In 1997, a sea captain discovered a swirling soup of bottles, wrappers, even truck tires in the middle of the northern Pacific estimated to be "twice the size of Texas. News of "the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" awakened public disgust over a mountain of floating trash in the ocean - even if the image wasn't exactly true. Today, a popular myth becomes more valuable than reality.
Plus, take hip-hop, some grinding rock, and a pinch of electronica, and you've got Oxymorrons - an unpredictable band that makes musical paradox its brand.
Listen to the full show.
The Mythic Island of Trash
The story was as impossible to miss as the image it conjured. Marine researcher and sea captain Charles Moore was sailing from Honolulu to Santa Barbara when he discovered civilization's plastic footprint; a swirling soup of garbage...bottles, caps, wrappers, truck tires and tubes ...as far as the eye could see. The LA Times series on "the Pacific Garbage Patch" won a Pulitzer Prize. The idea of floating island of filth "twice the size of Texas" floating in the Pacific awakened public disgust.
But, the most substantial thing about the vast patch of debris, as Slate columnist Daniel Engber puts it, is the big idea of it that floats around inside our heads. And that tangible, localized image is one of the biggest challenges for re-thinking the environment.
Related: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Was the Myth We Needed to Save Our Oceans
How to See Glass
People who live on the coast see plenty of trash washing up on the shore. Some, while scouring the shore for other discarded material: glass. This story, about a pair of very serious sea-glass collectors, comes to us from producer Erika Lantz.
You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
The Oxymorrons in Portsmouth
From the name, the fusion of hip-hop and grinding rock, dips into psych and electronica, real musicians playing real instruments: everything about the Oxymorrons is a paradox.
Every review of the unpredictable band makes clear that you can count on a rousing live show from the band, which is coming to 3S Artspace in Portsmouth on Saturday, September 24. The Queens-based Bellevue brothers perform as KI and Deee and are founding members of Oxymorrons.
The Bookshelf
Every other Wednesday, we bring you The Bookshelf... NHPR's series on regional books and authors. Today, All Things Considered host Peter Biello brings us to Hancock, New Hampshire to talk with Howard Mansfieldabout deconstructing New England Sheds.
You can listen to this full episode again here: The Bookshelf: Howard Manfield Deconstructs the New England 'Shed'