A Grand Plan to Clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

A Grand(grand) Plan to Clean the Great Pacific(pəˈsifik) Garbage(ˈgärbij) Patch(paCH)

Can a controversial(-ˈvərsēəl,ˌkäntrəˈvərSHəl) young entrepreneur(-ˈnər,ˌäntrəprəˈno͝or) rid(rid) the ocean(ˈōSHən) of plastic(ˈplastik) trash(traSH)?

By Carolyn Kormann

In May, 2017, a twenty-two-year-old Dutch(dəCH) entrepreneur named Boyan Slat(slat) unveiled(ˌənˈvāl) a contraption(kənˈtrapSHən) that he believed would rid the oceans of plastic. In a former factory in Utrecht(ˈYˌtreKHt,ˈyo͞oˌtrekt), a crowd of twelve hundred people stood before a raised(rāzd) stage(stāj). The setting was futuristic(ˌfyo͞oCHəˈristik) and hip(hip). A round screen set in the stage floor displayed(dəˈsplād) 3-D(dəˈmen(t)SH(ə)nəl) images of Earth; behind Slat, another screen charted(CHärt) the rapid(ˈrapid) accumulation(əˌkyo͞omyəˈlāSHən) of plastic in the Pacific Ocean since the nineteen-fifties. Slat is pale(pāl) and slight(slīt), and has long brown(broun) hair that resembles(riˈzembəl) Patti Smith’s(smiTH) in the “Horses(hôrs)” era(ˈerə,ˈi(ə)rə). He was dressed in a gray(grā) blazer(ˈblāzər), a black button-down, black slacks(slak), and skateboarding(ˈskātˌbôrd) sneakers(ˈsnēkər), which he wears every day, although he doesn’t skateboard. Onstage(ˈänˈstāj,ˈôn-), he presented(priˈzent,ˈprezənt) plastic artifacts(ˈärdəfakt) that he had collected from the Pacific during a research expedition(ˌekspəˈdiSHən): the back panel(ˈpanl) of a Gameboy from 1995, a hard hat(hat) from 1989, a bottle(ˈbädl) crate(krāt) from 1977. “This thing is forty years old,” he said in Dutch-inflected(inˈflekt) English. “1977 was the year that Elvis(evis) Presley(ˈprezlē, ˈpres-) left(left) the building for good, presumably(priˈzo͞oməblē).” The audience(ˈôdēəns) laughed. Slat then held up a clear plastic dish(diSH), filled with shards of plastic. “The contents(kənˈtent,ˈkänˌtent) of this dish are the actual stomach(ˈstəmək) contents of a single sea turtle(ˈtərtl) that was found dead(ded) in Uruguay(-ˌgwā,ˈ(y)o͝orəˌgwī) last year,” he said. A picture of the dead turtle flashed on a screen behind him.

Then Slat made his pitch(piCH). In the next twelve months, he and a staff(staf) of engineers(ˌenjəˈni(ə)r) at the Ocean Cleanup, an organization he founded in 2013, would build the system they had designed(dəˈzīn), assemble(əˈsembəl) it in a yard(yärd) on San Francisco Bay, then set sail(sāl) with it, traveling under the Golden Gate(gāt) Bridge and out into the Pacific. Slat’s destination(ˌdestəˈnāSHən) was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, midway(-ˈwā,ˈmidˌwā) between California(-nēə,ˌkaləˈfôrnyə) and Hawaii(-ˈwä(y)ē,-ˈwô(y)ē,həˈwī(y)ē), an area(ˈe(ə)rēə) within what is known as the North Pacific Subtropical(səbˈträpək(ə)l) Convergence(kənˈvərjəns) Zone(zōn). The patch is not, as is often believed, a solid(ˈsäləd) island of trash(traSH) but a gyre(jīr), twice the size of Texas(ˈteksəs), where winds and currents(ˈkə-rənt,ˈkərənt) draw(drô) diffuse floating(ˈflōdiNG) debris(dəˈbrē,ˌdā-) onto a vast(vast) carrousel(ˈkarəˌsel,ˌkarəˈsel) that never stops.

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https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/04/a-grand-plan-to-clean-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch