Toxic Plastic Soup

DISTURBING NEWS OF THE WEEK: TOXIC SOUP OF PLASTIC TWICE THE SIZE OF U.S. FORMS IN OCEAN

The University of Hawaii is set to launch an expedition with the goal of confirming a new trash "continent" in the Pacific Ocean. A vast expanse of floating trash has been collecting in the Pacific Ocean into a mass that scientists are now referring to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The thick mass of plastic soup, located approximately 500 miles east of California, is now reported to be twice the size of the Unites States. The collection of debris comes as no surprise to experts in this area. According to a recent report from the UN Environment Programme, on a global level, each square mile of ocean water contains an average of 46,000 pieces of floating garbage. Learn more: http://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/click?ref=zqtbkk3um_1-118x3236x3355345&

And a reply came in after posting the message above:

Hey Naturally,
Saw your site had previously posted about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch out in the middle of the oceanic desert so I wanted to send this along.

At VBS.tv we had read all the articles about this environmental problem but didn't see much in the way of video. So curiosity and the challenge compelled us west to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to show what other people had only been writing about. We go all the way out ( 2 straight days on a sail boat) expecting to see a floating dump, looking for our money shot that will make us famous.

Here's the bad news, there is no money shot. What people don't get is that it's not really a patch and it's not really an island, both of which you might be able to contain and control. No, what we found is much worse. It's like a gigantic toxic stew and it's a big big problem that we need to pay attention to now.

The series starts on April 7th on VBS. We decided to go against the conventional wisdom that internet video is for those with short attention spans, and are rolling out 12 episodes.
You can go here to view the trailer for Toxic: Garbage Island and follow the series - http://www.vbs.tv/shows/toxic/garbage-island/

The host, Thomas Morton, will be on CNN Headline News to discuss Toxic: Garbage Island: April 12th & 13th @ 7:30pm, 9:30pm and 12:30am if you find your self flipping through the channels.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Rory Ahearn
VICE/VBS.tv

All 12 Parts of Garbage Island + Special Bonus Episode on Bisphenol A on VBS.tv

Hey Earth Lovers,

Pardon the mass email. Well, it's been a long journey out into the Great Northwest Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean but our environmental oceanic Odyssey is complete. Now the hard part starts.

With Earth Day still recent but fading fast I just wanted to email you all and let you know that all 12 parts of Toxic: Garbage Island, plus a special bonus episode are up now on VBS. Education and awareness are the first steps we need to make if we are going to right this situation, people should not be able to claim ignorance anymore.

It's our mess and now we have to clean it up. The series has been a huge success thanks to all of you who talked about it or posted. Heck, we even got on CNN and ABC News.

You can watch all 12 episodes by going here: Toxic: Garbage Island on VBS.tv - http://www.vbs.tv/shows/toxic/garbage-island/

We also did a special bonus episode. An interview with Frederick Vom Saal, Ph.D on Bishpenol A which has been all over the news as of late with plastic drinking containers. Super disturbing.
Interview on Bisphenol A with Dr. Frederick Vom Saal - http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1519713792

Want to see Thomas on CNN? - http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/04/14/ntm.garbage.island.cnn

Any recap post or just telling your friends to check out it would be awesome.

Thanks for watching. Don't forget to recycle,

Rory Ahearn
VICE/VBS.tv