There's a Second Huge Plastic Garbage Patch in the Pacific

Scientists have confirmed a massive patch of floating plastic in the South Pacific that they say is 1 million square miles (2.58 million square kilometers), or 1.5 times the size of Texas. While that might seem huge (and it is), this newly discovered patch is dwarfed by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which, according to some estimates, is twice the size of the United States. See more

Tough Job of Cleaning Pacific Garbage Patch to Start in September

In 2012, Boyan Slat was only 18 years old when he took the TEDx stage in his native Netherlands and presented an outrageously ambitious plan to clean up all the floating plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years. He was inspired by a diving trip in Greece where he saw more garbage bags than fish in the ocean. Now 24, Slat is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, an environmental startup that's attracted more than $40 million to make Slat's teenage dream a reality. See More

Quiz: Do I Really Have to Wash This?

What will Earth look like in 500 years?

10 Things You Should Never Throw Away

If the brilliant late-1980s TV show "MacGyver" has taught us anything, it's that you can repel a gang of thugs, break out of prison, and build a functioning spacecraft with little more than a paper clip, a C battery, some twist ties and an empty tube of toothpaste. Yes, OK, fine, MacGyver was fiction, but you can conjure up all sorts of handy household fixes — no improvised bazookas, sadly — with everyday items that most of us thoughtlessly chuck in the garbage. Join us on a journey through the exciting world of Internet-fueled recycling/repurposing obsessions to identify the 10 things you should absolutely never throw away. See More >>>