Ocean Clean Up NegativeDKC - NAUDL 2014-15
Ocean Clean Up Negative
Ocean Clean Up Negative
Summmary
Inherency Answers (Contention One)
Ocean Clean Up Coming Now-5
Plastic Oceans Advantage Answers (Contention Two)
Clean Up Efforts Kill Sea Life
Clean Up Efforts Kill Plankton
Plastics Don’t Kill off Species
Solvency Answers (Contention Three)
Food Chain not protected by clean up
Food Chain not protected by clean up- Extensions
Clean Up Fails- Logistical Nightmare –-13
Clean Up Fails- Size of the Ocean
Clean Up Fails- Depth of the Ocean
Clean up fails- Sinking plastic
Clean up fails- Experts Agree
Clean up fails- Experts Agree Extensions
Overconsumption Kritik
Overconsumption Kritik 1NC
Overconsumption Kritik 1NC
K Link – Plastic Clean Up
K Link – Oceans
K Link – Fed Gov/State
K Alternative – Individual Action
K Alternative – Individual Action Oceans
K Permutation Answers 8-30
Social Service Trade Off Link
Answer To: Project will pay for itself
Answer To: Project will pay for itself
Ban Plastic Bags Counterplan
Solvency- Banning plastic bags reduces use
Solvency: stops plastic at the source
Solvency: Reducing use of plastic
Summary
Inherency
Organizations and governments are working now to study and tackle the issue of plastic pollution in the oceans. Encouraging a number of efforts helps ensure a healthy market of ideas and information sharing to search for the best solution.
Sea Life Advantage
Efforts to clean plastic out of the ocean can have detrimental effects on sea life. These include killing plankton caught up in the system and larger animals being fouled in the the 100 km booms proposed to catch the plastics. Arguments also question the impact of plastic on death rates.
Solvency
Building a platform in the middle of the ocean to collect 50-80% of the plastic floating in the ocean is a major logistical challenge. Issues that must be accounted for include ocean depth, strength of the seas and storms, impact of sea life interacting with the machine, and how to pay for the set up. In addition, the effectiveness of the system is questioned since plastics can sink, the oceans are big, and experts don’t believe a passive retention system can work.
Overconsumption Kritik
Argues that technology silver bullets to fix our destruction of the planet are bad since they allow humans to continue consuming items that hurt the planet like plastics. Instead the kritik calls for us to individually reduce our consumption and says if we don’t the oceans will be destroyed.
Plastic Bags Counterplan
This counterplan is designed to cut down on the flow of plastic into the ocean. Both the Plastic Transition Disadvantage and the Social Services Disadvantage could be net benefits as well as any argument about how the ocean clean up would hurt the environment.
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Ocean Clean Up NegativeDKC - NAUDL 2014-15
Inherency Answers
Ocean Clean Up Coming Now
Nonprofit organizations are being set up in the status quo to create sustainable solutions to ocean clean up using gathered plastic for fuel.
Sesini, Masters in Green Management, Energy, and Corporate Social Responsibility at Bocconi University, 2011
(Marzia, “THE GARBAGE PATCH IN THE OCEANS: THE PROBLEM AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS“
Best Practices - Private/Nonprofit Partnerships¶ Moreover, in an effort to implement best practices collaborative private/nonprofit partnerships have been created to help reduce and prevent marine debris. Project Kaisei, a nonprofit organization that organizes plastic cleaning expedition in the Pacific Ocean, and Covanta Energy, a Fairfield-based company that owns waste-to-energy power generation plants, under the auspices of the Global Clinton Initiatives (GCI) partner up to clean up the ocean debris starting with the plastic in the North Pacific Gyre, with a yearly conversion target of 50 tons of marine debris into renewable energy.¶
Covanta Energy uses the debris collected by Project Kaisei to “test its new waste-to- fuel technology to convert the plastic into a diesel substitute using a catalytic process for converting solid organic materials directly to mineral diesel fuel” (Covanta Energy), and to showcase how waste, and in particular plastic, can have added value if properly recycled. This in the hope that a larger scale cleanup effort will take place, helping protect the ocean and the marine wild life (Covanta Energy).¶ 16¶
Ocean Clean Up Coming Now - Extensions
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[___] Public private partnerships provide a market for testing technology to find the best solutions.
Sesini, Masters in Green Management, Energy, and Corporate Social Responsibility at Bocconi University, 2011
(Marzia, “THE GARBAGE PATCH IN THE OCEANS: THE PROBLEM AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS“
Finally, data on the amount, distribution, and especially environmental and economic impacts of such pollution are key in dealing with the problem of plastic end-of-life use and implementing programs, as well as science-based monitoring and consistent widespread sampling. Greater research and new technology development effort are needed to assess next steps, address gaps, and prevent plastic to enter the oceans.¶
As a show case of best practice that could lead the way to greater public awareness on the issue of plastic disposal and recycling. For example a partnership between Project Kasei and Covanta Energy set a goal of conversion of plastic to fuel of 50 tons per year.¶
The hope is that a larger scale cleanup effort, which will help protect the ocean and the marine wild life, will take place as a result of this project. In addition, it is an excellent opportunity for the private sector to test a new technology as a viable solution to address plastic dumping, and to create secure, financial business opportunities and help identifying recycling cost- effective solutions.
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Ocean Clean Up NegativeDKC - NAUDL 2014-15
Plastic Oceans Advantage
Clean Up Efforts Kill Sea Life
Plastic clean up would be devastating for sea life caught up in the filtration system and sucked from the ocean. .
Kazo, President at Wildlife Research Team, 2013
(Donna, President/Director/co-founder at Wildlife Research Team, Inc,
In closing, I quite liked this comment from “Harry,” who watches over a particular beach in Maine, and discusses his findings in his blog, on Slat’s plan: “This idea that if we’ve messed something up, there’s science/tech out there that can fix it. That keeps us from having to make the hard choices about our lifestyle. In this case, there isn’t. It is not possible to clean the oceans up of their debris. Not without breaking the bank of every nation on earth and scooping out and killing all the life in its first 100 feet of depth. That’s what we have done to our planet in just a couple generations. That’s plastic’s legacy. We cannot actively go out and clean it up in any meaningful way. What we can do is to change consumption behavior, change materials, improve waste management; do the things that stop persistent plastic from getting in the ocean in the first place.”¶
It starts with me, and with you.
Clean Up Efforts Kill Plankton
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[___] Even passive clean up systems will kill plankton caught in the system.
Wilson, Associate Director at The 5 Gyres Institute,2013
(Stiv,”The Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres of Plastic With a Floating "Ocean Cleanup Array"
, Inhabitat, July 17,
Another technicality is bycatch. Slat suggests that plankton wouldn’t be collected along with the plastic, though he admits more research is needed on this. The definition of plankton is an organism that can’t swim against a current; plankton have no control where they go and the assumption that they’ll somehow avoid the current that is taking the plastic into the processing thinga-ma-jiggy is a bad one. After conducting 50+ surface samples myself, at least half of the material we get from the surface is biomass. Zooplankton is really fragile, and trying to separate it from plastic in most cases is going to damage these critters beyond survivability, especially on an industrial scale. Plan B in Slat’s concept is to centrifuge the critters out—that would rip off their antennae and feeding apparatus. Scientists, when collecting zooplankton, use live catch nets and are very, very careful so as not to damage them. Plankton biologists, needless to say, are skeptical. Though zooplankton certainly isn’t the most charismatic fauna out there (and probably wouldn’t draw the ire of PETA if Slat’s device killed them), let’s remember that all life in the ocean depends on plankton at the base of the food chain. And if one endangered sea turtle was caught up? The fines that Slat would face would bankrupt his project in a second.
Plastics Don’t Kill off Species
Plastics are not killing off entire species or ecosytsems. Science is not conclusive on the impacts of plastic.
Newitz, editor in chief of io9 and PhD in English and American Studies from UC Berkeley, 2012
(Annalee, “Lies You've Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch, 5-21,
Nobody who studies ocean ecosystems would ever argue that this plastic isn't harmful. But many documentaries and articles about the garbage patch make it seem as if the main problem is that the garbage is killing animals.Birds and fish mistake the plastic for food, eat it, and then slowly starve to death. Goldstein points out that there is clear evidence that both birds and fish are eating the plastic, but it's very hard to draw conclusions about whether eating it is killing them. Generally, scientists are only able to examine the stomachs of animals who are already dead. "Somestudies of albatrosses show plastic correlating with poor nutrition — and you do see a lot of dead chicks with their stomachs absolutely stuffed with plastic," Goldstein explained. The problem is that we don't know whether there are also birds who eat the plastic and survive. "We're not going to go around killing baby albatrosses to examine their stomach contents," she added.¶
This is an even more difficult issue when it comes to fish, since she and many other researchers have found living fish with plastic in their stomachs. It's not clear whether these fish are suffering malnutrition, or are unharmed by eating plastic because they can just pass it out in their excrement. Fish digestive systems are a lot different from those of birds, so it's possible that what's harmful to the albatrosses isn't affecting the fish as much.¶
Ocean plastics aid biodiversity by increasing habitat for small insects and other surface
Newitz, editor in chief of io9 and PhD in English and American Studies from UC Berkeley, 2012
(Annalee, “Lies You've Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch, 5-21,
And finally, there is a class of creatures who are actually thriving as a result of the plastic influx. These are water skater insects, small crabs, barnacles, and invertebrates called bryozoans, who live on hard surfaces in the water. Some of them, like the barnacles and bryozoans, can do a lot of damage to ship hulls and have caused harm in other ecosystems they've invaded. Usually, these creatures lead a hardscrabble life, barely making it in the deep ocean where hard surfaces are limited to, as Goldstein put it, "the odd floating tree trunk, rare shells, feathers, or pieces of pumice." But now, with all the plastic floating around, these once-rare creatures are enjoying a boom time.¶
Food Chain not protected by clean up
A passive collection system will fail to filter microplastics. These tiny bits are the most dangerous to sea life and a healthy food chain.
Newsweek, weekly news magazine, 2010
(Daniel, “Can the Pacific Garbage Patch Be Cleaned Up?”, Newsweek, 3-13
The project goal for the mission, named Project Kaisei (meaning "ocean planet" in Japanese), was not to measure the size with precision, but to test several methods of extracting the plastic and finding ways to dispose of it properly, ideally through recycling. Testing methods of getting the larger items—plastic chairs, large toys—turned out to be easy. But that still left the much bigger amount of smaller items, like partially broken down toothbrushes, combs, and bottle caps—all of which can't be as easily harvested. "The smaller pieces are the ones that are concerning," says Mary Crowley, Kaisei's project leader and a lifelong ocean explorer. "That's what fish and birds may be eating, and it's terrifying how widely they're being distributed."
There's no perfect way to fish it all out of the ocean, especially not without harming ocean creatures in the process. But the crew tested several possible methods. Some were active, involving the dragging of nets to trap and concentrate the trash to be collected. Others were passive, consisting of large floating receptacles placed near highly concentrated areas and then picked up later to dispose of its contents back on land. The latter, Crowley found, is an applicable and plausible way to collect at least the big items.
Food Chain not protected by clean up- Extensions
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[___] The tiny plastic particles that make up most of the garbage patch are nearly impossible to clean from the ocean, combined with the great distance from any port make a cleanup effort a logistical nightmare.
Layton, staff writer for Discovery Communications, 2010
(Julia, “Could we clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?” /environmental/green-science/clean-up-garbage-patch.html, January 7, 2010)
But these are small points. The fact is, many (if not most) experts believe the notion of any active cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bordering on preposterous.
The difficulty comes down to at least three main factors: cost, distance and the effects of photodegradation.
Photodegradation describes the effects of sunlight on the tons of plastic floating out at sea. Essentially, the sun's rays dry the plastic to the point that it shatters. The result is countless miniscule bits of plastic, most of which are floating below the surface, reaching down perhaps 300 feet (91 meters) [source: Berton]. There is simply no good way to pull those tiny beads out of the water.It would be kind of like trying to catch sand in a Jacuzzi tub.
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Ocean Clean Up NegativeDKC - NAUDL 2014-15
Solvency
Clean Up Fails- Logistical Nightmare -- Location/Depth of plastics/Sea Life/ Ocean Conditions/ Economic viability
A passive collection system would face a litany of deployment issues that would make it impossible to be effectives.
Kazo, President at Wildlife Research Team, 2013
(Donna, President/Director/co-founder at Wildlife Research Team, Inc,
Briefly, here are the basic challenges Slat’s system will face, according to MarineDebris.info and 5 Gyre’s Stiv Wilson:¶
1. the size and depth of the ocean gyres within which floating marine plastics tend to gather; Slat may have to moor his platforms at 4,000 meters, twice as deep as BP’s Atlantis dual oil and gas production facility, 190 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico which at 2,000 meters, is the deepest mooring in the world.¶
2. depth and concentration of microplastics; Slat’s system uses long, flexible surface booms, but debris can drift down the water column, to 150 meters or more.¶
3. capturing tiny particles of plastics while not harming microscopic marine organisms such as plankton mingled with the plastics.¶
4. potential for entanglement of larger marine life in the systems. Wilson: “If one endangered sea turtle was caught up? The fines that Slat would face would bankrupt his project in a second.”¶
5. strength and stability in extreme sea conditions; Slat’s array would not survive weeks of thirty-foot waves. It would become marine debris itself, a hazard to maritime navigation.¶
6. maintenance and fouling; Wilson: “Outer space is less corrosive to machines than the ocean is” and sea life grows rapidly on any surface.¶
7. the physical properties of ocean-weathered plastic; Slat claims that plastics retrieved from the five gyres for recycling would be financially profitable. He does admit it would not be of top quality; other sources state it would be worthless due to degradation. Recycled materials must be clean to be utilized, and this material would be fouled by sea life such as barnacles.¶ 8. legal issues; a bewildering multitude of laws regulate the deployment of structures at sea.¶
Clean Up Fails- Logistical Nightmare- General Extensions
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[___] Multiple barriers to successful system of clean up
Cho, staff blogger for the Earth Institute, 2011
(Renee, “Our Oceans: A Plastic Soup”, Earth Institute, 1-26,
Despite all these environmental and potential human health impacts, most scientists agree that it is not feasible to clean up the plastic soup in our oceans. The areas are huge, and the debris is unevenly distributed and always shifting. A cleanup would entail filtering enormous amounts of water, and the by-catch of plankton and other marine organisms would be harmful to ocean ecosystems. Moreover, the fact that the trash gyres are in the open ocean, in international waters, makes it difficult to get governments to invest in research or cleanup efforts.