The Two BIg E's

by Tom
(Ft. Myers, FL USA)

An example of marine garbage

The Two Big E's have converged in a way that should be mutually beneficial. Those E's of course are the Environment (E1) and the Economy (E2).
Now that E2 has tanked, worldwide, everyone is finally looking for ways to stay afloat by holding down expenses. One great way to reduce spending helps E1. Everyone from individuals to large corporations can help E1 while they're focusing on E2.

The amount of waste generated by humans that negatively impact E1 is staggering. Landfills are overflowing such that cities like New York pay to have their garbage moved to barges that are then towed miles offshore into the Atlantic Ocean to be dumped in the water. That one example represents millions of dollars and damage to the ocean and its inhabitants. Just think of the benefits that accrue to everyone in NYC if they could reduce the amount of trash they generate by 20%. That target is completely doable with more attention to recycling alone.

The NYC garbage example is a striking one in terms of addressing E2 concerns and benefiting E1 immediately. Now multiply that by all the cities and all the people across the world. The positive impact both financially and economically is probably beyond our ability to calculate it.
I'll predict right here that the E2 crisis will have a net positive impact on E1.

Barry's Response - An increasingly controversial topic, Tom. Every ocean has a full-scale vortex, called a gyre in this Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

...in which trash floats and tends to collect toward the centre like paper in a flushing toilet.

It's something that will gain worldwide media attention over the next several years.



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