Household Refuses Are Threatening Wildlife

Our oceans are vast and they are some of the most mysterious and diverse places on earth. They provide food and shelter for countless organisms, they also provide a key factor to life; water. Unfortunately, pollution is dangering Marine life and slowly destroying the oceanic ecosystem. We have always had this notion that because of the sheer size of the ocean, that dumping our trash and other toxins into the sea would have no major consequences. As we have seen, that is entirely inaccurate. Oil spills, floating trash, toxic spills are just some of the various factors that contribute to the pollution of the oceans (Heimbuch, 2009).

Although the ocean covers approximately two thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is surprisingly susceptible to human influences. The effects of rubbish dumping have tainted our oceans and they have taken their toll on the vast marine environments and the populations in which they contain. Rubbish dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas. In the report “Causes and Effects of Ocean Dumping”, the author Sharda states that “The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This leads to a marked depletion of oxygen

In the National Geographic article “Eight Million Tons of Plastic Dumped in Ocean Every Year”, author Laura Parker expresses how violent the simple act of dumping trash into the ocean really turns out to be. This article goes into depth telling exactly what plastics pollution is causing, where it’s mostly coming from, and what you can do to decrease this problem and help save both our planet and ocean wildlife.

The chemicals from Industries can quite harmful depending on what 's flowing into the water. Releasing toxic liquids directly into the water affects marine life as is, but it can also change the temperature of the water, also known as thermal pollution causing animals and plants that can 't handle that temperature to eventually die. Land run off usually happens when rain or perhaps a flood carry a harmful pollutants, which include fertilizers, petroleum, and waste from animals. One of the major sources of ocean pollution would be oil spills that can come from Ships. However, oil is not only extremely toxic, but it is very difficult to clean up. Unfortunately when there is a spill people may try to clean it up as best as they can, but a good amount will stay. Ocean mining can be extremely harmful to the ocean. They use ocean mining to drill for silver, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc, however in doing so they create sulfide deposits deep down in the ocean causing long term effects to the area. Finally, littering is another huge source of ocean pollution. Such things can include debris, especially plastic, which never goes away.

In the article When the Mermaids Cry” The Great Plastic Tide by Claire Le Guern Lytle, she wrote “For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years” This means that more and more trash is added to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. Almost everything around us is made out of plastic, this is later misused and ending in the wrong place. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote “In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste.” Our plastic is misplaced and it escalates from there. However, plastic pollution hurts us as well. “Trash in the water compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;” wrote a non-profit group called Ocean Conservation. If our oceans are covered in trash, everyone that relies on the ocean is going to suffer. The effect is not just in our health, it also affects our economy. Ocean Conservation also

In 1988, it was determined that the United States alone, was producing 30 million tonnes of plastic per year (Derraik, J.G.B., 2002). This can be compared with the global and annual production of 260 million tonnes of plastic as of 2012 (Pearson, E., 2014). Plastics are lightweight, durable, and cheap to make. This makes them incredibly easy to sell and manufacture. However, these attributes are many of the reasons why plastics are the most prominent type of marine debris, and why they are a serious hazard to various ecosystems and the organisms that live within them (Derraik, J.G.B.,

Over the few years, humans have discarded millions of tons of garbage into the oceans. Ever wonder where the cup you threw out this morning will end up? Or the plastic spoon you used for lunch? How about the cap of a water bottle? The calamitous plastic ends up in the water, taking thousands of years to decompose. The consumption of plastic by the marine life is perilous and the leading cause of death for life on shore.

Currently, 300 million tons of plastic are manufactured to supply the world demand and between 5 and 13 million tons are found in the ocean (Katsnelson, 2015). Based on current trends, by 2050, 2,000 million tons of plastic will be manufactured to supply the worlds demand for plastic, meaning more pollution in the oceans (Vaughan, 2016, May 23). As Richard Thompson has stated, “While some of the plastic floats at the surface, the heavier pieces sink to the ocean floor making it hard to clean up the waste” (Katsnelson, 2015). Some of the waste comes from fishing materials or cargo ships. For example, fishing nets, buoys and other debris that is left behind from fishermen lead to the

Unfortunately, according to reusethisbag.com, "Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times." 3. That plastic then proceeds to end up in many different habitats, the ocean being one of the most commonly affected. In fact, also according to reusethisbag.com, "This year we will add 14 billion pounds of trash to the ocean," and that is this year alone.

Everything in this world we use comes from the ocean in some way. The air we breathe, the water we drink, even the products we use day to day, would not be possible without the ocean. That's why the issue of ocean pollution is so important and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We depend on the ocean for so much in our life, without it we would surely become extinct. People seem to think that since the ocean is so large and vast, we can dump as much waste as we'd like into it and it will never have an effect on us. However, since we've been polluting the ocean as far back as Roman times, the evidence of ocean pollution becoming a major problem is all too clear.

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

The oceans face many types of pollution every day, every second. The ocean is our greatest ecosystem and out most valuable resource. A common misconception is that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet however, the majority of our oxygen is made via the algae in the sea. The oceans feeds, hydrates, and provides us with oxygen; ironically enough, despite its monetary value to mankind, it is what is treated the worst. For ages we have been dumping our trash, chemicals, and waste into the oceans with no fear or regret, almost an “out of sight- out of mind” mentality. People once and still assume that the oceans are so vast that all of the pollution is diluted and would be dispersed through out, going unnoticed. However, dilution is a myth and an idea that renders ocean dumping to be less impactful. Even so much of the man made pollution is becoming even more concentrated and have entered our natural food chain. However vast the waters of the ocean are, they are not meant to house all of these external factors. There are many alternatives to marine pollution including recycling, finding alternative trash dump sites, cutting down on harmful chemicals for agriculture, and most importantly having the ability to recognize when a problem is developing and counter act, immediately.

Ocean pollution is one of the most urgent issues in our world today. The ocean is crucial to our ecosystem and it is being severely damaged at an alarmingly increasing rate. In this paper I will educate about the role the ocean plays in our beautiful Earth, why it is being so widely ignored and dismissed, the causes of pollution, and its effects on animals and humans alike.

Although the ocean covers approximately two thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is surprisingly susceptible to human influences. The effects of rubbish dumping have tainted our oceans and they have taken their toll on the vast marine environments and the populations in which they contain. Rubbish dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas. In the report “Causes and Effects of Ocean Dumping”, the author Sharda states that “The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This

People who live upon the coastline are not the only ones affected by ocean pollution, every single person on the globe is. We need our oceans for the resources they provide whether it is food or oxygen; our oceans regulate climate and weather patterns. They provide the majority of our food; our economies through fishing industries; transportation; medicine derived from marine plant and sources; and recreation (SeaWeb). As Protect Planet Ocean says “oceans are the lifeblood of planet Earth and humankind….they cover nearly three-quarters of the planet and produce more than half of the oxygen in the atmosphere, and absorb the most carbon from it.”