5 Things You Didn't Know: Garbage

5 Things You Didn't Know: Garbage
Today is Earth Day, and the environmental movement is turning 39 years old. What began as a grassroots campaign to put the interests of planet Earth on the national agenda in America has grown into a global cause with deep, sprawling roots in ecology, advocacy, sustainability, and of course, politics. But at its most fundamental, today is about a wholly unavoidable aspect of life on Earth: waste.

Every biological organism has a pressing need to consume in order to stay alive, but conservation laws require a balanced equation: Consumption will result in waste. Or trash, litter or garbage -- what you call it isn't as important as where you put it: in streets, streams, habitats, the atmosphere, and sometimes in places it might even belong, such as landfills.

But landfills aren't merely incidental and oversize trash heaps; just the opposite. Landfills are complex engineering projects that require a number of years and a few million dollars to see to fruition. Even when they get that far, they're not the most environmentally friendly solution to the problem.

On that cheerful note, let's celebrate Earth Day by looking at five things you didn't know about garbage.

1- Garbage has its own patch in the Pacific Ocean

The first thing you didn't know about garbage is a nasty thing to think about: In one region of the Pacific, the discarded plastic garbage bobbing around is so prevalent that it outweighs the surface zooplankton population by a factor of 6 to 1, according to a study by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF). This region is foully referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which happens to sound like the title of the most cynical Charlie Brown special of all time.

At any rate, the AMRF believes that the whole world's oceans may contain as much as 100 million tons of plastic debris.

2- Garbage is all over Mount Everest

You would never know it by looking at the majestic, snow-white contours of the world's highest peak, but the people who spend time there are colossal slobs.

The well-trodden but challenging paths up the mountain are notoriously filthy; the most frequently encountered bit of garbage is a discarded oxygen tank, but over the years climbers have been known to discard plenty of other gear on the mountain as well.

If garbage-strewn paths weren't bad enough to spoil your leisurely hike 29,000 feet up, another frequent site will: dead people. A handful of climbers have reluctantly defied the old maxim about what goes up must come down, dying in a deep freeze at elevations too high to be retrieved safely.

Think you can handle three more things you didn't know about garbage? Read on... Next Page >>