Floating Islands in the Pacific Gyre
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article
Is it possible to create floating islands that are biologically diverse in the worlds largest dump the North Pacific Gyre?
For those of you who may not know the North Pacific Gyre is area in the Pacific Ocean (twice the size of Texas) that collects lots and lots of plastic junk from ocean currents all over the world.
the lungs of the earth
the lungs of the earth
This massive flotilla of plastic junk just swirls there and is overtime broken down by sunlight and the motion of the waves. This is extremely troubling not just because it is an eyesore, but because it threatens wildlife, and even phytoplankten the very lungs of our earth. For a long while now I had intended to prepare some sketches for an article about the idea of using floating islands- a permaculture technique that involves building islands out of debris and then planting beneficial plants that provide micro habitats and clean the water- as method to transform the Pacific Gyre.
Floating island image from the Rhizome Collective
It seems a visionary canadian architect named Michale Barton already has! Well, he at least made some nice pictures anyway, it’s a start.
Images from Canadian Architect
- Plastic paradise?
Although difficult the idea is not at all impossible…
From tree hugger:
floating island house?
“We couldn’t make this stuff up: this man, Reishee Sowa of Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, apparently grew tired of trying to live self-sufficiently on dry land, and did what any of us would have done. He built his own island out of used pop bottles. 250,000 of them, plus some construction leftovers and bags of leaves, make up “his island,” though he’s quick to point out that it’s technically not an island by traditional standards. “You see not even the president is allowed his own island in Mexico,” he says, “but technically I don’t have an island, I have an eco space-creating ship.”
your own private island (recycled island)
http://www.oceanarks.org/rst15_What_Is_a_Restorer.php
John Todd at Ocean Arks International has designs for “restorers” floating islands for water treatment. I can see a ship sailing the gyre filtering out the plastic and forming it into floats with plants dangling into the water. what a great “semester internship” for you young puppies. i’ll leave the details for others
[...] Beauty In the North Pacific Gyre Garbage Dump Photo – tree hugger / Rock Permaculture E-zine [...]
The North Pacific Gyre: 100 Million Tons of Garbage and Growing said this on August 18, 2009 at 1:51 pm |
Plastic absorbs toxins. Plastic photo-degrades into smaller and smaller pieces, but never fully degrades. Even the tiniest pieces of plastic contain toxins. These small pieces are ingested by marine animals like fish and slowly climb their way up the food chain, threatening all marine biodiversity and the health of humans who eat seafood as well.
Used TireAnia… that’s the concept i came up with in 1985. floating continent made of old tires. similar to the floating gardens on lake titicaca, which were made of reeds. Usedtireania could be a refuge for humanity, a place to create a new garden of eden. rainforest continent.