19-Year-old invents feasible solution to cleanup ocean garbage patches

originally posted by: InTheLight
I would hope the young peope on on top of the world's problems.

Young college students are typically excited about learning and solving things and they have not been confirmed to corporate business models , they definitely bring something to the table.

I see crowd sourcing as having a great impact in the world in the future .

Whats the point trying to clean anything up if we are still dumping stuff into the ocean every day?

We need to stop the dumping first and then try to clean up the mess. Otherwise the dumping might get worse.

a reply to: PhoenixOD


Like the kid said in the video some people will never learn but that doesn't mean we should just leave trash in the streets because someone else will still throw their crap out the car window.

The premise of lets not do anything until people stop polluting is unreasonable and unrealistic.

originally posted by: interupt42

originally posted by: InTheLight

I would hope the young peope on on top of the world's problems.

Young college students are typically excited about learning and solving things and they have not been confirmed to corporate business models , they definitely bring something to the table.



I see crowd sourcing as having a great impact in the world in the future .

Crowd sourcing, crowd funding, global education, global action ...it looks good from my view.

According to DigitalGlobe, this Tomnod project is the first to support environmental conservation efforts after previous crowdsourcing projects supporting disaster response and recovery operations. - See more at: blog.executivebiz.com... f

blog.executivebiz.com...

He didn't invent it. The idea has been around for ages.

He is just the only kid who cared enough, and had enough resources to try it, and take credit for it.

Its a nice idea but a more pressing issue perhaps is the acidification of the ocean's (& keeping healthy fish populations).

We are on the way where only jellyfish will be occupying the ocean's.

In a way oil was a big blessing but as well the biggest curse..

a reply to: Plugin


Please don't take this the wrong way because I am not picking on you but it does drive me nuts when I see comments like yours.

Sure we all know there are many problems such as ocean acidification which are far more detrimental to the environment, but that shouldn't mean we ignore the other problems or put them to the side until we figure out how to deal with the other problems. What this kid and his team have done is pretty phenomenal and it takes a lot of drive to make something like that happen.

By saying there are bigger problems really discounts what they have accomplished and are trying to do. Any step in the right direction especially on a world scale is huge. That kid wanted to improve the world and took what was considered near impossible and has made it feasible. Yes there are other problems than need to be solved but this was a problem him and his team are trying to tackle I am not willing to say they are working on the wrong one. It is the right one for them. We just need another kid whose dream is to solve the acidification problem and the drive to do so because it is obvious that we are short on adults who are willing or have the drive to do so.

originally posted by: blkcwbyhat
a reply to: VoidHawk

ok,you have a way to capture it,great! How much do you catch? Would you need to tow a barge to bring it back? Barge costs,fuel cost,unloading costs....While it would be nice of you to bring it back and dispose of it properly,I understand you need to make $$ too.Your minor dent would not be cost effective

"Your minor dent would not be cost effective"

Have you ever thought about the way fishing trawlers operate?
They tow a net that can be as wide as a rugby field is long, and everything in its path is caught in the net. They tow for many miles each stint, and they clean that entire section leaving it free of rubbish.

A fishing trawler is by design, an ocean cleaner!
Globally there are hundreds of thousands of trawlers gathering up the rubbish from the sea, and they are doing it every day of the year.
Each time they pull their nets from the water they have to clear the rubbish from their nets. That rubbish is then returned to the ocean!

The amount of rubbish a trawl pulls up each haul would not be too much for the ships to bring back to shore if there were an incentive!
The incentive as I already mentioned, could be an increased catch allowance. Many countries control how much fish each ship can land, so just imagine how keen the skippers might be to bring the rubbish ashore if they could match the weight of the rubbish to an extra fish allowance!

What we have right now! is thousands of ocean cleaners cleaning the ocean every day, then they throw all that rubbish back into the ocean!

We dont need costly new inventions, we already have ocean cleaners cleaning the oceans, we just need to use what we already have in a sensible way!

Bill Gates could fund this with a weeks worth of pocket change if he really wanted to do something for mother earth. $43million? The US government spends more on researching what music rats prefer over another, when procreating. No one wants to clean it up because it's "someone else's problem".

originally posted by: VoidHawk

originally posted by: blkcwbyhat
a reply to: VoidHawk

ok,you have a way to capture it,great! How much do you catch? Would you need to tow a barge to bring it back? Barge costs,fuel cost,unloading costs....While it would be nice of you to bring it back and dispose of it properly,I understand you need to make $$ too.Your minor dent would not be cost effective

"Your minor dent would not be cost effective"

Have you ever thought about the way fishing trawlers operate?
They tow a net that can be as wide as a rugby field is long, and everything in its path is caught in the net. They tow for many miles each stint, and they clean that entire section leaving it free of rubbish.

A fishing trawler is by design, an ocean cleaner!
Globally there are hundreds of thousands of trawlers gathering up the rubbish from the sea, and they are doing it every day of the year.
Each time they pull their nets from the water they have to clear the rubbish from their nets. That rubbish is then returned to the ocean!

The amount of rubbish a trawl pulls up each haul would not be too much for the ships to bring back to shore if there were an incentive!
The incentive as I already mentioned, could be an increased catch allowance. Many countries control how much fish each ship can land, so just imagine how keen the skippers might be to bring the rubbish ashore if they could match the weight of the rubbish to an extra fish allowance!

What we have right now! is thousands of ocean cleaners cleaning the ocean every day, then they throw all that rubbish back into the ocean!

We dont need costly new inventions, we already have ocean cleaners cleaning the oceans, we just need to use what we already have in a sensible way!

As a mariner, I must say I like your idea.

The construction of a mid ocean structure that could survive the storms inherent to the area is basically folly.

Yet we know that fishing trawlers are designed SPECIFICALLY to survive in such conditions. It's known as 'seaworthiness'.

There's nothing 'theoretical' about trawlers collecting plastic debris. An ocean cleaning program utilizing the existing fishing fleets could be instituted later this afternoon if the desire was there.

Pipe dream concepts may take years and years to be built only to turn out to be abject failures.

Plus at the current rate of ocean species extinction, fishermen will have nothing else to do anyways!

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: Plugin


Please don't take this the wrong way because I am not picking on you but it does drive me nuts when I see comments like yours.

Sure we all know there are many problems such as ocean acidification which are far more detrimental to the environment, but that shouldn't mean we ignore the other problems or put them to the side until we figure out how to deal with the other problems. What this kid and his team have done is pretty phenomenal and it takes a lot of drive to make something like that happen.

By saying there are bigger problems really discounts what they have accomplished and are trying to do. Any step in the right direction especially on a world scale is huge. That kid wanted to improve the world and took what was considered near impossible and has made it feasible. Yes there are other problems than need to be solved but this was a problem him and his team are trying to tackle I am not willing to say they are working on the wrong one. It is the right one for them. We just need another kid whose dream is to solve the acidification problem and the drive to do so because it is obvious that we are short on adults who are willing or have the drive to do so.

Yes it's good coming with ideas to solve this massive plastic problem in the oceans.. they didnt realy accomplished anything though... a nice idea, and in practise it could be way different.. meaning ''looks nice on paper''. But sure it could be great even in practise.. but that have to be seen yet...

But IMO there is a more pressing issue then that.. by the looks of science fish wil just go exinct in the oceans and plastic isn't the main reason.
So when that happens without fish there who cares if there's plastic or not.

But yea its very nice having such young people trying to do something about stuff like that, don't get me wrong on that!

And solving ''ocean acidification'' is about solving global warming basicly.

This (solving global warming) is not about a young kid's dream, it's about a massive effort from all country's and all people...

Now that's hard to believe in REALLY, that we could do that... I don't believe that, I want to but

But who knows we could make/invent something to get rid of co2 or some other sollution to keep the climate in control.

originally posted by: Psynic

originally posted by: VoidHawk

originally posted by: blkcwbyhat
a reply to: VoidHawk

ok,you have a way to capture it,great! How much do you catch? Would you need to tow a barge to bring it back? Barge costs,fuel cost,unloading costs....While it would be nice of you to bring it back and dispose of it properly,I understand you need to make $$ too.Your minor dent would not be cost effective

"Your minor dent would not be cost effective"

Have you ever thought about the way fishing trawlers operate?
They tow a net that can be as wide as a rugby field is long, and everything in its path is caught in the net. They tow for many miles each stint, and they clean that entire section leaving it free of rubbish.

A fishing trawler is by design, an ocean cleaner!
Globally there are hundreds of thousands of trawlers gathering up the rubbish from the sea, and they are doing it every day of the year.
Each time they pull their nets from the water they have to clear the rubbish from their nets. That rubbish is then returned to the ocean!

The amount of rubbish a trawl pulls up each haul would not be too much for the ships to bring back to shore if there were an incentive!
The incentive as I already mentioned, could be an increased catch allowance. Many countries control how much fish each ship can land, so just imagine how keen the skippers might be to bring the rubbish ashore if they could match the weight of the rubbish to an extra fish allowance!

What we have right now! is thousands of ocean cleaners cleaning the ocean every day, then they throw all that rubbish back into the ocean!

We dont need costly new inventions, we already have ocean cleaners cleaning the oceans, we just need to use what we already have in a sensible way!

As a mariner, I must say I like your idea.

The construction of a mid ocean structure that could survive the storms inherent to the area is basically folly.

Yet we know that fishing trawlers are designed SPECIFICALLY to survive in such conditions. It's known as 'seaworthiness'.

There's nothing 'theoretical' about trawlers collecting plastic debris. An ocean cleaning program utilizing the existing fishing fleets could be instituted later this afternoon if the desire was there.

Pipe dream concepts may take years and years to be built only to turn out to be abject failures.

Plus at the current rate of ocean species extinction, fishermen will have nothing else to do anyways!

Thank you I was beginning to think nobody else could see it.

originally posted by: Bilk22
Bill Gates could fund this with a weeks worth of pocket change if he really wanted to do something for mother earth. $43million? The US government spends more on researching what music rats prefer over another, when procreating. No one wants to clean it up because it's "someone else's problem".

Thank goodness there were only two pages of comments at the time I read this thread. I knew someone would have mentioned this.

Yeah, similarly, we spend billions of dollars on draining the world of its oils and senseless wars, but can't even spend any money on our children's future or the world. Like the Native American proverb goes, "We inherit the world from Our children."

originally posted by: sirhcsemaj

originally posted by: Bilk22
Bill Gates could fund this with a weeks worth of pocket change if he really wanted to do something for mother earth. $43million? The US government spends more on researching what music rats prefer over another, when procreating. No one wants to clean it up because it's "someone else's problem".

Thank goodness there were only two pages of comments at the time I read this thread. I knew someone would have mentioned this.

Yeah, similarly, we spend billions of dollars on draining the world of its oils and senseless wars, but can't even spend any money on our children's future or the world. Like the Native American proverb goes, "We inherit the world from Our children."

So we agree? Not exactly sure what your reply was meant to convey to me

originally posted by: Bilk22
So we agree? Not exactly sure what your reply was meant to convey to me

Oh, I wasn't necessarily engaging you in a dialogue. I was just expanding on the point that you brought up that our priorities are highly misdirected. I was going to make the same point, but I knew that someone else had to have already mentioned it, so I sifted through the comments and found yours. But, yes, I do agree with you.