Human Controversy: The Planets Sustainability

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.

This article introduces what a gyre is and states how plastic ends up in the ocean. It mentions how although plastic doesn't begin as toxic it becomes poisonous overtime due to pollutants in the water collecting on the debris. Karpus states how the plastic consumed by marine life can cause them to die of starvation and cause plastic accumulation in the food chain. Karpus talks about how the main issue is plastic's resistance to being degradable. Lastly, the article provides ways to be an activist such as living a plastic free lifestyle and fighting the government's and company’s plastic policies.

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

Oceans make up seventy percent of earth's surface, and are the largest place to sustain and accumulate various species. However, humans' wastes, such as oil spill, industrial toxic wastewater, and

In more recent times, policy changes in many countries have reflected the view that the ocean does not have an infinite capacity to absorb our waste. However, marine pollution remains a major problem and threatens marine life in the ocean at all levels. Micro plastics is another issue to our environment as it is killing and polluting the environment. Micro plastics are bathroom products such as facial exfoliators, body scrubs, and toothpaste is tiny pieces of plastic that are affecting animals, not only marine life but also birds such as seagulls, penguins, Cuban bird, pelicans and so many more other birds also seal, crocodiles, polar bears are also dying from this. The plastic pollution travels easily from land to sea. It blows in from bins and garbage dumps, or flows through stormwater drains into our waterways and eventually ends up in the

Recycling is a great attempt to preserve our natural resources, but it does not even come close to saving the living creatures of Mother Earth herself. The build up of plastic bags and other unnecessary items in our oceans is a greater cause of ecosystem disruption. An estimated 100,000 marine animals die each year due to suffocating on or ingesting plastic bags. Increased levels of man-made pollutants show up in areas like the Arctic, affecting Polar bears, other arctic mammals, melting polar ice caps and adding to the stress of all climate change and global warming. All plastic bags ever thrown away are stored in landfills, which only some of actually properly dispose

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

Marine waste has been a problem for some time now. However, it has recently become an issue that is in need of attention. As stated in the article Plastic Island, Midway Atoll is covered in many corpses of dead birds. When researchers examined the carcases, they found that the cause of death was the fact that the birds consumed pieces of plastic, causing malnutrition. 64% of waste in the ocean is created from shoreline and recreational activities (Marine Debris is Everyone’s Problem). Thousands of organisms are dying purely because of ignorant people who are too lazy to throw away their trash. The Ocean Conservancy spokesman, Tom McCann, said that the issue of marine waste is "entirely preventable” (Ciampaglia 14). But how exactly can we prevent

Discuss the cause and effect of plastic debris on seabirds? Marine population are vastly being endangered by all sorts of debris including plastic that found their way into waterways and the ocean. Seabirds have being found with entanglement around their legs and bills which affect their ability to protect themselves against predators (Ceccarelli, as cited in Australian Government Department Sustainability environment water population and communities, 2012, p. 3). Also Allen, Jarvis, Sayer and Mills remark plastic entanglement cause by fishing materials and other circle shape plastics may cause strangulation,, prevent the ability to feed themselves and even drowning (as cited in sigler, 2014). Plastic debris also crate problem with the feeding habits of seabirds, as they cannot define plastic from their normal food chain. Derraik observed that seabird diets has been affected by plastic as seabirds mistake coloured plastic debris from fish, fish eggs and larvae (as cited in Acampora, schuyler, Townsend & Hardesty, 2014, p. 1). Although as observed by

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a plastic waste land located in Midway Atoll. An ocean current called a gyre is what makes these plastics circulate to this specific area. This swirling soup of garbage is about 10 meters deep just below the water surface and consists of mostly non-degradable plastic.This area is twice the size of Texas and contains plastic that is made into a “goo”. Most plastics are not biodegradable so they remain in the ocean for hundreds of years and break into tiny toxic particles.These toxic particles are then mistaken by marine birds and aquatic life as food. They digest them and are unable to break them down. Some of these fish are eaten by humans and then we also exposed to these toxic chemicals as well. Although consumers already are being exposed to harsh chemicals by plastic. Humans are exposed to a harmful chemical called bisphenol A, BPA is a synthetic estrogen (and know endocrine disruptor). Consumers are unknowingly taking in these harmful chemicals and damaging their health. The use excessive use of plastic is a striking issue that is overseen and concerns us all.

“In Australia, you can tell how far you are away from a city by how much plastic is on the beach and in the water near the beach” Dr Wilcox explained in an interview with the ABC. “About every 11 years the amount of plastic doubles”. It is estimated that there are up to 51 trillion plastic particles in the ocean, and around 8 million tonnes of plastic went into the ocean in 2010 alone. All this plastic finds its way into the ocean, where billions of marine animals call their home. Many animals confuse plastic littering for food, including sea turtles. Plastic bags are responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 marine animals every year. This a significant number of animals dying each year, all because of plastic bags being littered and making its way to the ocean.

Nowadays, human beings face waste issues that produce significant detrimental emissions to the Earth. Since the majority of nations of world parts have approached the economical sustainability, their resource consumptions shows reverse effects to the environment. Many individuals squander irreplaceable resources that become trash driven widely throughout. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch clearly illustrates the human beings’ current habits as that “maelstrom of debris twice the size of Texas.” Researchers have found there tremendous amount of plastic, paper, metal and other irrelevant materials (Land 40). Presumably, the consequences may cause the colossal influence to the environment, especially the marine life.

Plastic bags are destroying our environment and killing our Wildlife. “Tens of thousands of Whales, Birds, Seals and Turtles are killed every year from plastic bags” (www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr). They are mistaking these plastic bags as their food source. Turtles think they are jelly fish floating in the water. Whales consume them as they are eating the krill and other fish that they eat. In 1998, a pelican was found dead with 17 plastic bags in its stomach. Another example of plastic bags killing

Each and every day, we are surrounded by plastic. Plastic is found in our disposable pens, utensils, water bottles and so much more. To be exact, 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year. To humans, the abundance of reliance on plastic is no catastrophe for it is harmless. However, for marine life, plastic can be fatal because they mistakenly ingest it when 8 million tons swims its way into the ocean each year (Plastic Oceans). For instance, “fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000- 24,000 tons of plastic each year” (Wabnitz). Twelve thousand tons of plastic should not be afloat in the ocean simply chilling waiting for a fish to indulge itself with; clearly, we have a problem. Fish however are not the only species impacted by plastic, Sea turtles also mistake floating plastic for food. Current research indicates that “fifty percent of sea turtles’ ocean wide have ingested plastic” and the number will continually grow without our intervention (Wabnitz). Large aquatic creatures are not alone in the battle against plastic, small invertebrates are also at risk, “sixty percent of surface plankton net tows conducted in the western North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea also contained buoyant plastic pieces” (Ocean Plastics Pollution). With thousands of oceanic creatures ingesting plastic resulting in traumatic deaths from internal bleeding and puncturing of internal organs, plastic pollution in our oceans clearly is a threat to the ocean’s ecosystem.

The environment of the earth is a widely discussed controversy as to what we do to start helping it. Recently, a law has been passed on the limitation of plastic bags and requires charges for attaining bags. With this law being passed, it prompted situations where communities had mixed emotions towards it. Ever since the age of plastic bags, people have argued on the fact of whether or not this law is actually helping society or not. Although plastic bags can prove to be an efficient use of everyday life, the usage of plastics bags ultimately deteriorate our environment, worsen plastic pollution, and will continue to lacerate marine life.