Boyan Slat and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: A comprehensive critique

Boyan Slat appeared on my radar recently. I watched two programmes on Boyan Slat, one dating from May 2017 (a presentation, 30:08 minutes), and the other from October 2018 (a documentary, 44:55 minutes). And I have some reservations.

Firstly, though, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t clean up the garbage in the oceans, especially plastic garbage. Our problem as a species is that we tend to think that out of sight is out of mind, and anything that can save us from our own myopia is to be lauded. It is with this frame of mind that I approached Slat’s 2017 presentation but, unfortunately, it was by watching a video on something I supported that the doubts arose.

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