Each of my sources gathered have something that they bring to the table. The one I am using as my model is the article by National Geographic, as it clearly explains a breakdown of the issue, explaining what it is, how it works, and how we can fix it. I knew that National Geographic covered issues such as these and is extremely credible. The other sources took longer to find and make sure were from valid sources. The first source I will talk about next is coming from the Marine Debris Program which is a federal US government department which are the lead for addressing Marine Debris. Within their article they have two important sections that I will focus on when using this as a source. One being the impact on the environment and the second being the only viable solution experts believe exists. The MDP as well as the National Geographic both suggest that cleaning up the patch with nets and ships will take too long, cost a fortune, and be extremely tedious with some of the plastic being 5mm small. They suggest that instead the best way to clean up the patch is to prevent more plastic from coastlines and shores from joining the patch. The next source I have is an article published by Nature Communications titled “River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans”. It focuses on Rivers as being a source of plastic emissions into oceans and into the Pacific Garbage patch. At first, I was unsure of using this as a source however it brings up the importance of looking not only to the coastlines but to the rivers as well. It acts as further proof that pollution no matter what kind is connected. Factories pollute rivers and the air, which in turns pollutes rainfall, air and the oceans. The targeted audience of my paper must understand that the problem goes beyond the Pacific Garbage Patch and it is much more spread out than most might think. My next source is from Ocean’s cleanup which is a non-profit organization that works on technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. From their breakdown of the Pacific Garbage patch I found a few of my sources. However, I unsure if I will end up using this article as a proper source as it is mostly a breakdown of the company’s studies and conclusions. Which basically cover the contents of said patch such as the mega plastics and categorizes them. The only part of this article I am considering using is their section on effects on marine life and human society. This part might be crucial in showing my audience the effect to which this can and does affect their lives, however I am still deliberating on it. A source I decided to remove is an article by the magazine Discover which doesn’t really bring anything new I would want into my paper. The only thing I found I would want more information on would be the impact on humans and the focus on the major source of garbage in the Eastern patch being the United States. The Great Patch is technical two parts on either side of Hawaii the bigger one being the one on the East side. I may focus more on that side during my paper, so I may want to look more into that. But this source didn’t provide me with enough credible evidence to base that on. So, I am no longer using it. The next 2 and last sources I will be using come from a website called Nature.com which is the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal containing reports, journals, and articles from credible sources that have been working since 1869. The first one of them covers new information gathered in 2020, focusing on the plastic fallout that is now starting to vertically transfer to the underlying sea from the patch. The second one is from 2018 focusing on the continuous accumulation of plastic by the patch that is still only increasing. These are important sources for me to use in my paper to show that the issue is ongoing and is only getting worse. What I can conclude from writing this report on research progress is that I want to look into the impact the patch has on human society, and possibly have that as a section of my paper.
Works Cited:
Lebreton, L., Slat, B., Ferrari, F. et al. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic. Sci Rep 8, 4666 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w
Egger, M., Sulu-Gambari, F. & Lebreton, L. First evidence of plastic fallout from the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Sci Rep 10, 7495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64465-8
https://theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Laurent C. M. Lebreton, et al., “River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans,” Nature Communications 8, no. 15611 (June 2017), http://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15611
Merel Kooi, et al., “The effect of particle properties on the depth profile of buoyant plastics in the ocean,” Scientific Reports 92, 1-2 (March 2015): 170-179, http://doi.org/10.1038/srep33882
OR&R’s Marine Debris Division “Garbage Patches” Last edit was 10/18/20th https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html

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