I am annoyed with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

I'm annoyed for a lot of reasons that I won't go into now, but mainly for one aspect of this problem: The idea of a mat of solid garbage extending across a portion of the Pacific Ocean that is the size of Europe (or whatever) is startling. It is the kind of thing that attracts attention, brings people to the table to discuss and consider conservation issues, and makes people want to be more aware of the environment, and to do something positive.

But, when people find out that there is no Pacific Garbage Patch, that they've been lied to by conservationists, by Greanpeace, the UN, and various private entrepreneurs, they get annoyed, walk away from the conservation movement, and become right wing Republicans.

That is terribly annoying.

So, what I'd like to do right now is to put an end to this whole Pacific Garbage Patch idea. There is no Pacific Garbage Patch. Yes, yes, there is a bunch of plastic, in tiny tiny itty bitty bits, floating around in various "gyres" in the world's oceans. That may or may not be a problem. It is being studied. We may learn that there are some issues to deal with here. Or we may learn that this is like the one hundredth or the one thousandth most important thing to deal with regarding the environment.

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Volx Japan has added to their LED spotlight line with the new Grassy LeDio 27 LED spot. As the name implies this model packs 27 watts distributed to 9, 3w LEDs. Compared to other models on the market, the LEDs are much closer together, meaning the 60 degree optics ought to blend the light better [...] Related posts:

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The Xaqua X-SK line of protein skimmers are out of the ordinary fractionators made from non toxic & shock proof PVC on CNC machines. The X-SK is made out of different pieces that can be assembled or taken a part in less then 60 seconds, free from glued joints, sealed to each other through FPM [...]

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The Grassy LeDio line of LED spotlights from VolxJapan just got more “oomph” with the new Grassy LeDio 27 version in two reefing flavors recently. The new lamps feature 27 watts of output via nine Cree Xp series LEDs running at 3 wats each. The Ledio 27 watt comes in either a Reef White or Reef Blue [...]

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The CS Nano Reef SET PR by coral-shop is a new kit for nano reefs which is loaded with bite sized portions of the Platinum Reef line of additives. Previously if you were running a nano reef aquarium and wanted to use Coral Shop’s top shelf PR additives, you would have had to invest in [...]

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The Anampses lennardi and femininus wrasses are such amazing fish that it would have been a joy to see either one of them alone at Dejong’s booth in InterZoo. Not only we were greeted by both of these fish, they were also accompanied by a fantastic, uber studly bicolor pygmy angelfish, Centropyge bicolor, which just [...]

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The following is a guest contribution from Karl Vankersschaever, owner of Mare Nostrum and a passionate European reef aquarium hobbyist. Although very common in the US, you can hardly buy an acrylic tank in Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxembourg (BeNeLux). Because in Europe glass is much cheaper than acrylic, most of the tanks over there [...]

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BioAQUA is a new marine aquarium probiotic made the Japanese company Biota Style . BioAQUA Marine is very unique among aquarium products because it is made from Okara (Soy Pulp) which in Japan is widely regarded as a healthy food item. The Okara from which the BioAQUA Marine is made is low in fat, high [...]

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