Remember when President Bush designated the world’s largest protected marine area in Hawaii in 2006? Environmentalists cheered, fish clapped their fins, and Bush aides crossed “burnish green reputation” off the presidential to-do list — but the aftermath has been underwhelming. Tons of debris drift into the 140,000-square-mile Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument each year, posing a great threat to marine life. But the same year that Bush declared the area a monument and banned trash within it, the administration slashed the cleanup budget for the area by 80 percent. Before the monument designation, an average 102 tons of junk were collected each year; since then, debris removal has fallen to about 35 tons a year. While the lack of follow-through is frustrating (if expected), one Hawaii resident notes that blame is widespread: “We can pick up plastic off the beach from now until the end of time, but unless people stop putting it in the ocean our problem will never go away.”
