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Re:The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting by notnot on Sunday September 02, 2018 @10:20PM (#17899839)
Doesn't plastic, especially white shopping-bag plastic, reflect more solar radiation than open ocean? Wouldn't covering a large portion of the earth with white plastic actually lower global temperatures? I saw a video where an open water reservoir was covered with floating plastic balls to reduce evaporation. Maybe a large plastic island would help fight global warming.
Re:The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting by whatshisface on Sunday September 02, 2018 @10:21PM (#17899845)
The Garbage Patch isn't a floating island, it's a region where microscopic particles of garbage are more common per cubic meter of water than usual.
Re:The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting by mreome on Sunday September 02, 2018 @10:42PM (#17899930)
In theory, yes. But it would also destroy all ocean life, with perhaps the very tiny exception of the ecosystems around deep-ocean thermal vents.

But, as another post has explained that this isn't what the ocean-plastics are. They would be better described as a thin soup, or cloud, of tiny plastic particles dispersed over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of ocean, down to depths of up to 100m.

Re:The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting by always_good on Monday September 03, 2018 @11:40AM (#17903141)
You could've perfected this comment if you mentioned that you toss your own shopping bags into the ocean to fight global warming.
Re:The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting by singularity2001 on Monday September 03, 2018 @02:01AM (#17900656)
technically true but still a horrible idea