Ocean Pollution

I'm in the ocean every day, it’s my second home. Because of this, I am very sensitive to literary and other pollution that ends up in our oceans. I can't walk down the beach today without seeing a pile of trash. Because of this curiosity, I wanted to research what another type of litter fill our local ocean. Our ocean is filthy, Plastics and fibers make their way into the sea naturally every day. Apart from the rest of the trash, some of these plastics and fibers are microscopic, coining the term microfibers or microplastics. This problem is getting worse. Much like global warming in the past, this problem is not clearly obvious. As a society, we have made numerous efforts to begin to clean up our oceans and beaches, but our tiny particle problem still goes undetected, unevaluated, and unresolved for most of the world's population. So we will probably ask how are they getting there?

Solid waste like bags, foam, and other items dumped into the oceans from land or by ships at sea are frequently consumed, with often fatal effects, by marine mammals, fish, and birds that mistake it for food.

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

People incautiously toss their trash into the ocean or to the sidewalks as if it is a giant trash can. It is causing the oceans to become dirtier every year. Speaking on the bottom half of marine life and people everywhere, nobody wants to swim in water with used straws, crinkled up wrappers, or old deflated balloons. Not only is it un-enjoyable, but it is taking an animal’s life everyday. Many of you have probably watched the movies, read the book or heard the story of Winter, the bottlenose dolphin with a prosthetic tale.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, two billion illnesses and 1.8 million deaths related to contaminated food, human exposure to contaminated food is the most worldwide public health concern. Many people concerns about chemicals in food, food may be accidentally or deliberately contaminated by chemical hazards. Contamination occurs through environmental pollution of the air, water and soil, such as toxic metals, dioxins and PCBs, or through the use of various industrial chemicals, pesticide, power plant emission, chlordane, toxaphance, and DDT. These chemical substances which persist in the environment accumulate in the food chain, threats humans’ health and have enormous impact on the environment and society.

This article, “Oceans of Pollution” is written by Dahr Jamail. He presents this article with many details to support his argument. Two main topics with support are used, which is how plastic is causing a great pollution affecting the fertility rates of the fish because fish can ingest tiny sizes of plastic therefore harming the creatures. As well, another topic in this article is the dead zone affecting the ocean, caused by natural environment, climate changing the temperature and human factors. This article mainly presents this article to the government to suggest for change and to humans, many who are biologists, who care about this huge problem. With the intensity of the ocean’s pollution, the article uses three rhetorical topics, pathos,

Dating back hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the act of dumping into waters has been practiced without any thought into the possible damages this could inflict on the ecology of the marine life present. The dumping of garbage and sewage in these waters is detrimental to the species that inhabit it, it can destroy their habitat, and it can destroy themselves as organisms (Chenery AM. et al. 2005). Since these organisms are usually fully submerged in these waters, there is nothing protecting them from being surrounded by polluted waters that could potentially harm them. For the past couple of decades though, and in many areas of the world, people have begun to notice and understand these problems and have begun setting out laws and required permits to do anything remotely close to dumping in waters (Chenery AM. et al. 2005). However, this is only but a single step in a process working towards cleaning and keeping both oceans, and in-land bodies of water, including their organisms, safe from human waste.

As humans, we must reduce the amount of trash we let loose in our waters and begin removing what we have already filled them with. For instance, Jocelyn Kaiser explains how a man by the name of Charles Moore found a patch of garbage the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean in 1997 and to this day that patch has remained there. Also known as the “trash vortex” this patch consists of bottles, Styrofoam, tires, fishing line, wrappers, and raw resin (1506). The National Geographic adds that the vortex is split into two areas. The Western Garbage Patch is located near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch is located in-between California and Hawaii. Currents in the ocean act as a highway due to the mixture of warm and cold water, which moves the trash from one patch to another making the water look cloudy (Great). 80% of this trash comes from Asia and North Americas land and eventually makes its way into the rivers and oceans; the other 20% is from careless boaters (Great). Water pollution affecting marine life Kaiser describes a report by Marine pollution bulletin in 2001 saying the plastic waste that floats in the ocean is spreading toxins and toxin-laden microplastics and effecting animals. Marine life such as sea cucumbers, krill, and mussels are only a few marine

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

Ocean trash is killing sea life. Theres about 5.25 trillion pieces of garbage is in the ocean. Thousands of seabirds,turtles,seals and other mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic or getting entangled in it. Monk seals and pacific loggerhead turtles are among nearly 300 species that eat and get caught in plastic litter.

When I was young, I always think that most of trash gets burned or goes into landfills which are not healthy for our environment. Trash is not just a problem in the local places and on the side of the road; however, trash also gets thrown from islands into rivers or lakes that flow into oceans. Actually, most ocean trash comes from rivers or lakes. My biggest concern about ocean trash is that 80 percent of ocean trash is made of plastic. As you know, the average time for plastic to completely degrade is at least about 450 years. Some plastic can even take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. This is a huge problem for both humans and wildlife. Plastic and other junk can be very harmful to birds and other animals that live on the shore. Because

The Santa Monica Daily Press recently revealed an article discussing the trash in the Pacific Ocean. I believe that humans should do everything they can to prevent the pollution of our oceans. The ocean is a major food and water source and has large economic value. The ocean has contributed $ 1.2 trillion dollars and over 350 million jobs. One of the major consequences of oceanic pollution is the destruction of coral reefs, which is a habitat to many of the world’s marine wildlife. It is said that the coral reefs are home to more than 4,000 species of fish and 800 species or hard coral. If the coral is wiped out we would lose $375 billion dollars worth of goods and services. Also, pollution can contribute to the movement of harmful invasive

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.

We 're treating the oceans like a trash bin: around 80 percent of marine litter originates on land, and most of that is plastic. Plastic that pollutes our oceans and waterways has severe impacts on our environment and our economy. Seabirds, whales, sea turtles and other marine life are eating marine plastic pollution and dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Scientists are investigating the long-term impacts of toxic pollutants absorbed, transported, and consumed by fish and other marine life, including the potential effects on human health.