Thing Not As Big As Was Originally Claimed

“None of us on that cruise had been to the patch, but we had all heard that it’s twice the size of Texas. That’s in a textbook. These statements are so frequent and in so many places that they are accepted as fact. But they undermine the credibility of those advocating for reduction of plastic pollution in the terrestrial and marine environments. Plastic is everywhere. But it’s not a patch.”
 — Oregon State University in Corvallis microbial oceanographer Angel White sets the record straight. Having once mentioned the alarming original claim myself, I feel an obligation to also further the debunking: There is not a patch of garbage twice as big as Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. So that’s good. But I hope this stops here. Because if Ms. White goes poking her nose into everything I’ve ever reported as being twice the size of Texas, I’m in big trouble.