Exercises

Ocean blues

Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of kilometres from any national boundary, the rubbish of human life is collecting in a swirling current so large that it is hard to even measure.

Read the story from the Bangkok Post to learn more.

Light bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes and tiny pieces of plastic the size of rice grains float in the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely scattered trash that doubles in size every decade. It is currently believed to be roughly twice the size of Texas.

One research organisation estimates that the garbage now actually coversthe entire Pacific, though most of it is caught in an area of heavy currents and low winds that keep the rubbish swirling in a giant whirlpool.

Scientists say that the garbage patch is just one of five that may be caught in these currents scattered around the world's oceans.

GARBAGE GALORE

Abandoned fishing gear such as buoys, fishing lines and nets account for some of the waste, while other items come from land after washing into storm drains and out to sea. Plastic is the most common material in the patch.

Plastic can float along for hundreds of kilometres before being caught in a current. As the plastic breaks down over time, it splits into small fragments that look like confetti in the water. Trillions of these particles are now floating in the world's rubbish-filled waters.

FOUL FISH FOOD

Toxic chemicals cannot dissolve in the water, but the plastic absorbs them like a sponge. Fish that feed on plankton often eat the tiny plastic particles, and scientists believe that fish tissues now often contain some of the same chemicals as the plastic. It seems that the toxic chemicals are leaking into fish tissue from the plastic that they eat in the ocean.

DISTURBING DISCOVERY

Researcher Charles Moore found the Pacific garbage patch by accident 12 years ago, when he travelling by sea from Hawaii. Moore is convinced that several similar garbage patches remain to be discovered. Many scientists believe that there are also garbage patches off the coast of Japan and in the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

EXERCISE

Read the story. Then, answer the following true or false questions.

1. Fishing gear is the most common garbage found in the water.
2. The fish tissue contains confetti.
3. Charles Moore found the garbage patch by accident.
4. There are believed to be more garbage patches in different oceans.

	swirl (v): to move around quickly with a circular movement scattered (adj): spread far apart over a wide area or over a long period of time buoy (n): an object which floats on the sea or a river to mark the places where it is dangerous and where it is safe for boats to go fragment (n): a small part of something that has broken off or comes from something larger confetti (n): small pieces of coloured paper that people often throw over a man and woman who have just been married or at other special events foul (adj): dirty; very unpleasant dissolve (v): to mix with a liquid and become part of it