The Great Chinese Garbage Patch

By: Susan Benowitz

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 37 mins

Publisher's summary

I first read about Slat's Ocean Cleanup Project 2018, and I was impressed as it's an attempt to make the world a better place with concern for the environment and not profits. In 2019, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch became an afterthought following Thornberg's whining regarding the environment in conjunction with millions of Westerners who are unmotivated to use science and knowledge to resolve the problems surrounding climate change. COVID-19 hit, and the climate change problems of the world were paused and not discussed regularly in the media. Then, I saw a random article on CNN in 2023 blaming the Philippines for the majority of the trash in the Pacific Ocean, and couldn't believe my eyes. The Philippines is comprised of more than 7,700 islands and has a population of 120 million people, and the country makes the majority of its money via exporting people of working age to other nations and through tourism. Most of the islands don't even have roads or trash collection, so they burn trash like most countries around the world. Of course, this isn't good for the environment, but this is how 45% of the world's electricity is currently produced. The GPGP is actually the Great Chinese Garbage Patch, and it's something that we should be talking about. First off, 1.5 billion Chinese people are living in China, and 90% of them are Han Chinese. Secondly, they have virtually no immigration and only recycle to save money on raw materials. Finally, the GCGP is the least of our problems as China will be the world's largest producer of nuclear energy with more than 85 reactors cooled by water from the Pacific Ocean by 2030. On the surface, it looks like China is attempting to meet its energy needs and to begin exporting electricity for profit. The potential for a Chernobyl-like disaster given their isolationist mentality, xenophobia, and lack of transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic should have everyone in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the world very concerned as the potential to make vast swaths of land, entire countries, and whole regions uninhabitable for centuries highly likely statistically given the country's history and nefarious behavior of the people in it and the Chinese Communist Party. May God help us all!