Scuffy the Tugboat's Nightmare

Monday morning is like no other morning at my beach. Only Monday has such a diverse mountain of paraphernalia left behind by yesterday’s crowd. Who are they that walk off leaving their $49 chaise lounge in the sand? Or their shoes? It would cross my mind to ask myself, “Wasn’t I wearing shoes when I last walked across this parking lot?”

With the start of this holiday weekend, I’m even more sensitive to what’s left on the beach or along any waterway - - ever since my husband, a systems analyst geek who reads science magazines at bedtime, interrupted me from almost sleep with a nudge. “This is interesting. You’ll want to know this.” (Not always the case, but do go on.)

He read aloud about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area in the Pacific where the ocean currents cause a gigantic swirling vortex that has become a gumbo of floating debris. Whatever has been tumbling in the currents is held in a slow swirl gathering into an enormous drifting island of rubbish. According the article in July’s issue of Discover Magazine, the area may exceed the size of the U.S. and extend to a depth of 100 feet. In certain spots, plastic pieces exceed surface zooplankton 6 to 1.

Plumping up my pillow, I delved this alarming story until Jay Leno had probably driven home and finished his bedtime snack. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation is the source of much of the information about the Garbage Patch. It has been gathering information over the past decade. From samples taken, it appears that the amount of plastic floating in the patch doubled between 1999 and 2005, from .002 gram per meter of ocean to .004.

As early as my Scuffy the Tugboat storybook in childhood, I learned that brooks flow to streams, streams flow to rivers and rivers flow into the oceans, but I never dreamed the nightmare ending of a monstrous floating island of plastic garbage. The patch was surely the dire demise of Tom Hank’s companion, Wilson the volley ball, in Castaway after he floated out of reach.

Anything that floats or blows away from shore - - a Styrofoam cup, flip flop sandal, beach ball, water pistol or a pith helmet no matter from which continent it starts - - will end up floating intact or indistinguishable pieces into a debris island, if not this one, there are others.

Here are a few items for us holiday picnic packers and unpackers to be aware of and lock up before they blow, items so small and miscellaneous we don’t even realize we’ve lost them. Please feel free to add to the list.

Plastic straw sleeves
Straws from juice boxes and pouches
Plastic rings from twist off bottle caps
Bottle caps
Torn away corners from granola bar or candy wrappers
Bubble gum and Starburst wrappers