Pacific Trash Vortex

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/trashing-our-oceans/ocean_pollution_animation

I came across a perfect example of how our land ethic has changed over the last 50 years. Our approach to overfull land fills and garbage pollution in the 50's consisted of dumping large amounts of garbage into the ocean. The idea of diluting the problem of pollution seemed to take care of the issue. However, many years later, we have a large expanse of water filled with circulating trash, killing fish, sea turtles, and other marine life. Back then people thought that the ocean was so vast and deep that any amount of garbage wouldn't even make a dent. Now we have a much clearer understanding of just how much our actions have had an affect on our world. The link above shows the paths of circulating trash in the ocean. National Geograpahic also has some disturbing pictures of the trash, mostly netted together casting a dangerous potential trap for sea life.