A gyre is something that spins or swirls, like a vortex. In the context of oceanography, it refers to a system of ocean currents that go in a circular pattern (due to forces like the wind and friction). The Pacific Garbage Patch is the result of mostly plastic pollution getting caught in a gyre.
Gyre Quotes in Garbology
The Garbology quotes below are all either spoken by Gyre or refer to Gyre. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
But finding these big pieces of ocean trash was not the main source of Crowley’s mounting despair, though she has known these waters for nearly forty years and sailed here back when they were truly blank and pristine and breathtaking. She knows this sort of trash is a huge problem, entangling and killing more than one hundred thousand marine mammals and an even larger number of seabirds—no one knows for sure how many. But what really alarmed her this day wasn’t the trash she could see. It was what she couldn’t see that troubled her, after the bottles, cups and other bobbing trash had been hauled out, and the mirror of water and foam appeared deep blue and clear, flashing by beneath sun and pale sky as she stared down from the railing.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Garbology LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gyre Term Timeline in Garbology
The timeline below shows where the term Gyre appears in Garbology. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
...of an “island” and more of a “chowder.” Goldstein wondered how creatures lived in the gyre of the garbage patch.
(full context)
