
Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time - lentil_soup
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/03/ocean-cleanup-device-successfully-collects-plastic-for-first-time
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nwrk
Please upvote and throw some VC money on it.

We desperately need this and not Uber or WeWork (albeit market and marketing
say different).

Great achievement.

[https://theoceancleanup.com/](https://theoceancleanup.com/)

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kilo_bravo_3
One of the worst things about the internet is that a couple of months ago,
when the Ocean Cleanup Project was having some problems, there were several
quadrillion articles posted, from comments on social media to entire news
articles, calling it a failure and scam.

Including on Hacker News.

Now that it is working the crickets in here are deafening.

Take this comment, which is the top search result for "ocean cleanup project
site:news.ycombinator.com":

> The Ocean Cleanup Project is essentially a scam at this point. It can't work
> for numerous ecological (scoops up ocean life) and engineering (the ocean is
> HUGE, corrosive, and violent) reasons. Not to mention that ocean
> microplastics are distributed throughout the first 100 meters of ocean
> water, and this goes nowhere near that deep. Of course, they dismiss these
> concerns or deflect with scientific BS (which the media gobbles up) whenever
> they are brought up.

>They can't get this to work on such a minuscule scale in placid water off the
coast of the Netherlands, it won't work in the North Pacific on a far grander
scale.

If the internet had been around in 1903:

>The Wright Brothers are essentially a scam at this point. Their airplane
won't work for numerous technological and engineering reasons. Not to mention
the sky is huge and the plane only flew for 3.5 seconds and was damaged upon
landing. Of course, they dismiss these concerns or deflect with scientific BS
whenever they are brought up.

>If they can't get more than a THIRTY SEVEN METERS in the placid air on the
coast of North Carolina, airplanes won't work in the turbulent winds of other
regions on earth.

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Elizabethrud
That’s really great! Cause this is a serious problem and we must solve it
anyway.

