If you’ve ever played a video game or watched a cartoon then you are already quite familiar with the concept of objects. When you hear of object oriented programming or OOP, this is what is meant. It’s a concept where an object can be created in a computer program. The object would then have characteristics or features aka object methods. The object would also possess properties. These properties are just different pieces of information stored by the object about itself such as it’s name, it’s race, it’s height.
Imagine a game where a crazy astronaut is on a hoverboard. The game allows you to fly through the universe on the hoverboard throwing rotten fruit at people’s pets. That’s a crazy thing to do so please don’t do that in real life. As far as computer programming is concerned, the astronaut is an object and the hoverboard is an object.
Let’s a take a moment away from programming in honor of our environment. Please practice the 3 Rs to save our planet.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Between Hawaii and California is an area larger than the state of Texas that has been dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Though the name may conjure up a massive island of plastic jutting out of the sea, 94 percent of the plastics found in the patch are actually microplastics—tiny pieces of plastic smaller than a grain of rice and often impossible to see with the naked eye. Much of the heaviest plastic found in the patch is abandoned fishing gear, often referred to as “ghost nets.” Ghost nets threaten marine life because they can easily ensnare animals swimming by.
The garbage patch in the Pacific is the largest known on the planet, but several others can be found in other oceans (five main ones are often reported). Debris tends to collect in swirling, circular currents called gyres.
Experts say that cleaning up the patch entirely is likely impossible, but some are trying to at least mitigate the problem. One Dutch company called Ocean Cleanup has invested $32 million as of early 2019 in cleaning up the Pacific Garbage Patch. Early ocean trials have so far shown mixed results.
Please keep it in mind to protect and preserve our environment and encourage others to do so.