The Ocean Cleanup‘s latest attempt to clean plastic from the Northern Pacific has proven to be unimpressive. After two offshore supply vessels, donated by Maersk, towed a 520-meter wide boom for 120 hours, they succeeded in collecting around 8 tonnes of floating plastic, or roughly the equivalent to a single load of a standard garbage truck.
Around 2014, the media became enthralled with a story of a 19-year-old Dutch engineer named Boyan Slat, who claimed to have designed a boom system that would clean up half the plastic in the Great Pacific garbage patch within a decade. Many engineers and oceanographers doubted that the scheme would work, but the media and several large corporate sponsors bought into the grand vision. The title of an article in the magazine Fast Money from 2017, Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real, reflects the enthusiasm for the project.
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An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “these are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, twenty years ago today, and yet for at least part of that strange and horrible day, they fit. The great 
There are moments in history when an individual makes the right choice at exactly the right moment and it makes all the difference. Such was the case with LT. Michael Day on the morning of September 11, 2001, in New York harbor.
Since at least 2007, a variety of large inflatable rubber ducks have been showing up in harbors around the world. Most recently, a 25-foot high inflatable rubber duck appeared mysteriously in Belfast harbor in Maine. The word “JOY” was emblazoned on across its breast. The Belfast Harbor Master Katherine Given told the 
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In honor of 9/11 and in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of