The Widening Gyre

"It's a toilet that never flushes."

That's how one researcher intimate with the area describes the 'eastern garbage patch,' a Montana-sized gyre in the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and Northern California, where all the trash in the sea -- everything from rubber duckies to derelict drift nets, swirls away endlessly, endangering marine life and causing headaches for shipping. Perhaps you've heard of it. Well, here's the crazy thing. Believe it or not, it looks like Congress is actually going to do something about cleaning it up. Of course, trash being ubiquitous, no one expects the garbage patch to stay clean forever. That will require people to actually change their behavior and take responsibility for their trash. But first things first...