A piece of sunshine

[김애란] Passion to clean up

Passion to clean up

 

 

 

Just imagine that we are desperately in need of food. So we eat anything ― earth, the bodies of human beings, and even indigestible plastics. What would happen if our stomachs were filled with waste and plastic?

 

On Nov. 20, plastic waste was found in the belly of a dead, 5.9-meter sperm whale on the seashore of Kapota Island in Indonesia. There were about 1,000 kinds of plastic including 115 cups, 25 pieces of plastic bags, and two sandals. Not only fish, but also birds end up ingesting plastic.

 

The causes that affect the weather, the wind and the water to be abnormal have various roots. Among them, the use of plastics is one of the main causes of climate change.

 

More unexpected natural disasters such as hurricanes from the sea and wildfires on mountains are happening these days. The recent grand wildfires in Northern California that occurred on Nov. 8 are said to be the one of the greatest disasters we’ve ever had in the world.

 

 

 

If we don’t take heed of the warning signs of nature, four serious disasters can be caused by global warming: floods, rising sea levels, ascending temperatures, and marine pollution due to chemicals. 

 

So many things that we are using are made of plastic ― bottles, spoons, plastic bags, plates, drinking straws, family utensils and so on. Our daily lives are so filled with plastic that this situation impacts our health, ecosystems, and economies. 

 

 

 

Recognizing that plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time, various institutions are clearly aware of the importance of using fewer plastic materials and disposable products.

 

It is said that over 5 trillion pieces of plastic trash are currently littering the ocean. What a surprise to know that the greatest garbage island in the Pacific Ocean is seven times bigger than the Korean Peninsula!

 

Considering such a serious situation, Ocean Cleanup was created as a non-profit organization, developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

 

Utilizing the ocean currents, waves, and wind, drifting systems were created to clean up the Pacific garbage patch.

 

One day in 2013, 16-year-old Boyan Slat was Scuba diving in Greece and was surprised to see more plastic than fish floating in the sea. So he began to think, “Why don't we just clean it up?”

 

Then, he devoted his high school science project to understanding the problem, thinking, “For society to progress, we should not only move forward but also clean up after ourselves.”

 

Later, as Dutch inventor based in Delft, the Netherlands, Boyan Slat recruited his team and started a crowdfunding campaign to make a free-floating system. He invited more than 48,000 donators from 160 countries across the world.

 

At present, he has more than 80 engineers, researchers, scientists, and computational modelers.

 

After 5 years of research in 2018, engineering and testing, the Ocean Cleanup team launched the first ocean cleanup system in the Pacific. They made a u-shaped floater in a 600-meter long that sits at the surface of the water and a 1.2-meter in diameter. They also made a 3-meter long shield so that the fish can freely move around underneath.

 

Every six weeks, the ship goes to the location where a free-floating system flows to get rid of garbage. He plans concretely to clean up all the plastics in the oceans up to 2040.

 

Here we see the positive power of a good idea developing in a more creative way for the common good. Concentration on one big issue makes a person an expert in that field. What marvelous passion and excellence he has to build a better clean future! 

 

 

 

The climate is constantly changing, and we shall have to be more aware of our living conditions and correct our unconcerned habits of using unnecessary and harmful products.

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