At 18 years old, he told a TEDx talk audience that he was going to develop a passive system to clean up oceans using ocean currents.

When Boyan Slat was 16 years old, he found himself coming across more plastic than fish while diving in Greece. It was then that he decided to dedicate a high school project to investigating ocean plastic pollution and how he could make a difference.

At 18 years old, he told a TEDx talk audience that he was going to develop a passive system to clean up oceans using ocean currents.

Then, in 2013, he founded the non-profit entity, the Ocean Cleanup, whose mission is to develop advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic.

"Once plastic enters the marine food web, there is a possibility that it will contaminate the human food chain as well. Efforts to clean and eradicate ocean plastic have also caused significant financial burdens," The Ocean Cleanup website explains.

Now, thanks to millions in crowdfunding, his organization will launch devices to help clean up the Great Pacific Ocean Patch, a swath of ocean between California and Hawaii where about 600,000 miles are covered in plastic and garbage.

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The Ocean Cleanup system contains a U-shaped screen and floaters made from high-density polyethylene. It can trap garbage as small as 1 centimeter. The floaters allow the screen to stay buoyant as it drifts with the natural currents of the ocean. Ships collect the trash and bring it to land to be properly disposed of or recycled.
"The speed the plastic arrives at our moving systems is substantially lower than at a fixed structure having a positive impact on our systems’ capture efficiency," the website says.
What The Ocean Cleanup claims will be the "largest [ocean] cleanup in history" will begin in the San Francisco Bay in July, where they will start on a 120-meter section of the Northern Pacific Ocean before moving on to a 500-meter section. They hope to launch 60 devices between Hawaii and the north-west coast of the U.S. by 2020.
"The assembly is going on really well. The first segment, which is 120meters [long] has been put together and will be towed out for a tow-test in the [San Francisco] Bay area next week," spokesperson Erika Traskvik said. "The second system might be deployed early next year, but then after that, it could go fast. So we think that we could get up to 60 systems by 2020."
Slat hopes that his device can eradicate all ocean debris and that oceans will be plastic free by 2050. Here's hoping he'll meet these goals!
Source: www.viralnova.com

Much has been said about the latest in the healthcare sector. Politicians' continue to bicker and have no solid plan to replace the current plan. Certain Analysts believe if this Trump Administration plan passes the Senate their proposal will leave over 23 million people without coverage by the year 2026. The Affordable Care Act law is and was simply put in place to help the American people who were once unable to get any type of coverage, finally get the care he or she may need. Secondly, it has also helped more than enough individuals with pre-existing conditions get coverage as well. And thirdly there is the concern of affordability; this is for people who do not have enough money to pay for insurance on their own, the current law provides financial assistance for those eligible to receive money from the government.

The problem with today's guidelines are the plans are based on: age, geographic location, the ability to pay, the rising cost of medical technology and taxes. Notice there is nothing mentioned about your overall health conditions. Until the underwriting process is brought back into the equation, then insurers' will never be able to accurately measure their risk and set premium prices at affordable rates. The message to insurers' is the fact that no one should be denied health insurance due to their finances or health related conditions to help protect against their financial losses when and if they occurred.

During this era a majority of insurance companies especially those that specialize in the health sector jumped on the band wagon with lower premiums knowing financial assistance would be there to help pay for coverage. Plans were and are designed to basically take the American peoples' money first before paying any claims. Once the claims began to come from more than enough people, then insurers' realized their premiums were set too low and began experiencing financial losses. There is no coincidence today why as consumers we hear about large health carriers pulling out of the marketplace and are no longer willing to participate this coming 2018 season under the ACA format.

The solution for consumers, we have to educate ourselves and grasp a good understanding and not listen to all the rhetoric in the media. We need a suite of insurance products to benefit us in the event there are some types of loss. Whether its a loss of life, the inability to work for certain period of time, or failing health our money needs to be protected at reasonable rates. Do this now while you are still healthy with the right kind of life and health insurance plans; underwriting is the key.

There are more than enough life and health insurance companies who offer benefits to protect your money. They never moved into this whole affordable care dilemma. Insurance today is still being sold on the premise of an individual's risk factors. These type of plans whether they are: accident, cancer, critical illness, dread disease, hospitalization, preventive care and wellness, also known as MEC (minimum essential coverage) or life insurance policies are and will always be available.

The Affordable Care Act is a good law that needs to be revised and not replaced. In today's environment of government uncertainty, why listen to such chaos? "People perish because of a lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6a. Now that you have been given this knowledge, perish not; be encouraged and do the right thing for your family and your finances.

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