While doing research for content of this website today, I stumbled across something very upsetting to me:

An article on the Discovery channel's website, which touts:  "'Great Garbage Patch' Not So Great After All - The massive floating island of plastic in the Pacific Ocean isn't nearly as large as reports have claimed, according to a new study."

Included in the section called "The Gist" designed to let people avoid reading the whole article they include the following statements:

• A well publicized collection of garbage in the Pacific Ocean is not nearly as dramatic as many reports suggest.
• Instead of mounds and towers, most plastic in the sea is tiny and widely dispersed.

...as well as statements stating that threats to wildlife are still serious, but who's going to read that?

Headlines are meant to give you the entire idea summed up in one sentence, and most will see these headlines and assume the best.  This article has now been carried over THOUSANDS of news outlets and, probably has erased any progress on making the public aware of this problem.

The article also goes on to quote the so-called scientist, Angel White as saying "If you filled a thousand Nalgene water bottles in the North Pacific, three to five would have one piece of plastic in them the size of an eraser."

Sorry, Angel, but if that isn't an outright lie, then please explain the now-famous water sample Mr Charles Moore took by dipping a simple small jar into the water from his boat and retreiving what appears to be many  hundreds of particles of trash.

I personally, feel that not only the Author but also, Angel White, and Discover Networks have made a grave mistake in summarizing the article in this way. The vast majority of readers will not take anything more from this article and it's headlines other than "Oh, the problem isn't that important afterall."

Shame on Discovery and Emily Sohn for minimizing what is truly a disasterous and dangerous problem! Who cares if it's 1,000,000 or 100,000 miles across? WHO CARES what KIND of plastic is in the patch?! THE FACTS ARE STILL DRAMATIC AND DISASTEROUS. 

OUR GARBAGES IS  KILLING ANIMALS. The patch IS GIGANTIC. It IS a TERRIBLE problem! The points that this entire article are based upon are what is unimportant. 

And the way these unimportant facts are used to calm the reader about the problem, is utterly heinous. 

Read the full article here: http://goo.gl/QRBHI , and please, if you disagree with the, make sure to let them know in the comments!