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Plastic Pollution In The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Created Something Incredible
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- Опубликовано: 30 май 2022
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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about intriguing discoveries from the formation known as the Pacific Garbage Patch
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For anyone asking "what was that spiky blue/silver creature" that's Glaucus Atlanticus (or one of its' 4 sibling species) aka the blue sea dragon. They look even better in real life, but don't handle them - they are chock full of nematocysts stolen from the jellyfish they eat.
Thank you
what? they can "steal" nematocysts?
It is awesome looking.
You mean don't eat them? Ok i won't, but would love to see some IRL..
@@_Wai_Wai_ I know, right? It's an interesting defensive adaptation. Rather than digesting the nematocysts the sea dragon's body repurposes them for its own defense.
Kind of a floating shipwreck really, good for small things seeking a haven, but not so great for the big things eating the plastic with the small things.
It's very disturbing when you learn about how this plastic trash is affecting birds in particular.
praise the sun
@@varisleek3360 Leona has entered the chat
when large creatures go extinct, small creatures will take their place. Our place.
@@leonoites pretty much life in a nutshell Small things always Win in the first place
Anton, I am so terribly sorry to hear about your loss. Losing a child at such a young age must be heartbreaking, and my sincerest condolences to you and your family at this difficult time. Stay strong for your wife.
1. I'm surprised you didn't mention "The Ocean Cleanup", who catch plastic close to the source - the world's most polluting rivers, which generated ~80% of the garbage patch.
2. Is there ultimately a big difference if we stop pouring plastic in the oceans, which will kill the organisms (or force them to move) once the garbage patch is broken down?
I honestly think the patch will remain if we remove the plastics; there has been debris before plastic, and by switching plastics out with safer alternatives the amount of debris won't change by that much
@@derianvandalsen Indeed, nature always pushes things and the currents move them around just the same as our plastic. It's just that natural debris gets broken down faster and it's what always worked for the ecosystem.
@@kneekoo If you watch 1Pacific Redwood this is also where the Ridiculous Resilient Ridge has been hanging out at. The two are likely related as what happens is the 'garbage' blocks up the normal ocean flow mainly the Humbolt Current which acts as nature's AC. Now that AC has been 'broken' and the only reason we are seeing the rain we have been is due to the La Nina and much more likely Tonga and other volcano events disrupting things.
Plastic is not a single material but a range of polymers based upon different chemicals. Nylon 66 is one of the oldest and most common, but Chorine, Acetate, Kevlar, Polyformadihyde, are some of the ones that I used when I manufactured car and truck parts.
@@kylehill1523 You went from "likely" to "the only reason" pretty fast. I really have an issue with people going down the conspiracy rabbit holes without expecting more proof. It's not that there's *likely* more human garbage in politics than in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but I would love to see these longtime claims backed up with solid evidence, taken to court, suing the shirts off of those responsible for these alleged issues.
Some conspiracy theories stay out there, lurking for decades or more, with hard/weird claims and weak proof, plus little to no action. It's as if someone tries to mess with people just so they can sell them the stuff they need to protect themselves from X, Y and Z.
Okay so, being an environmental sciences major I can fairly confidently say that however life adapts to these newly created environments isn't a vital part of the biosphere. There just hasn't been enough time for complicated relationships and food webs to be created. Coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are vital though, and plastic pollution among other things is endangering them. Of course there is no true morality to life, it's just a simple fact of replicating faster than you're dying, so you can't really say one kind of life is better than some other kind. Still, if we're thinking of what's best for our civilization, everything we've built is reliant on the current state of the biosphere and functioning planetary regulation systems. If we let key biomes like coral reefs and rainforests get destroyed there is a high likelihood that our civilization isn't adaptive enough to survive, as what is currently changing with all of the environmental crises is predictability and continuity, which is the cornerstone of stable settlements and agriculture, and thus all of human civilization. We're steering into completely uncharted waters and we don't want to be making bets.
So it's not a given that their will be generations to come , because if that's what your saying I'd say your right .
Yeah, it's fascinating but it's not an argument to keep the plastic islands around.
Why can't humans use hemp or fungal matter as a primary building material for dwelling structures and general biodegradable products like containers? Hemp and fungal matter both each have displayed amazingly strong properties as building materials and as general purpose materials used for things ranging from clothing to car parts and beyond.
we should clean the environments that haven't been destroyed and the places that have we should let evolve
@@cyranodebergeracswiss2923 Ooh! sharp and precise just like just like a pocketknife watch could only be a 'Schwytzer'.
Anton I love you man.
Your openness to discuss a topic that you haven’t formed an opinion about is refreshing.
Of course it is what I would hope for from an international scientist who loves to learn and teach internationally - but I love you for it. Thank you.
I remember years ago I was involved in a program called ArtScience Prize. The winning team had a project to clean the oceans of trash. Our teams goal was to utilize VR and AR technology to simulate various mental illnesses. We wanted to raise awareness and erase stigma. Educate people on how to seek help and that it's okay to ask for help. I still feel robbed to this day considering the state of my country AND that the project was supposed to be humanitarian.
It's wonderful that you continue to create great content despite your still very recent loss. He WILL be proud of his Dad! Keep strong Anton.
I agree, but please stop bringing it up again and again. Imagine if Anton finds 10 such comments every single time he posts a video. He would be trying to move on, wouldn't he? We should support him silently.
I didn't even know, but it's not my business and I don't need to know about his personal life..
Some kid somewhere is going to use this as an excuse to not clean up his moldy yoghurt cups.
"but mom, cleaning this up would be killing life forms that i brought into this world"
Pretty good example. Actually now I wanna know - I know they're flourishing, but are these creatures doing okay without the plastic? Because if the answer is yeah... scoop that plastic up.
OMG thank you, As a seafarer I have been through those spots hundreds of times but I
can never convince people that there are no floating trash islands there. Now I can just
point them here.
that is why it's so hard to " clean it up" . i blame social media for not presenting it correctly. the doomsayers all want us to think it's actual islands of plastic.
Those microorganisms don't break down polyfluorinated compounds.
Lol, before this video i never even heard of it.
@@lorenzoblum868 Yet....
Yeah, I;ve been yelled at and called retarded (among other things) for telling people there aren't literal islands of trash. someone showed me the picture of a darker skinned man standing on a 12' boat in front of a pile of floating garbage. I pointed out that he was using a pole to push the boat around, so the picture was probably at an estuary or tidal flat in a third world country, likely after a storm.
the argument immediately became about why I was racist.......
The amazing ability for nature to adapt is astounding... And just a little reassuring.
Thank you for another simple, candid and eye-opening video. Just looking the facts without prejudice, it makes you think, open the mind to many new ideas, and cleans egotism and selfish agendas out of the communication. Great work!
There have been several cases now where bacteria have evolved to be able to digest different types of plastics. I don't think it will take too long for nature to sort this out. Perhaps we will be able to discover some novel molecules along the way.
They digest but they don't break down so in the end it ends up in our plate....
would be a catastrophe for chemistry if plastic containers suddenly became as reliable as cardboard
@@lorenzoblum868
They do break it down at the molecular level, converting poly-molecular plastics, into simpler, more reactive molecules which biodegrade.
I hate that nature is finding ways to clean up corporation's messes, because that should be their responsibility, but I'm also glad that it's doing what it can to survive.
@@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa "Corporation's messes"? Us as consumers are equally to blame.
I was always imagining a giant garbage island floating there, thanks Anton.
The more you know ⭐️
😂
there were several photos and "documentaries" that showed such islands... fake news i guess, but why?
oh the horror.
the swirling garbage island called the white house is truly terrifying.
We should build an island out of the garbage
There are some of those islands, but not the whole patch. Just small ones.
@@JamecBond i bet someone will at least make a godzilla sequel based on the idea
The moment Anton said he's not smart enough, i had to let out a giggle because i've seen his CV, and it is probably one of the most amazing CV's ever.
Your voice is so soothing. And you’re dropping science. Full approval!
A detailed, nuanced look at the problem. Love it
So nuanced he forgot to clarify they don't break down polyfluorinated compounds.
I look in a way that you cannot solve the problem, great
@@lorenzoblum868 it doesnt matter if they break them or not, the point is there is life in these patches now, and that makes the cleanup more complicated. I'm guessing these animals are thriving more because their own predators know to avoid the patch
@@lorenzoblum868
Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens KI72 wants to have a word with you.
imagine if they handled AGW, this vac that isnt a vac by any definition before they decided to change the word, that way...
I can’t believe how beautiful these creatures living in plastic are 😦
As someone who has worked in the plastic industry for about 6 years. I must say. This is inspiring, infuriating, confusing, amusing, beautiful, and astonishing. I do work with the (gurdles) we usually just call them pellets or resin pellets. My company has done alot to use the most recycled plastic as possible and I definitely try to keep the plastic waste to a minimum. I have felt for a long time, plastic is one of humanity's greatest sins against the planet. There is alot which goes into making plastic. I won't get into any of that. But honestly. Global warming is one issue we could all talk about. But plastic waste is a much much bigger problem. And I don't even think it's close. But finding how great and amazing life is at adapting. This is very inspiring.
Trouble is , we are consuming this in the fish we eat .
Our family and myself was also involved in plastics since 1949 .
We need to invest in bio plastics derived from plants but is purposely being held back .
@@williamgrimberg2510 l bought an LP and the record shop gave it to me in a biodegradable carrier bag, UK 1976 (my sisters were buying paper fashion clothes in the late 60's), it seems to me that the technology is often there, decade after decade but it doesn't become generic for some reason?
Maybe the solution is to eliminate plastics with lethal shapes, like bottle lids and straws. While allowing less harmful shapes like water bottles to continue. These flourishing species are basically defenseless in the open ocean, but the plastics gives them a natural defense against predators. Rarely do we see the bottom dwellers in the food chain cull their predators.
It makes me think of the time before bacteria and fungi evolved to break down cellulose and trees/plants just turned into fossil fuels. We've seen fungi evolve to use radiation for energy inside Chernobyl. I think it won't be long before the life in these garbage patches evolves the ability to break down plastics. (For better or worse.)
It amazes me how long it took for fungi to evolve to break down cellulose. That was a 60 million year lag. Seems far too long.
@@louislesch3878 they probably had a different source of food
There was a discovery in Japan a while back of plastic eating bacteria, we're already there!
Doomers are so stupid.
We already solved the plastic problem a long time ago.
It's just being used to manipulate activists and create eco-terrorist.
This will be fun if PVC-eating bacteria will evolve and remigrate to dry land.
All our electric cables will be without insulation soon.
The problem being, there will still be continuing problems/events…that is, something like the digestion fluids create a algae problem that is devoured by another creature that then mutates into a creature that gets addicted to youtube
Meh, that's their problem. If that do happen we'll be long gone by then.
But... I didn't devour any algae...
So thats how children are created
lol
I do like seafood
Don't say you're not smart enough Anton, you're already doing so much to help with the problem that you are part of the solution. I just heard someone say a statement closes the mind, but a question opens it and you're always coming up with great questions!
This is the science version of a teenager seeing a mushroom growing from a dirty sock pile, and says something along the lines of, "well we can't kill it now, we gotta find out what it is"
I guess there's the question of how much we value these new eco systems compared to the harm they're causing so many other, older, systems.
At the very least we absolutely need to stop the furthering of the pollution...
Exactly. Plus those microorganisms do not break down polyfluorinated compounds.
Sorry but you have failed to understand what the evidence is telling us. These are old ecosystems which we have polluted not new ones which have arisen due to our actions.
@@garrygriggs1888 that depends on how you define it. If there's a completely novel component to an environment, and a new setup of species interacting with it and each other in novel ways, I would say it is "new". My point still stands regardless. Do we prioritise the organisms that have started surviving (maybe even thriving) with the help of the pollution, or do we prioritise the REST of the ecosystems of the seas that are suffering from it because they haven't been able to adapt yet.
"
At the very least we absolutely need to stop the furthering of the pollution..."
why??? ever considered the cost of that? ever thought of comparing the cost of eliminating use of plastics to a large degree and comparing it to the cost of continuing the use of them and dealing with the minor pollution some other way?
plastics have done unimagineable things for humanity
@@miridium121 how about not prioritising tinkering with ecosystems unless they have a proveable and severe enough damage to us (ie bee and insec tpopulations), ahead of the prosperity of humans?
Anton keep on truckin', you're a champ. You've been and ae going through a lot - if you ever have to take days or weeks off, we understand, you're doing A LOT. A video a week is hard enough but every day? Sometimes more than once? Christ dude, you're a machine - but even machines need maintenance - You're a champ and the real Wonderful person is YOU. You ARE a wonderful person.
I second this, I love Anton, his channel is easily a top 3 favorites for me. He really is a wonderful person
He’s a truck driver?
He's doing what he feels to do. And it's not that he's working in a freaking coal mine. He's literally sitting in his chair, searching for news and then films himself speaking about it.
Thanks for calling this out
110% agree!
Thank you for acknowledging the problem of the fishing industry. That problem is so large that we can not realistically reduce the acceleration of this problem, and other climate problems, as long as we keep eating animals.
Sorry for your lose and the pain brought to you and your family. I wish the best for you and yours. Stay strong and live your best.
The earliest I been in a while! Thanks for consistently sharing knowledge, wonderful Anton
Why do kids announce when they arrive 😆
@@mikeuk666 why do you care so much to comment so many times about this? 😆
why dont they throw garbage in the bermuda triangle? planes and ships disappeared without a trace. why not garbage?
I think it’s called the Bermuda Square. Like that idea.
One of your best videos that I can remember. I have seen and enjoy many of your videos. Thanks for being a wonderful person.
You’re doing a great job Anton. Thank you!👍❤️
They make the garbage patch sound like it's a giant floating island on the ocean made of plastic. ..
But most of the patch has a density of 1 kg of plastic per square kilometer.
Yeah Anton says this at 3:00.. interesting stuff
Just like the “hole in the ozone” which just happened to be an anomaly on earths magnetosphere, and had nothing with pollution.
@@tuloko16 It was bad science. The moment they could measure the ozone levels they found a hole and declared it to be human-caused without a baseline to compare it to.
@@tuloko16 Could you provide sources for this?
@@tuloko16 Source: "trust me bro".
I love how this guy isn’t politically motivated
He’s about the work not the drama
Me too
Bless this channel🤙🏻 😎👍🏻
You're one of the smartest, most humble and genuine people I know Anton. Thank you for educating me.
😁🤗❤️🇦🇺
Thank you for this video and for your fundraising.
I am so sorry for the loss of your child; I grieve for your loss.
Idk, Anton. I have a very hard time believing abandoned Chinese fishing nets are anything but an abject catastrophe.
"Plastic is great actually" there's a reason the ocean cleanup project is sponsored by coke
It provides a save environment for fish fry (babies) to have shelter in the open ocean and provides a place for adult fish to spawn and attach their eggs.
This was always done in the past, plants, like dead trees served the same purpose with shorter lifespans.
Yeah superfund sites would probably make for new biology in them too, doesnt mean we shouldnt clean them up.
@@mraggressivestoic8442 Free floating fishing nets also strangle marine mammals-and confuse the hell out of poorly educated environmental activists who don't realize the problem is global and not local. This causes toxic relations between people who really want the same thing: a natural environment free from wanton human destruction which is robust as a result.
@@mraggressivestoic8442 dead trees are nowhere near comparable with oceanic plastic.
I like George Carlin's take on environmentalists, I just keep seeing how right he is, we might be fucked but the planet will be fine, fungi was evolving to eat oil from oil spills, now ocean life has made a garbage patch it's home. All surface life could disappear just leaving maybe plankton in the ocean and it would come back.
There are Fungi that also eat plastic too!
"Nature, we're sorry we killed the planet..."
"You didn't, Dear, you just screwed yourselves, and you won't be missed."
@@TimeSurfer206 are you one of these humans are plagues upon life types? So dumb.
I disagree. In 40 years maybe sooner, we will have poisoned the seas completely . Over half of the planet's oxygen is produced by phytoplankton. The seas will only have jellyfish in them. We are cutting down the rainforests producing the other half of our oxygen - trees. All animals and fish require oxygen. So it's not just us.
George Carlin was wrong about mankind being fucked. There are strong, intelligent, and resilient members of our species. Not every human will perish. Only the weak and stupid
I watched a documentary once where a journalist hired a boat and went searching for the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch. At the beginning of his adventure he expected to find great rafts of floating plastic detritus as described by the panic-stricken media. Once out on the open sea, however, he discovered that the so called 'Garbage Patch' looked exactly the same as two thousand mile fastness of water and waves upon which he had just traveled to get there.
Not to be disappointed, he then trailed super fine mesh nets behind the boat for several miles in order to capture any microscopic particles which may be floating on or near the surface that might have escaped his notice. Sure enough, when he hoisted the nets, there were a couple of tablespoons full of what turned out to be bits of seaweed, wood chips and, yes, even a few tiny bits of man-made plastic. Triumphant, he summed up by re-stating the grave danger to the environment these tiny particles represented. 😂
The ones that pollute the most are the ones we're not allowed to talk about, blame, push, or expect to change.
But all of us others have to pay extra for this and that, more taxes here and there.
Nice video as always. Really interesting!
Grats on 1M subscribers. You do great work Anton, this was another great video.
Congrats on 1 mil Anton, it’s been a joy to watch your channel grow from a science channel that made my day to making so many other peoples day
Here here!
Hi Anton, I’m so sorry for your loss. Prayers for you and your family.
This man deserves a Nobel prize. They give them away for political nonsense while this man, the teacher to the world, hangs out on RUclips.
the software of life is supreme, self-updating, self-adapting
Like you already said, leaving these plastics in the ocean means that besides offering a new way for life to thrive, it also creates big problems for a lot of other lifeforms and the ecosystem as a whole with the spread of those micro plastics. I feel the patches should be cleaned, but more importantly, plastics should be prevented from getting into the sea and the environment. So reduce the use, collect and recycle if possible and cleaning rivers before the plastic gets to the sea (ocean cleanup is working on that last one too) should be the main focus. Otherwise these patches will keep reforming from new material.
Go back to glass bottles.
Yes. This.
Wringing your hands over the life that is destroyed by the cleanup while ignoring all the life that is destroyed/impacted by its presence is ridiculous. You're prioritizing life in a human created habitat over the life in a natural habitat.
Sorry, but that's just wrongheaded.
Plenty of the plastic trash is actually “recycling” that was sent to Southeast Asia to be scoured for scrap and then tossed into a river.
Recycling doesn't work. Plastic is not recyclable. At best it can be downcycled, and even that is an insurmountable logistical hurdle. The only option is stopping plastic production.
I've read/seen that 90% of the pacific plastic comes from 3rd world rivers. The western world is already relatively clean..
2 years ago I did a research on toxicity effects of micro and nano plastics after ingestion. They indeed pass bood- brain barriers it's concerning!!!
But what actually is their effect - I think this needs more research - plastics are organic chemical so how do they react??
Here in New York State, circa 1983 (when I was working at a local grocery store as a young man of 18 years old), MY STATE adopted the "Plastic Shopping Bag" program. Like a lot of other stores across the country, the thought was the "save trees" by offering plastic shopping bags to consumers and the advertising back then CLAIMED that these new plastic bags were made out of "corn starch" and they were not only "recyclable", but they were also both reusable and biodegradable as well!!
And that was the logic behind them, because we were all taught about the "Three twisted Arrow" symbol that meant Reusable, recyclable and responsible. In fact the liberals who run our state, went so far as to ban ANYTHING made from brown paper and thin grey cardboard that IS 100% recyclable in favor of making EVERYTHING out of plastic!!!
Dimwitted Dimocrat policies have negative consequences.
Honestly, i don't know how this wasn't expected. Life adapts and evolves, i don't see how we thought it couldn't adapt and evolve to our waste products
Life er... er... finds a way
@@appleid3151 best reply i could've gotten 😂
yeah, I've always said that saying "we're destroying the planes!" is a very incorrect, and very human-centric thought.
we're not destroying anything, we're just changing it to be less livable for the life we're used to.
Just because barnacles find a floating drum to attach too doesn't mean it should be protected. The life in a garbage patch would probably have died if it hadn't found garbage to attach too. If it's smaller than a turtle or otter I say kill it!
The surprise isn’t that life adapted to the plastics; it’s that it did so so freaking fast!
Maybe transitioning to certain bioplastics more could be the solution. A: they act as carbon sinks and B: they might degrade quicker and more safely. Obviously, there'd have to be studies done to hone in on the right plastics, but I know that studies on PLA plastic shows that it biodegrades very well in the presence of microbes from dairy farms, so the molecular tools to do so are present in nature.
It depends, you have many bioplastics that are just as non degredable as petrol ones and some petrol ones are very degradable too. I hope legislators remember that when making laws.
The more of a carbon sink it is, the less compoatable it is. And vice versa. They are contradictory
@@ThomasBomb45 The problem with plastics, is that the general public only thinks of them as "plastics" when there are alot of types and some arent that bad. To top it all off the industry also mix them up on the same product making the waste very hard to be properly recycled.
If they degrade, then they're not a carbon sink.
"But I am going to give you some facts. So let's take a look at twitter"
The comedic timing is amazing :)
Anton is such a wonderful person with a wonderful channel discussing wonderful things.
thank you for providing a 'third way' to think of the plastic patch. I like your idea that reducing the influx of plastic might be the better approach than to disrupt the emerging biodiversity in the pollution patch.
Here in the US we often block development because a subspecies evolved because of a prior bit of human development isolating a species. Who knows what the biodiversity in those patches could lead towards. I suspect that the 'plastic eating' bacteria that we've discovered would thrive and become the base of a food chain out there. If we do reduce the plastic inputs, the patch would slowly provide evolutionary pressure away from the biome's plastic dependency, but after the biodiversity could add to the general resiliency of our interconnected species.
I've always been of the mind to do what I can to reduce my waste creation, but had not thought through to the fishing net analogy. Again, in the US, there are laws about construction of fishing equipment to reduce it's entry into the global floating waste. Perhaps more precise labelling of nation of origin and knowing the approach they take towards sustainable fishing would do the trick.
Anton, thank you for taking the risk of sharing an idea outside of the mainstream thought patterns, it's added to our collective understanding of the systems we are creating.
Random Q: I've always heard that plastic is not a natural thing. Only man made. Does this mean that plastic likely doesn't exist naturally anywhere in the entire universe?
Well, it requires a tectonically active planet, enourmous amounts of lifeforms, millions of years to press the dead bodies of these lifeforms into oil and then you would need a process of refinery, which I personally am very doubtful could occur naturally.
It's likely that plastic and the conditions it creates are completely unique to earth.
Could be completely wrong tho, I am just a dude on the internet.
Like most compounds, all it takes is a meeting of other compounds in the right conditions. Due to how rare those base compounds are universally - existing on earth as a rarity - ya it'd probably be as likely as finding anything else man-made
Interesting question - I think as far as we know the answer is yes.
Plastic is usually made from oil - oil is created by dead living organismen that sank too the floor of the ocean.
We don't know if there is live from outside the earth in the universe - so propably no oil either.
Even if there would be oil I don't know if plastic could be created natural. The chance to find live is propably higher.
I would never say never. Somewhere in the universe I could imagine a life form that makes plastic-like materials to live in, like a nest or a hive, or maybe one that even are (partly) made of things similar to plastic. Life is amazing!
So basically it COULD exist elsewhere IF life exists elsewhere and the conditions are right. Now if intelligent life exists elsewhere then the chances go up? As they may have a reason to discover and make plastics like we do, right?
Microorganisms that eat microplastics would do the trick, whether they evolve naturally or are gene-engineered. Great show as always, Anton! Great that this is now always a fundraiser so less ads and less money to YT. And friend, you are looking a lot better, thank goodness, I hope your family is too. :)
My trash can is a biosphere, I still have it reset bi-weekly. To make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. Im sure the life caught in the clean up was thriving elsewhere before we created the prime issue, the clean up needs to happen, along w/ the other initiatives to reduce waste at source.
It's gonna be interesting when some microbe comes along that starts eating all this plastic. Right now all this plastic is comparable to the indigestible lingin from the carboniferous era. An untapped energy source waiting for a consumer.
Great take. Reminds me of how surprised we were when we found out that some bacteria mow through oil spills.
This microorganisms do not break down polyfluorinated compounds.
Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens KI72 wants to have a word with you.
@@lorenzoblum868 Why are you spamming this as if the entire video is now invalid for missing this?
@@MarioMonte13 your use of the word "spamming" is inappropriate to say the least.
@@lorenzoblum868 You sure? You've replied 2 versions of the same post in every single comment thread on this video. I'd call that spamming.
So I'll ask again, why are you spamming this on every single thread like the point you're making invalidates the video?
Don't sell yourself short and tongue, and that goes for anybody else we need to get this thing figured out, along with anything else that endangers the system from which we came from. Thank you for your hard work Anton the video was great, As always.
Love your videos. This may be your most important video yet.
Deep sea oil wells drastically increased fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico, because they function effectively as artificial reefs. Without a surface for life to anchor on, most of the deep sea is dead, but provide an achor, like oil wells or plastics, life finds a place to call home. It's a sort of irony about the world.
Pretty sure that's why they scuttle decommissioned ships, to create artificial reefs.
When the last time you were at the Gulf of Mexico? It is polluted beyond belief.
@@honouryourvomit About 3 days ago, it's just fine.
Life will, uh, find a way
We think ourselves masters of this planet!
In reality we are nothing but its tool, we are here because it wants us to be.
This is definitely a conundrum. While it’s hard for me to say “destroy the plastics that these living things have made their homes!” It’s also harmful to us, harmful to other things that eat fish/seafood, and harmful to things that have already been evolved and are being poisoned or choked out by plastics. It’s not about what’s good for a tiny part of the environment, rather the environment at large. People may disagree with me, though, very interesting topic!
I see it as a non-issue, The pollution causes damage to all creatures, and the higher up the food chain you are the more condensed the symptoms end up becoming. People will eventually become more responsible as our economies and ethics change, pollution will decrease, and the patch will disappear as break-down exceeds plastic pollution. This will happen over decades as they break down into microplastics and settle at the bottom of the ocean. It's unsustainable because its an ecosystem running on the most wasteful of practices and as humans we can't continue to live on current technologies indefinitely, hence why we are always pushing for advancements.
Nuke it from orbit it's the only way to be sure
removing the plastic also removes the natural stuff floating there. the cover, substrate, and bio-slime food provided by one palm frond can produce thousands of fish who have stuck their eggs to the frond (and to the plastic)
@@biancabonet the fragments include billions of fish eggs.
@@Lychee-Nut but most of the open ocean life uses these areas to spawn, always has. before the plastics joined, it was just floating natural debris, and alot of what is removed by these plastic cleanups is natural debris (fish nurseries). we need to be sure the cure isnt the poison.
I don't eat fish. But i am guilty of drinking literally tons of beverages shipped in plastic bottles
Wow, I thought I knew most of what I needed to really understand what he plastic in the ocean, but this video clearly explained a lot of grand info that we prolly don’t all realize. Thank you💛
Missed you Anton!
Futurama predicted the future, but instead of a Garbage meteor we have a Garbage Tsunami
I love how you always manage to bring across brilliant yet simple points of view, shining on so many fascinating topics from your unique, wonderful perspective. Thank you and congrats for a million subscribers! Way to go!
“The earth doesn’t share our prejudice with plastic” -George Carlin
The "Life, it finds a way" quote being, once again, true.
Anton, they are entire ecosystems in the ocean in "floating" patch of biological "detritus", like wood, herbs, carcasses and so on. These ecosystems did indeed existed before plastic and are very important for some species because they are natural habitat and protection for their offspring, this is well documented. It's not new at all, and plastic certainly is not the factor that created or made those ecosystem possible, but yea now those floating "island" have a lot of plastic too which make the cleaning a problem because it destroy those ecosystem as well.
About fishing net, not long ago they were made of biological material like ropes, and were constantly repair by fisher, some still do that to some extend because they are very expensive, but yea plastic nets replaced them and most now are "throw away" material, and are part of the cost just like fuel or the spending on boats. We still have those wooden installation along the cost here, where fisher used to put their nets and repair them, they are just nice looking tourist attraction now :(
Not sure about the entire "life adaptation" and consumption of plastic though, i know it exist, but I'm pretty sure it's very marginal.
It's called the plastic continent where I live and it sounds better than garbage patch. It's the size of the United Kingdom. I hope you're doing better about your personal life Anton. I have a daughter hospitalized for life so I know what it's like to lose a child to an illness, but you have lost your son or daughter permanently. I don't have any advice because I'm never going to get over seeing my kid never have a life, but I am doing my best to make it a great life for myself. I think that's all we can do...
the UK is garbage i agree
Why will your daughter be hospitalized for life if you dont mind answering?
Prayers for you ... your family...and Especially your Daughter
I'd hate to be constantly reminded of it in the comments if I were Anton. I wouldn't have publicly announced it to be honest.
@@GraveyardTricks GGGGGGGGGGreat to hear from you. Everyone sees things in their own unique way. What is the one thing that sets you or me apart from everyone else? Your point of view. Have you noticed that even if you wanted to, you can't even give away your point of view? When you've live through war you got the right to talk about what it's like to be in a war...
"Maybe it'll be you, it wont be me, I'm not smart enough"
This man...
Even tho I think he meant he doesn't know enough about that field to solve the problem, I still yelled "You're smart as what! Whatchu meannnnn" at my computer. lol
@@mahelaniarektbb Lmao same
One thing that could be done, according to the information you just gave us, they could stop using fishing nets made of plastic and go back to what they used before plastic nets were available.
"Something something something ... Life Finds a Way ... something something something"
I once lived in a very messy space with college students and we evolved "walks", which are flys with no natural enemies and no need to fly so they lost their wings and walked.
I think that many of us are attempting to reduce our plastic use. It is also important to remember that plastics are usually a long lived hydrocarbons made from oil products. So like most hydrocarbons they will breakdown over a long time. Sunlight and heat contribute to degradation. The organisms living in these rafts may also contribute to their degradation by exuding enzymes and digestive juices that may hydrolyse hydrocarbons. It would be interesting to test this. In the mean time recycle, reuse and avoid excessive plastic waste.
Hey wonderful Anton! I think you may find the print on the front of your t-shirt is a form of plastic! Anyway thanks for a really well researched video. Like yourself, I have found it difficult to form an opinion on this issue. Keep these awesome videos coming.
Much love and respect 💖🇦🇺🐨
I'm super against how wasteful humanity is and all the garbage and chemicals that get out into the environement. On the other hand life and evolution aren't static and will constantly adapt to make the best outta whatever circumstances arise, either naturally or from human activity. Conservation is all well and good, but sometimes new species are just gonna show up to take advantage of conditions that other critters can't, and only one group is gonna make it. Kinda fascinating to see how life is adapting to these garbage patches, even if they are a bit of a blight on the planet
There’s even microbes that live on radioactive waste.
❤👍✊>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
The way i see it is: when you see a birds nest, you don’t call it “bird made”. You call it nature. We are also part of nature, so our pollution is also a natural process.
I am 💯 for protecting our environment, don’t get me wrong. But that effort always turns into the government stealing our money in the name of conservation, and nothing gets done.
I did not expect greenwashing from Anton 😱 This microorganisms do not break down polyfluorinated compounds.
"either naturally or from human activity" What's the difference? As far as we know, we're just another animal species that originated and evolved on this planet. Our activity is natural; its the behavior of an animal species that originated on this planet. And I think discoveries like this highlight the problem with viewing humans and their activity as some kind of foreign actor that isn't suppose to exist on the planet. We may be fairly unique in the complexity of our achievements in comparison to other species, but at the end of the day we're still another species existing and interacting on the planet that birthed us. And when you think of it that way, its actually not surprising at all that life would find a way to thrive within the byproducts of our actions.
And that’s my point, Anton. People talk about saving the planet and they should realize it’s about saving them selves.
I'm a scientist working on sustainable plastics. Plastic isn't the problem - there are really good reasons why we use plastics and they are often a more sustainable option than the alternatives (look up the environmental footprint of a polystyrene cup vs a paper one or even a ceramic one)... the problem is that they're being used inappropriately, and that they're ending up places they shouldn't. Using less plastic risks causing more environmental harm in a lot of applications. The key is to pivot towards biomass derived plastics instead of petrochemical ones, and manage our end of life scenarios properly so things are being recycled. This isn't a contrarian opinion - I recently discussed this with Prof Richard Thompson who is the guy who basically invented the study of marine microplastics and I feel we were very much on the same page. It's just that plastics have been unreasonably demonised in the public narrative instead of focusing on the real villains: the industries and lack of regulation that has released plastics into the ocean where they were never supposed to end up! Looking at you, fishing industry!
As an aside - biodegradability isn't the answer either for many applications. An item that biodegrades needs to be replaced with fresh material, which often carries a higher footprint than recycling. Recycling has to be our preferred option. Biodegradability makes sense for niche applications like compostable bags for domestic food waste etc but not a general solution.
I’m just in complete awe. Those creatures are beautiful, how is no one talking about them?! 😍
Seriously, still in shock at how majestic they appear. Thanks for uploading another great video! 😇👌🏼
I seen a recent solution to plastic pollution where it was collected, ground up and pressed into bricks for housing or even used as a type of street paving. Kinda like durable street tar.
Vehicles driving on those plastic roads will abrade tiny bits of plastic from the surface, creating even more microplastics that gets swept into rivers and oceans.
Chemicaly cracking plastic back into hydrocarbons seems more useful to me.
@@jannikheidemann3805 how about 2×4s used for building houses? When pressed these things become very durable.
interesting. according to that model, most of the trash that could come from the land stays close to land. That means that the trash is being put on a boat, floated to the middle of the ocean, and dumped. These patches are not being created by individuals, but by some entity that was paid to put it there.
I wish these vids got more priority in the algorithm. I always have to actively seek them out for some reason.
Greeting from Germany :)
Love your stuff
Do we have any actual data that says all this life wasn't there before the plastic was? If this is the part of the ocean that concentrates particles, then we would naturally expect there to be a high concentration of life.
Very good question
This video makes me very uncomfortable and this is the first thing I thought. Yes life seems to be 'thriving' in those places, but whos to say it wasnt thriving even more before all the plastic showed up. The depth of the studies in the patches highlights just how little research is done, a guy swimming through it? I imagine that before these studies caused by the patch, nothing was studied. And to see so many people here in the comments saying things along the lines of 'life finds a way, earth will live on' seem to be missing the point. Life in general of course will survive past us humans and whatever massive cataclysms we cause... life survived past massive meteors smashing into the planet, but the dinosaurs didnt. The point is all the life that doesnt make it.... its about respect for living things and species not respect for 'life' in general and not allowing ourselves to be the cause of it.
@@Axeface No thanks. Humans will does out and the planet will return to normal after a bit. Big woop.
I think the real question is does this life actually use the plastic. If it does, then removing the plastic would harm these species.
@@momentary_ The actual physical removal of the material will cause harm to any life in the water, regardless of whether that life uses the plastic. Analogous to "bycatch" in the fishing industry.
A solution might be to find a way to cause the plastic particles to attract each other and form self-contained clumps. Plastic is forever, we can't get rid of it. We need to isolate it.
The main step may be easy: allow people to turn in plastics separately from the rest of their garbage. Plastics would be collected free of charge, so that they may be recycled. This assumes we have good ways of cleaning, sorting and recycling them (or that we can reasonably expect to do so at a profit later).
At that point, we turn self-interest in our favor. I'm not sure if it has any impact on the plastic patches (presumably your trash won't end up there, and I question how much even is from countries that properly collect garbage), but it's a useful step. And when people pick up the habit of thinking when they dispose of garbage, it may be easier to also have collection sites at for instance beaches.
Other than that: if it's true that plastic can be burned to gain energy, I would expect it possible for organisms to evolve that eat plastics. As long as the concentration is high enough. We may be able to spur that on if desirable.
There may be no principal problem here. Once, oxygen was a toxic waste product from one of Mother Earth's children... now, most life we'd think of not merely eats it but needs it constantly.
Thing made of plastic on my desk right now:
Mouse, Keyboard, Laptop, Desktop, Speakers, Water Bottle, Power Bank, Perfume Probe, CD Hull, PS4 Controllers, USB Sticks, Membership Cards, Packagings of Kiss Burn, Sweets, Tissues, Peanuts, also the see-through part on my Post Messages, a folder and the caps of the eddings and all my pens and finally the cables and buttons on varipus devices like lamps and PC wiring.
Thanks for another great video!
My spur-of-the-moment opinion, based only on this video, is that ecosystems that people accidentally create are inferior to ones that naturally evolve. Therefore we should always prioritize conserving and saving existing ecosystems, even if that destroys the man-made ones.
I really should look at the paper before saying this, but I question how much life there is in these garbage patches, and just how healthy it may be. By comparison one could say that an average city supports a huge amount of insect and rodent life, but those are not healthy ecosystems.
This IS natural evolution. Who is to say it's inferior because we had a part in creating it? Don't base you position on anti-human bias. We are as natural a part of our environment as any other biological process.
But we didn't create it. It *did* naturally evolve, just in a place we view as detrimental in other respects. They're basically extremophiles (I think it's called), like the microbes who live in volcanoes. I'm not sure 'playing God' by trying to preserve nor destroy them is necessarily a good idea. Perhaps just stop feeding them with mass amounts of new plastics would be a good start, and let them evolve back out of reliance on plastics?
The great oxygenation event shows that any form of evolution can lead to massive changes in ecology.
That event was not so hot for the life that already existed. I'd rather not go the way of purple algae, thanks.
@@Zyo117 Putting a stop to the inflows of new plastic waste into the system is something we can all agree on, but it'll take legislation in a number of different countries.
1mil!! good job i have been subed for 3 years
To quote Jeff Goldblum: "Life finds a way." What a fascinating discovery. Another fascinating discovery in relation to this problem is bacteria that are able to metabolize plastic, PET to be specific. It could very well be, that the plastic problem will solve itself, as plastics are generally high caloric compounds just waiting to be digested by the first thing able to do so.
Just think of mosquitos actually able to metabolize DDT. Nature is incredible.
Another issue is that the patches are very remote - collecting the plastic is very fuel intense - to ships must travel thousands of miles, then drag trawls to collect the waste - this all results in the burning of large amounts of fossil fuels and the emission of many many tons of CO2. In fact I believe attempts to collect this plastic have resulted in about five to ten tons of fuel burned per ton of plastic collected (the nets used require two vessels to tow with other vessels helping to close the nets etc.). So fixing the issue by cleaning the patches can cause more ecological damage than it fixes. The waste must be stopped before it enters the ocean. The oceans must be allowed to heal themselves with time.
If we knew more about the affects of micro plastics I would say this argument could be viable. But since we don’t know for sure and it’s likely many of the plastics are harmful it’s better to just remove the plastic for safe sequestration. The plastic in the patch is not natural and even though life can adapt it’s always a cost of diversity.
why is it not natural? we made it and we are part of nature, aren't we? 🤔
but to your point, I agree the fact that life has found a way to adapt to a bad situation is no reason to perpetuate that bad situation.
Both the video and the direct sources don't say not to remove the plastic. What they're arguing is that the method of removing the plastic via trawling it off the surface is destroying the local ecosystem; an ecosystem, that serves as food for the very life we're trying to save from plastic.
Hello, Wonderful Anton! Thank you for making really great and interesting videos that make me feel smarter every time I watch! I wonder if the life that forms within these plastic patches help break the plastic down? But eating fish is really healthy. We gotta figure this out.
IN my state they made throw-away plastic bags for shopping illegal. Now they give thick plastic bags that can be re-used, but everyone just throws them away and get new ones every time they shop. I haven't seen the data but I would guess we are throwing away more plastic than before.
In Europe, at least in Finland, we either burn our carbage, or recycle it so we don't need carbage dumps anymore that much. The carbage of Southern Finland is burned near the capital to produce electricity and warm water to the cities nearby, 20-40% of the needed warm water that warms their houses in the winter. Of course we want to be better in this and not burn the valuable plastics, but to recycle it. Also the Baltic Sea that we are on the shore of is really delicate in it's ecosystem so we want to preserve it and hope this will be the case everywhere. First you can burn it to energy (cheaper method) and then go to recycling it where you can eventually. Carbage burning facilities have a problem with the slag that's left after burning because it's quite toxic, when people don't recycle that well usually, and I won't say it's perfect.
One of the easiest ways to get rid of drinking bottle and can waste is to put a deposit cost to all of them, for example half litre plastic bottles have 0,2 euro deposit cost to them and aluminium cans 0,15 euro deposit cost, so when you return them to the shop, you get that back. Recycled aluminium is 98% more enegy efficient than producing it from ore. That's how we have 95% return rate for the aluminium cans here, with the deposit you get from it. If someone throws them to the roadside, someone is likely to pick it up while going to store too. It should be quite big, in my opinion, so it will be a natural thing you do while you go back to store, and it works here.
I hope this helps some guy thinking about recycling things wherever this isn't the case. I studied environmental engineering for a few years, didn't get the degree, but I've always been interested in these things.
Great insight, thanks Anton. Makes me wonder how nature over a longer time would adapt to this problem.
Not really surprising life evolves to fill niches where food is available. Given the life cycle of bacteria mutations can happen faster in a favourable environment.
Life...uhhhh....finds a way
Only time,opinion and perception can determine weather something is truly a positive or a negative outcome, even then the response will vary depending on whom you ask and why. Eco systems flourishing in something we consider disaster is a beautiful reminder from the universe of how complex and capable life is at overcoming and adapting to whatever environment is available.
Anton "We have plastic in our blood"
Me "are we becoming androids?"
The issue I have with treating this environment like one we should protect is that it is artificial. It is one we created by accident through negligence. The fact it gave some marine species a new place to live only increases their numbers and potentially upsets the balance by increasing their numbers. So for this reason it is more than ethical to remove it from the oceans.
We humans should of course stop feeding petroleum-based plastics into our nature. First and foremost beacuse it pose risks to existing life and we know very little about the scope or severity of those risks yet. Secondly because it is a waste of a resource which have huge environmental costs tied to its manufacturing.
But, I would also point out that the eco system we already live in is its entirety created "by accident". All of nature is. There is no grand plan for evolution, it just happens. With your reasoning we should probably also kill all beavers because the change nature by creating dams. Or we should aim bigger and kill all herbivores because they do also in fundamental and profound ways change our environment. And yes, I can hear you argue those things are not artificial, but where do we draw a line between "artificial" and "natural"? Everything just newly created by evolution could be defined as "artificial" but will over time become "natural". This to me is the very conundrum that is pointed out by the report Anton brought up.
With all that said, I am actually also in favour of us humans reducing - cleaning up - the amount of petroleum based plastics in the seas and in nature in general. Simply because our current spread of such materials it is a extremely fast paced bit of evolution which consequences we cannot even guess. Long term nature and evolution will of course adapt to this, but the short term consequences - say for next fem millenias or so - could be devastating for life forms like ours.