What is Plastic Paradise?

Have you ever heard of Plastic Paradise? It's a supposed island that's twice the size of Texas and made of plastic garbage that has accumulated in the Pacific Ocean. I had never heard of such a thing until I watched Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

Apparently, this "paradise" is a real thing. It's located on a small island halfway between the east coast of Japan and the west coast of the United States and is property of the Unites States government. How could an island, overrun with trash, have never been heard of before this documentary? Below is the trailer for Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch; warning, there is a small scene of a dissected bird.

As you can see from the video above, the amount of plastic we use and what we do with it is out of control. Do you drink from plastic water bottles regularly? After you drink it and dispose of it, you have no way of knowing where that plastic bottle is going. All that seems to be for sure is that it's harming the environment in some way, shape, or form because plastic cannot be broken down completely. It can only be broken down into smaller pieces which are more likely to be eaten by and harm animals. The Environmental Cleanup Coalition is working to clean up our world's oceans in an effort to preserve marine wildlife. However, it is going to take a lot more to clean up the earth.

The most efficient way to clean up the plastic problem is to stop it at its core. As long as plastic products are continuing to be produced, the problem is only going to increase, and we may see more and more animal species disappear because of it. Below is a picture of a fish that was filleted and found to have plastic in it's stomach. 

It's a disturbing thought that even the fish, a common food choice by many individuals, are ingesting small pieces of plastics. This is especially scary when you consider the carcinogens within plastics that are now throughout the fish you had intended to eat for dinner. The Mayo Clinic advises that people should stay away from products that could possibly contain BPA, a common carcinogen found in plastics. 

What do you think? Is it worth trying to encourage the plastic companies to stop producing plastic and find a more Eco-friendly product? Or is it a waste of time considering the dependence the human society has on plastic items?