Where do some of the plastic products, wastes, and other trash we discard end up if not in a landfill that is actually on land? Well, perhaps for you next holiday vacation you would like to pay a visit to the beautiful island of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Sounds lovely doesn't it? This ideal travel destination spans hundreds of miles, is estimated to be roughly the size of the state of Texas in the United states, or was it the size of France? No one is actually sure, but at any rate, it sits in the northern region of the Pacific Ocean. Here you can see the many vibrant colors (okay mostly blacks, browns, and whites) making up all the residual waste from product consumption.

These plastic particles, soda bottles, straws, and other trash offer up a tantalizing treat for all the surrounding sea life and birds soaring above. In fact, mama albatross birds find this debris particularly nutritious for their young babies, and have a habit of plucking such garbage from the swirling 'landmass' and offering it up to their young. Unfortunately, plastic doesn't necessarily do a body good, and the baby albatross birds are dying at an alarming rate due to poison by plastic. But the fun doesn't stop there folks, when frequenting this island of garbage, you really will only be stepping upon the tip of the ice berg. In fact, even the best estimates of how extensive this landfill is are merely guesses, as no one truly can comprehend just how deep it plunges. Deep below the ocean blue sits countless discarded tires and other items we have shunned.

Let us take a scenic dive among this polluted landmass to see what wonders lie below the blue. To our left we have the sea turtle caught in a web of plastic fishing net; we can come back later after he's had plenty more hours and days to ineffectually struggle to get free. Or maybe that's not a sea turtle at all, but instead a poor unlucky seal pup stuck in the snarl. No matter, because the result is invariably the same. Maybe he will eke out a little longer as it looks like a good amount of fish are also stuck in the nets for his snacking pleasure.

Enough snorkeling for one day, let us return back to our lodgings and do a bit more sightseeing. Be careful to not step on that carcass of the short-tailed albatross we learned about before, he may cause a mess on your shoe. You see those little plastic balls right there? Well those are the resin pellets that are used to make most plastic products when they are melted and then fused. Those are what he was fed by his unknowing mother; silly bird, she mistook it for fish eggs! At any rate, we have no doubt worked up our own appetites, with all these food containers and drink cups lying around. Feel free to indulge if you wish as they were appetizing enough to devour back on land but it took much too much effort to put those empty receptacles into the proper waste can.

Okay, I apologize for a bit of a sarcastic tone, and no this is not a plug for the latest vacation hideaway. I was merely making a point that because of our product consumption and consumer waste, we have in fact built a small country. They say Rome wasn't built in a day, and this is true of our very own trash island. This has amassed over years, but at the same time it is growing alarmingly fast. Unless we clean up our own act, this island may turn into a continent.