PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO ON THAT WEBSITE TO SEE AN INCREDIBLE EXPLANATION OF WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WORLD 'S OCEANS.

You can help by going to the website and donating US$25, $50, $100 or more to Project Kaisei. Donate as much as you feel is appropriate to help our oceans. Receipts for larger amounts can be given and are tax deductible.

You can then follow the mission via the website and Google Earth, who is one of our partners in this project. For some great visual information on the problem, you can also go to the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-oceans-flash-day4,0,7741594....

Please then forward this email to your address book. If each of you makes a small donation, and sends this email out, we will be able to make a big difference! The oceans really are in need of our help, as they have been neglected for years, and nothing in international waters will really ever be improved unless we take action ourselves from land.

Please ACT NOW, as this problem is an urgent one.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and for making a donation.

http://www.projectkaisei.org

Photos courtesy of Wallace J. Nichols and Rick Loomis

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Submitted by flyriverboy on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 5:43am



As a dedicated water lover, I’m committed to doing what ever it takes to stop this “plastic vortex” and I challenge my fellow paddlers to join in this mission.
Starting today during my daily paddle and after I’ve drank my bottle of Gatorade, I will place a one dollar bill in the empty bottle and throw it into the ocean. Doing this every time I paddle will create a greater incentive for people to go out of their way to collect plastic bottles that are floating in the ocean.
If all paddlers followed my example of throwing their plastic bottles into the ocean we could create an entire industry of bottle collecting.
Not all paddlers would need to be as dedicated and generous as myself, I believe in fully committing in such activities. If all you can afford is 25 cents or a penny, every little bit helps. Or, even just insert a hand written note into the bottle thanking the finder of the bottle for picking it up.
We MUST stop this madness! Don’t buy anything containing plastic! Insist your doctor, supermarket, teacher, hooker, and credit card company stop using plastic. We must do everything possible to help. Tell your non-paddling friends and family to do the same by throwing their bottles out of their cars while driving containing a dollar a note, a penny or just backwash.


#1 Sun, 03/29/2009 - 8:32am


Theres a Native American saying.

'Only when the last tree is gone, and the last fish has been caught, we will realize we cannot eat money'


#2 Sun, 03/29/2009 - 10:28am


Mulus, It actually happend where a Pacific People "Taata Maohi" actually cut down all their trees on their islands in the name of their gods and it changed the landscape forever....Remember Rapa Nui. It can happen.
Man will continue to dominate man to his own injury says wise King Solomon. In the meantime i'll paddle, and do my part until armegeddon comes and removes all remnants of evil from off the earth.


#3 Sun, 03/29/2009 - 3:15pm


This guy sums it up pretty good:
North Pacific Gyer


#4 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 9:40am


Kanoe Man,
You serious or are you being sarcastic? You saw all those plastic bottles washed up in those pictures. What makes you think your bottle with a dollar in it won't find its way the that stockpile of plastic stranded on the island? I'd say recycle the bottle and collect all the dollars you would normally put in the bottle and donate to these guys.


#5 Sun, 03/29/2009 - 9:52pm


get a BPA free water bottle, no need to buy any plastic water bottles... I used to drink at least 3 bottles a day when out & about, stopped about a year ago after getting lectured by my 9yr old. Plastic bags are the worst, try to get a few reusable bags @ Trader Joes, they have some island style lookin ones...


#6 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 4:16am


this is the albatross that is chokablock full of plastic.
so are the fishes and turtles.. now where are the other pics? ( stolen by kanoe man..does he sells plastic. live by plastics and profits from plastics, and makes dirty money?)

well. plastic get disntergated into small pieces..and they make their way into plankton mass,, , right into our food chain.


#7 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 5:40am


All I'm saying is lets look at this problem from a different angle. The money in the bottles will provide an incentive for people to recycle. Just this morning I tossed an empty bottle in the water with money in it. Well, it didn't actually contain money, but when it's found it can be taken to the recyle center and exchanged for 5 cents.

With the help of parents, children will put down their video games and junk food, go for a hike or paddle, get exercise and find these bottles. They will learn a valuable lesson about recycling and doing their part to save this dieing planet. Soon, they to will be tossing their bottles in the water and along the roads and in this way they will be providing an incentive for others to get out into nature, collect bottles for the hidden money and then some day throw empty bottles back into the water.

If two people are encuraged to collect thrown away bottles for every one person that throws out a bottle, this program could snow-ball into millions of people, who would other wise never go bottle hunting, to get out side, exercise, find these bottles with money in them, or just a 5 cent deposit, and help keep our mother earth clean.

This new movement could then be expanded to just leaving unwanted cars along side the road. They already have this program on the island of Kauai and it works great. In only a few days of the vehicle being abandonded along side the road, it's parts are removed and recycled by hords of people.

This program provideds free parts to people who couldn't afford them otherwise and it keeps the landfills a little less full.


#8 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 6:40am


Very funny Kanoe Man, but I think some people didn't get the joke ;-)


#9 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 12:49pm


Kanoe Man,

No, it wasn't exactly clear that you were joking. If you are joking... then I'm sad that you chose this topic to joke about.

20 billion pounds of plastic in the ocean isn't funny to me, maybe it is to you. About 70% of this sinks to the bottom, leaving about 6 billion pounds for you to go swim for in the middle of the Pacific ocean, one dollar-bill-in-a-bottle at a time.

That should keep you and your presumed army of dollar bill fishermen busy, and off of the blogs telling "jokes" about real issues.

By the way it's not just plastic bottles out there.


#10 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 2:42pm


Of course it's a serious topic, but in a way, Kanoe Man is right. I don't think we can solve this problem unless one can make profit solving it... that's the world we live in. Sad but true.
I'm teling kids not to throw their plastic bottles in the sea when paddling. they trow it in a bin when back on the island. Guess where their bottles end...


#11 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 3:56pm


Hiro C,

I agree that relying on the good nature of people (and companies...) only goes so far.

Profit definitely helps as a motivator...

This is similar to the alternative energy boon that is going on. Originally it was an environmental cause, but now that oil prices are rising (they rose bigtime, then fell... but overall they are rising), alternative energy is starting to make economic sense.

If the dollar-bill-in-a-bottle suggestion is symbolic, or is part of a larger comprehensive effort toward make cleaning stuff up more attractive, then I'm with it...


#12 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 4:09pm


grovpb4,

I am sure that, if one can make oil from all those pastic waste floating in the ocean, then the problem would be gone before you know it...
Until that day, STOP buying plastic, or at least, you know the three R : Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
And when you have the choice between plastic and anything else, don't take the pastic item.


#13 Mon, 03/30/2009 - 4:18pm


Hi Hiro, The plus point of this project,if you read on, is it's going to try out converting plastic into hydrocarbon fuels ( diesel, I think). ONe of the world's expert on that is on board. So there is a potential sellable product right at the end.

Joke or no joke, I think it is pretty sick to be paddling and seeing all the plastic out there. Not to mention swimming through plastics (if you do open water swims!) ANd if you scuba dive, big time depressing in some waters out there. Kanoe man, you can stick to your own angle. Of course you could also start looking at the other angle.;>

Raising awareness is the issue -- may be the main issue -- stopping/decreasing the source of plastic. Big corporations and governmnetal policies should blooody start thinkiing about the environment and corporate responsibility.


#14 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 7:02am


So let me see if I understand your idea.

We spend billions to gather up the plastic "vortex", if it really exists. We then spend billions to convert it into a burnable fuel.

Great idea! Lets force people who are already hurting financially, to spend even more on fuel.
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Spend a dollar to save a dime"?

Are you telling us, not-so-fly riverboy, that you use no plastics? No plastics in the car you drive, no plastics in the food containers you buy, no plastics in the bus you take, no plastics in the airliners you fly in, no plastics in the paddle you use, no plastics in the canoe/boat you own, no plastics the clothes you buy, no plastics in that computer your using, the watch you’re wearing, the sun glasses you wear, the sunscreen bottle you carry, the cel phone you own, the shoes you wear, the comb you use, the house you live in, the clean water pipes that deliver that clean water to your home, that 40 inch LCD television in your living room, that radio in your bedroom, the wires that carry electricity to your home, the refrigerator that keeps your food cold and safe and in your inflatable girl friend?

Until you do away with all of these items and everything else I didn’t think of, get off your high horse, and shut the ****-up.


#15 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 7:47am


I'm not getting involved in the debate here, but I will say plastic littering sucks. Sucks hard. Its devastating to ocean life. See the attachment. This bird died because of all the plastic in its stomach. The plastic never digested but kept the stomach full so the bird could not eat enough to stay alive.


#16 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 8:43am


1) Plastics suck.
2) Kanoe Man, you are one funny dude.
...also a total dick, but still super-funny.

And now back to the debate!


#17 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:20am


Ok so maybe I'm missing something here because I'm ignorant but here's something I've wondered for a long time. I agree that the plastic pile is a problem but have you ever seen pictures of it? I mean how come there's no pictures of this texas sized plastic garbage pile in the middle of the pacific? You'd think there would be some aerial shots of this monstrosity or something but I haven't anything.

Imagine how many glass balls are in that pile...


#18 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:44am


kanoe man...that whole recycle a car idea on kauai is a double edge blade, because you can go and take a fender or whatever you want, but you gotta do it fast before someone else takes it, or someone breaks out all of the glass, and tries to light the truck on fire, in the end it all goes to puhi metals anyway. and they leave their fridges and washers too, which i know nobody wants.


#19 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:45am


this is a beach on the Big Island, Kamilo beach... there are a few news reports that explained how plastic garbage is brought there by currents


#20 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:00am


Kanoeman I certainly appreciate your sarcasm. Just because half of our world is plasticated doesn't mean we shouldn't come up with solutions to the problem of waste. Flyriverboy at least is looking for solutions where you apparently have given up and surrendered to the plastic and anyone who tries to do something about it better shut the fuck up? Really??
Looks like they tied you up under the high horse pointing backwards and the shit is dribbling down your chin.


#21 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 1:10pm


Hi poopoo
The vortex sites or vortices in the oceans are very hard to image. The extend is big. .. i have heard some people who sailed has sailed through the plastic mass in those round world trips ---- and they have to sail one FULL day to cross those plastic stretches.. that is the extend of the size. It is also supposed to exist in a belt/zone from surface to 30 meters deep... and some plastics are very small ( like some one's brain).

Yeah you can throw the baby away with the bath water -- some saying like that. Doesnt mean you can't minimise plastic use or be responsible in its use. Needs a paradigm shift how this world is operated. If they can't understand this idea, you wonder which head houses the brain

I think there is not much you can do with certain people ( may be shoot them??). high horse or horse arse, ,who needs inflatable girlfirends when you can have real ones. huh?


#22 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 4:23pm


LOL, “Maybe shoot them?”

That’s great, when someone disagrees with “our” opinion, we can just eliminate them and their ideas, is that it? Everyone who doesn’t agree with your opinion is intolerant, and will not be tolerated. Do you see the flaw in your logic?

Your line of thinking is dangerous. It’s been tried before in various Eastern European countries and has led to millions of deaths. Do yourself a favor and read “The Gulag Archipelago.” It’s a nice story of intolerant people who had quotas for eliminating people and their untolerated opinions.

Back up your opinions with facts, not threats. Here’s a fact, there are no pictures of the “Plastic islands” or the boogie-man. Don’t you think if it did exist there would be pictures all over the internet?

Do us all a favor, pack-up your little-red-book, and move back to Cuba or China, or North Korea or wherever you like minded imbeciles gather, smoke dope and complain that you have nothing because “it’s all America’s fault.”

Now, get off this forum and log onto Al Gore’s blog to raise awareness, you jack-ass!


#23 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 7:33pm


The soup is "hard to see" because it is comprised mostly of transparent bits that float near but not necessarily right at the surface

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Pacific-Garbage-Patch30oct07.htm

But make no mistake it is real and it is getting bigger. If it were millions of Slurpy and BigGulp cups floating on the surface everyone would know about it.

Kanoe Man you are so strong in your opinions. You should at least use your real name. I'm sure the paddling community would love to know who this witty person is.


#24 Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:07pm


. do I smell discrimination/racism./xenophobia? Your ":line of thinking" are probably as dangerous as mine, and your agument as intolerant.

I see the flaw in everything. To err is human, forgive , divine. Yes my logic is probably flaw. What about yours?

kanoe man's posts have detracted from the focus of the plastic blog. I am not here to argue if plastic vortices exist, or if it is worthwhile doing something about it.... for 10-15 years, no nation/organisation/nobody has deemed it feasible to tackle.

The truth is out there. Who knows, for all that we want to do for environmental conservation, it may be too late anyway. We are all fucked. At least I still hope there are individuals who will go down fighting for a cause which they believe, worthwhile. I think we owe the next generation an apology for the mess we created. and the rest of the species that share the planet.

If I have in anyway offended anyone with my "line of thoughts" or "idealogy", I do apologise, esp to Mr kanoe Man. I was only "joking" like you did.

I can accept any disagreement about the project ( not mine by the way, and not hatched by any cuban/chinese/koreans or any anti-american nations, it is hatched by "westerners" , american nonetheless!), but the condescending use of jokes, belittling an issue which is global and serious is just lame lousy humour and in bad taste. In one fell swoop, years of hard work by dedicated people are dissed. So many out there are affected by the plastic wastes. It is like joking about people dying with aids, or poverty/

This issue is posted here as it affects everyone. May be keizo should remove this whole posts if it is inappropriate.

peace out

damn, dun mean to sound so serious but what the heck

www.thestoryofstuff.com


#25 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 4:15am


Kanoe Man! It`s because of stuborn redneck brainwashed puppets like you our planet became what it is today, you make me feel ill! I feel just sorry for you! What kinda paddler are you???


#26 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 5:58am


yesterday ( It was going off), it was windy and sunny, it was fairly worm. but I went out and surfed some. 3 foot bumps

Man what a weird week . I think the global worming is starting to change this little blue ball we all share. usually we get a few inches of snow a year, if at all but its been snowing now 5 or 6 months off and on, and our crew is usually together and practicing nightly by this time each year. but there waiting for that snow to stop. It started again this morning.

I would say its undeniable the changes are under way from our pollution.

From the North Shore of Vancouver Canada


#27 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 6:02am


Wow I knew the plastic patch was bad but it's altering weather? Making it snow? Holy hell I'm donating money to fly boy right now.


#28 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 8:47am


Damn, kanoe man, that's some harsh stuff.

I've seem my share of bottles floating in the ocean and get a sick feeling hearing about all the trash in our water.

Something needs to be done.


#29 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 9:23am


Scientic facts...
Plastic Ocean


#30 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 9:39am


You guys just don’t get it. Kanoe Man is totally right. I mean can you imagine just how horrible it would be to invest time and money to clean up garbage in our ocean if it turns out that there is no giant mass of plastic in the Pacific? At that point, how do we explain all the garbage we collected in vain? The horror.

That said, I’m pretty sure there is no way to convert plastic into diesel fuel. And last time I checked burning hydrocarbons contributes to greenhouse gasses.

Maybe instead of putting a dollar in a bottle when you throw it in the ocean, we could charge a dollar deposit fee when you buy your Gatorade to incentivize you to recycle?


#31 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 9:40am


maybe the gyre is the worlds way of cleaning itself, and if we mess with it, it may become worse than before. not saying that it shouldnt be done, if there were people taking active steps, then i would stand by them the whole way. but then again good intentions pave the path to hell. or so ive been told.


#32 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:12am


If we watch our planet change and we do nothing this planet could become hell. we can do alot in our own homes and neighborhoods.


#33 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:20am



#34 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:21am


2 comments:

  1. people need to be responsible with their trash. Thats all, just put it where it belongs. no need any fancy ass crap.
  2. I read a recent article that said we are beyond the point of return regarding our climate situation. So basically no matter what we do we're gonna freeze our asses of in an ice age baby! So burn the fossil fuels baby! Burn baby burn!

But seriously, scientists are now saying we're screwed.


#35 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:55am


shut up and paddle?


#36 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:04pm


Another article to back up the facts on this topic.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123793936249132307.html

Just because you refuse to acknowledge something doesn't mean that it isn't there.

Locally there have been a few failed efforts to eliminate plastic grocery bags as has been done in a some other municipalities. Almost every time I go paddling, I see a plastic grocery bag floating a few feet below the surface. Turtles commonly eat bags like that, mistaking them for jellyfish. Just like what happens with the birds that eat discarded plastic, the bags stay in the turtle's stomach undigested and the turtle eventually starves to death when there is nor more room for real food.


#37 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:06pm


tnhale said "maybe the gyre is the worlds way of cleaning itself"

FYI, the gyre is simply a description of the currents in the ocean that form a circular pattern around the basin. Because of these current patterns, trash can become consolidated into one area that may be far removed from where the trash originated.

By reducing our use of plastics and trying to clean up the trash floating in the ocean, we would in NO way be "messing with it." The only way we could stop or mess with the gyre would be to stop the Coriolis effect, which would require stopping the rotation of the planet. Good luck with that.


#38 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:13pm


Driver, you're right, something needs to be done.
Poo, don't send your money to flaming boy, he'll just spent it on his cats.

I offer myself up as a focal point for all donated funds from OCPaddler members.

Every other dollar sent will be inserted into a bottle and cast into the ocean. This will be a great start for my "Give a Hoot, Go ahead and Pollute" campaign.

I can later petition the United Nations for grant to invest in even larger boats so I could maximize the bottle program.
If someone should happen to disagree with my programs we could have the UN Blue hats hunt them down and eliminate their opinions. I’m sure Jack-Booted thugs like Fly would be more than happy to join these “opinion elimination squads.” We could even start Junior Opinion Elimination Squads where children would be encouraged to rat out their parents for unpopular or different opinions.

We could start local “Community Organizations” to set up “opinion retraining” hotels in every town. Fly Boy could over see the entire program ensuring a consistent application of justice as he alone sees fit, to all that think for themselves. He could even set monthly quotas for the number of “opinion retraining attendees.” If the quotas aren’t met, they could just pick up people off the street. And when that person’s loved one arrives to report that missing person, they too could be “enrolled” into the program.

Now, what could be done if there are too many people requiring retraining? I know, we could load them by the thousands onto “Opinion Retraining” barges, float them out to sea and sink the barge. Just like Uncle Joe Stalin did as part of his opinion retraining program. Fly could even drive the tug boat.
I bet he’d love that. And as everyone is about to drown he could shout, “Do me a favor, see those bottles? See if any of them have money in them and toss me the ones that do.”


#39 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:24pm


Cats? Oh hell no, I'd rather spend it on dogs. Like this one:


#40 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:30pm


For anyone on Oahu who wants to learn more about plastic in the ocean there is a lecture series on this very topic this month (first one is tonight).

As paddlers, we spend more time in the water than most people and perhaps can better appreciate the beauty of marine life than many in the general public. Let's be a part of the solution.

The UH Manoa College of Education Department of Educational Foundations (EDEF 686 Environmental Education) and Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (BEACH) present "Plastic and Hawaii's Marine Life," a free public lecture/film series that runs every Wednesday in April from 6:30 p.m. in the Architecture Auditorium.

April 1 - Film: "Hawaii - Messages in the Waves"

April 8 - Lecture: "Conflict, Collision and Confrontation: Sea Turtle Biology and Incompatibility with Marine Debris"

April 15 - Film: "Synthetic Sea Story"

April 22 - Lecture: "Plastics: Impacts on our Health, Marine Life and the Environment"

April 29 - Lecture: "Albatross as Indicators of Plastic Pollution in the Marine Environment"

For more information, call 392-2168 or see http://www.coe.hawaii.edu/files/marine_lecture.pdf.


#41 Wed, 04/01/2009 - 3:38pm


If life leaves you with lemons, make lemonade.

If life leaves you with plastic bottles, make boats.

Here's a fellow making a Kontiki or rather "Plastiki."

http://search.cnn.com/search.jsp?query=plastiki&type=web&sortBy=date&int...
~~~~~~~~~~
YankeeHo'okele
"Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm" - Syrus Publilius


#42 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 5:18am


Rachel, thanks for sharing that info - nice timing - I checked it out - very informative - esp. all that plastic debris washing up on that beach on the big island and the Northern Hawaiian islands with the impact on the Laysan birds at Midway. Iokepa Naeole of Hawaiian Canoe Club was on there as well, and Jack Johnson, and some awesome vids of that gurl doing the snorkel dive! She was definitely in great shape to be diving along side the scuba divers. here's a link to it:
http://www.messageinthewaves.com/


#43 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 10:48am


You telling me about all this plastic stuff, for I'm always filling up the opala can with fish nets, plastic and glass bottles from the beach when I go Laie. More worse when they go open the river and let all the debris and rubbish go flow into the ocean and on to the beach when rain hard. Go check out Kaneohe Bay when rain, or the entire windward coast and the Kahana Bay surf all kokoleka. All that silt stay killing off the reefs and coral.
I no can understand why everybody go buy water in plastic containers, when you can drink pipe water for free? Hawaii water taste good, not like that awful tasting stuff they get on the mainland. Before time, nobody drink water out of plastic bottles in Hawaii. The other night, I scold some college kids for filling up 5 gallon plastic jugs with water. I told them they lolo because Laie water is the best and best tasting. I guess, they no can change their mainland habits. Lolos. So remember, in Hawaii, pipe water is the best.


#44 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 12:04pm


There's a couple of other things that can be done on a daily bases to help our planet

1# Buy in bulk it will save you $ and cut down on the wrappers and packaging materials.

2# Buy Quality that may cost a bit more but will last longer and save you $ and have less left over E.G. car or truck tires

3#Ask yourself if that new technological device is necessary.

4# Donate goods to charity, E.G. clothes furniture well everything I guess old canoes and paddles

I got my Ideas out of our newspaper ( Mark Milke )


#45 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 3:33pm


How about re-thinking the way our high tech canoes are made? Probably the wasteful process of vaccum bagging should be discontinued?


#46 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 9:26pm


Do canoe builders recycle wastes or do they just throw it ?


#47 Thu, 04/02/2009 - 9:35pm


Koacanoe and Hiro make good points. You, as consumers and paddlers of canoes constructed of some if the most toxic materials on earth are being hypocritical. If you are serious about saving your “mother earth,” start by refusing to buy canoes made of highly toxic epoxies and resins. How much damage is being done to the atmosphere by these toxic chemicals?

These chemicals are further destroying the already shrinking o-zone and accelerating the shrinking of the polar ice caps. Where are all those polar bears going to live? Where will those horny penguins going to mate? Will this also reduce the number of king crab thus increasing the price of my favorite appetizer? Oh s**t!! I never thought of that.

We better act now. So, I will start a second program along with the “cash in a bottle” program. But in this new program instead of sending me whatever petty cash you have for me to stuff into a bottle, empty out your 401K’s, your college funds and take out second mortgages on your homes and send me the money. I will use it to buy as many canoes as possible and have them destroyed. In fact, send me your canoes, especially if it’s a Pueo.

We must act now. No gesture is too small. We must stop the madness! Oh my God, I just noticed the keyboard I’m using is made of plastic, so is the monitor and computer case! I must destroy them all…….
WHAM!!! Take that you evil plastic thing!….. POW!….. SLAM! CRASH!!! ……… ZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT……..


#48 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 6:54am


Man your sooo funny and sooo smart Kanoe Man! Nooot! You havent got a thing. Yes both koacanoe and Hiro have good points there while your just ignorant and stupid.............tick and tired of people like you
Yes we`re all part of the game but a bit awarness doesnt heard and maybe trying to not make the same misstakes over and over again.......and besides your a lolo cause you drink your bottled water hahaha...


#49 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:01am


you guys are giving this fool way too much credit- assuming he has a point to make or that he's witty. not. not worth the time to try to rebut someone who's obviously trying to get a rise out of everyone.

interesting for a guy who takes a screenname of "kanoeman" you haven't ever written anything related to paddling ever. could be that you're the alter ego of some other poster- which would be smart, better not use your real name if you're going to be such an ignorant dick.


#50 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:33am


Ha ha ha true as :-) your so right i rather spent my energy on more positive people ....


#51 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 10:44am


I haven't followed this thread in it's entirety, But one thing I know is that if you want to clean up, You need to start with the politics, Last summer when I paddled with the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe voyaging society from Laysan Island Kure Atol, One of our missions was to spend the day on Kure cleaning up, removing and disposing of the debris that had washed up. we had 20 people including a film crew that would have spent the day picking up trash, we also had a vessel large enough to get it all out. Unfortunately because of the burocratic BS we weren't even allowed to paddle within the Monument. A national monument can be a good thing, But when good causes want to help, but can't, interest will fade. The film crew would have been able to document the need for environmental action, the result will be a documentary on paddling and may take a look at the political issue holding back environmental issues.


#52 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 12:04pm


I was asking because I just read an article about surfboard shapers collecting foam trash from their shops and having it recycled. Do you know if canoe builders have a similar program ?


#53 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 3:29pm


I don't know? I just know that a lot of material is wasted in making lighter and stiffer boats. So I guess most of it ends up in whatever landfill we got left?


#54 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 3:33pm


It's pitiful and gratifying to watch the awesome spectacle of dinosaurus Kanoeus Manus self destructing on the eve of extinction, painfully crying out his last credo, desperately trying to regain long lost territory.
It's like watching National-Geographic.
Part 2 of this drama shows formerly unemployed/subsidized fishermen and their formerly idle fleet of boats trolling with special nets for plastic. Fueled by perhaps burning the same plastic, encapsulating the exhaust etc. Now there is a shovel ready project if I've ever seen one. From the size of it they'll be busy for years.


#55 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 6:29pm


flyriver,

that site you link to is fricking awesome...www.thestoryofstuff.com

that is one of the best videos i've ever seen in breaking down how we use resources in a clear and informative way


#56 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 7:54pm


rachel, i am sorry if i offended you in any way. all that i meant by my post was that, the coriolis effect has been doing this for since the continents were moved in the place they are now i guess, but before it was probably full of logs and glass balls. now im pretty sure small baitfish look for any debris floating about to attach their eggs to. and to hide from predators. but the thing is that the gyres would be full of whatever. logs and coconuts and over time the logs would biodegrade. unlike the plastic.

now what i was saying is that if we went and cleaned out this area, then maybe the baitfish wont have anything to use as a shelter, and what if we try to make a big difference in the ocean, but we end up making a big mistake to the ecosystem.

i dont want to sound like one of those guys thats like well the earths screwed lets not do anything about it, but at the same time i wouldnt want to mess it up, worse than it already is. and i try to do my part as much as i can to help the earth. like recycle everything i can and such. and the birds well thats just a shame. like something should be done about that, but whoever cleans it out, we need to make sure that it gets done the right way. i dont know, maybe nonody knows.


#57 Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:55pm


I have yet to read anyone’s better idea than mine, of how to remove the plastic from the ocean. No one is going to do it on a large scale for free. A few of you guys own fishing boats, right? How much will it cost you to drive out 1500 to 2000 miles, drag a fishing net around for a few days to collect tons of the supposed plastic island and then haul it back? Oh, and don’t forget what it will cost to dispose of it at the local over filled land fill.

I think we’re all in agreement that something needs to be done about trash in the ocean. We just disagree on how to do it. Just this morning I was out paddling, (without plastic bottles to fill with money and throw in the water) and I picked out a Cliff Bar wrapper along with an orange Gatorade bottle cap. But, I was unable to retrieve the largest piece of trash I’ve ever seen in the ocean. This piece of trash was red and on the side of it was painted “Polars.” Who in their right mind would ever pollute the ocean with that?


#58 Sat, 04/04/2009 - 7:47am


How much? A shit load, the HOCVS was paying a commercial fishing boat 6.00 per minute. It took us 14 days to drive from Kauai to Kure and back. If you think the trash is so wide spread you can just put a net in the water and scoop it out your nuts, It is a huge ocean and I was in the water (north west hawaiian Islands) you are talking about, You see more in your local water than you will see in these remote areas, The solution is not necceasarily ooing out to the area and cleaning, but rather not allowing the trash to get in the water in the first place, you would do more good walking your beach or picking up what you can while paddling.
I can't tell you how frustrating it was to help raise over 100,000.00 paddle in these pristine areas, and wanting to help clean up the environment, only to be told that our being there, and trying to help was not wanted.


#59 Sat, 04/04/2009 - 9:12am


Dacho, you are right ... that video of the "story of stuff" http://www.storyofstuff.com is a must watch for everyone if you care about the planet and your families.

Thank you for posting the link Flyriverboy, i'm going to link it off my Blog.

Cheers Rambo


#60 Sat, 04/04/2009 - 1:48pm


Hi
yes. please go to thestoryofstuff.com. It shows us how we are fundamentally fucking up the world through the way the financial capitalistic system operates.. ( ie. greed). products/merchandise become cheap and affordable simply because some one else is paying the price -- eg the environment, unlawful cheap labour in third worlds!

The other thing is - project kaisei is a "TRIAL" run, to put years of research/techinical studies into practice,, especially on plastic collecting methods + methods of recycling/sorting the waste.

There are lots of research going on behind project kaisei. Lot s of technical people behind it. Not mentioned /updated in the kaisei website yet. Way too complex to mention it there. The website will be constantly updated.

In regards to what tndale says -- yes , we have to be careful and not upset the new "equilibrium" , since it is possible that bait fish/other small ecosystem are adapting to the new plastic floaties.

Suffice to say, these considerations have been carefully thought through since the project was started 1 year or so ago... .

The other threat is the concentration of organic pollutants which is concentrated into plastic -- and there are studies in hawaii waters at least 8 species of fishes regularly eat the fragmented plastics... and how this just gets into the food chain.

If you been through some of the documents the scientists published, and through some of the photos of dissected fish guts, you will probably understand better why this "new: plastic ecosystem is detrimental - way too detrimental -- to be around! Of course, the challenge now is to see how we can best rid of those plastics.

The project itself --- is more of a "TRIAL" and raising awareness, hoping to educate and influence politicians in regards to always consider environment protection as a criteria in formulating policies/legislations. It is a constant battle --- to think of how actions impact the planet -- instead of always looking at short-term profits!

If there are more questions, please contact through private email or direct to the website!

have a great weekend water folks

www.thestoryofstuff.com


#61 Sat, 04/04/2009 - 5:14pm


"It shows us how we are fundamentally fucking up the world through the way the financial capitalistic system operates.. ( ie. greed). products/merchandise become cheap and affordable simply because some one else is paying the price — eg the environment, unlawful cheap labour in third worlds!"

Yup, Got a chuckle out of that one. As if each and everyone of us if we could make a living paddling would jump at the chance to turn a profit.

I visited Cheju Do, Korea's premiere resort island some years back. It had a ring of garbage around it like the ring around a bathtub. On each beach there was a line of plastic bottles, cardboard milk cartons, and cellophane wrappers. It was sad, but not something Americans had created, or allowed to persist.

I was stationed in Korea for a while. A whole family of North Koreans had attempted to defect on the Western coast. They made themselves lifejackets out of blocks of wood and cloth vests and walked into the water one night holding hands. They hoped to drift south. Hypothermia eventually got to them and only a few family members eventually survived to be picked up in South Korea.

Our people asked them why they defected? Why did they take the risk? We knew they were told that South Koreans were the starving slaves of the Americans. They had taken a big blind risk and lost more than half their family members.

Why? "The garbage," they responded.

The garbage? Yes, apparently South juice bottles, plastic wrappers, and other flotsam and jetsam made its way North to their beaches.

These North Koreans believed that if the South Koreans generated that much garbage they could not be starving the way they had been told by their leaders.

Shouldn't be floating plastic. No question. I think there are ways to control it, but there are worse things.

If there weren't ways of packaging items that are imported into the Pacific Islands and ways of packaging items that Pacific Islands export, you'd be working full time to eat and there'd be precious little time to paddle for recreation.

Darned capitalists.
~~~~~~~~~~
YankeeHo'okele
"Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm" - Syrus Publilius


#62 Sun, 04/05/2009 - 2:40pm


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