I study a Master’s program in Geography and know all of this already but still watch every single video, bc they are nice little overviews! Super nicely made and well-researched! :)
This series is so good! Alize is such a delightful host! Every series you guys have made has been absolutely stellar, and I need to thank you more often. Thank you crash course!
Just a thought (they might be too simple), should the UN be the one to hire a company from somewhere to come and clean up the garbage patches? Or am I putting too much faith that they would actually WANT to get those patches cleaned?
Informative a sad, another example of how earth has such a uniquely stable environment and how it continuously recycle material to keep that stability, And humans come along to ruin that stability.
Basically there are 2 parts to this--firstly, we have to reduce the plastic entering the oceans in the first place. We can do this by reducing our consumption, improving waste management systems and physical barriers, such as finer filtration at water treatment plants and placing mesh barriers at the outflow of rivers. Secondly we have to figure out how to get the plastic out of the water--there are really cool tech based solutions emerging for this, like the ocean cleanup project and Fionn Ferreira's microplastic extraction mechanisms. At both of these stages however there is the issue of practicality and how environmentally friendly these solutions are. They have to be efficient, effective and cheap enough to fund (as this is something that governments don't really want to invest in), but they also should do minimal harm to the ecosystems. There are worries that these solutions may impact migratory fish (nets over river outflows), or impact small animals known as zooplankton and small plants called phytoplankton (in the case of removal technologies). Most of the oceanographers I have talked to about this think that reducing plastics entering the ocean is the most important and practical step. Everyday people can do this by being responsible with our plastic waste, and reducing microplastics (such as microbeads in cosmetics and washing clothes at lower speeds/with guppy bags). It is also important to note however that about 50% of plastic entering the oceans is from boats, and nets are especially harmful, so reducing fish consumption is also beneficial in this respect. Hope this helps😊. Edit: International agreements on marine debris do exist, however often there power is limited and enforcement is low, however they are getting better
In the Northern Hemisphere, ocean gyres rotate _clockwise_, due to the Coriolis Effect. In the Northern Hemisphere, cyclones rotate _counter-clockwise_, due to- the Coriolis Effect...? I'm missing something here.
What I never understood is how the Bahamas have crystal clear ocean water while on the east coast you cant see the bottom at waist level ? Isnt everything circulated ?
Most bays (or inlets) are like that. With slow moving water areas you don't get that flushing action. Also you may get a lot mud, river runoff and human activity that contributes to cloudy water near shore.
Don't know about this specific example, but the energy of different habitats, as well as the sediment tyoe really effects how clear the ocean looks. Outflow of rivers, shipping/trawling and phytoplankton blooms can also reduce the visibility
Fascinating episode, but it was hard to not focus on the giant trash problem going on and kinda overshadows the awesome science of ocean circulation lol 😅 rip.
Not related to this but could you do a video about Eudaimonism? I have ethics but I think crash course makes topics like the one I mentioned make more sense.
About who is responsible about pollution caused by container ships its easy. We know what's the proportion of ships that belong to any given country and their routes. Poor countries don't have container ships.
