DiJuaun Shelton
BIO 104 10
Dec 13,2016
The Ocean's Trash
Pollution is one of the most concerning topics to talk about in today's modern world. It acts as a poison for anything that lives and breathes; it could toxify water, air, land, humans, and animals, and is not to be taken lightly.
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).
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It is also known as the Pacific trash vortex, that stretches from the west coast of North America to Japan, and the Eastern Garbage patch which stretches from U.S. states of California to Hawaii. The amount of debris in the GPGP accumulates because much of the debris is not biodegradable. Many plastics, for instance, do not wear down; they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces. Debris like these is detrimental to marine life and their ecosystems. The loggerhead sea turtle often makes the mistake of eating plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish. Albatrosses mistakenly feed their chicks resin pellets because they resemble fish eggs, thus cause starvation or ruptured
Society has become better acquainted with the dangers associated with pollution during recent years and people have started to adopt environmental attitudes as a result of learning more concerning the harm their actions can provoke to the natural world. The Pacific Trash Vortex is an area in the Pacific Ocean that contains a series of pollutants with most of it consisting of plastic. The area is twice the size of Texas and is killing millions of birds, animal, and fish as they are unable to distinguish between foods they can eat and things that are likely to cause their death.
Millions of tons of trash are dumped into the ocean each year (OI). Ocean pollution can be stopped! I am going to explain what people are doing to the ocean and how it can be stopped. First, two billion people within 30 mile of the coast create 100 million tons of trash every year (Doc. 1). This can be stopped if we reduce plastic in the waste stream, improve solid waste management, and increase, capture, and reuse more plastic (Doc. 1).
Marine pollution is not a new phenomenon, but our acknowledgement of its impacts and severity is relatively new, with the first laws and discussions to counter it only appearing in the 1950’s. For much of history, it was thought that the oceans were so large that any pollution created would be negligible and easily diluted (Marine Pollution). Since, countless research and laws have been implemented in order to preserve our marine ecosystems because of how crucial these ecosystems are to humanity.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the massive and immovable region of the North Pacific Ocean bound by the North Pacific Gyre. The gyre’s rotational pattern attracts waste debris across the North Pacific Ocean. Moreover, when the waste debris imprisons in the currents, wind- driven surface currents move floating fragments slowly toward the center, and trapping them in the section.
Ocean pollution is caused by many things,plastic,humans, and oil spills, we are trying to stop this. So many people just put the plastic in the ocean and people are trying to stop them. Two billion people within 30 miles of the coast create 100m of coastal plastic waste. We can help by reducing plastic in waste stream, and try to stop pollution. Another way we can help is by recycling (Doc.1). We cause pollution to by dumping trash and garbage onto beaches. We have to help protect oceans by monitoring the water to see if people can go swimming (Doc.2). The oceans have to stay healthy because they are a habitat to animals (OI). Another reason we have to keep oceans healthy because they are a big food source for us (OI). In
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.
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
Pollution is a major problem for all of us. People need to recognize this situation so we can start making a difference to this problem. In order
Oceans cover approximately 75% of Earth 's surface and are vital to this planet and the people who inhabit it. Oceans provide food, natural resources, and recreation for nearly everyone in this world. Unfortunately Oceans have been receiving mass amount of pollutants including oil spills, toxic waste dumping, and industrial dumping. These pollutants will have negative impacts on the wildlife in the ocean, as we are seeing already with the Coral Reefs, and soon enough it will begin to affect our lives as well.
Once upon a time, a dolphin named Blue and a sea horse named Gary were playing a game of tag. When suddenly, they stumbled upon a plastic container. “Whoa! What's that?” Blue asked. “I think it’s food” Gary said.
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.
As the world develops and the human population grows there is more pollution being dumped into the oceans, causing major problems to marine life and ecosystems. Major causes of marine pollution involve non-point pollutants, marine garbage, toxic ocean pollutants and sewage disposal in oceans. From heavy metal poisoning including lead and mercury killing predators such as sharks and whales, to waste getting trapped in the digestive tracts of marine animals, this essay focuses on how human interference causes horrifying problems to the marine life, but also how to fix it. It will also explore the normal activities of people including farming and how this can cause an imbalance in an ecosystem. Everyday activities can cause massive nutrient
Pollution should be banned from society and our planet. This may be a topic that is discussed all the time, but we need to “wake up” and make changes now. Some of our world’s most pollutants places have damaging effects, such as birth defects, the loss of thirty to forty IQ points, and life expectancy may be as low as forty-five years because of cancer and other diseases. This is enough reason alone to continue to address the problem of pollution. Pollution is when the air, water, land, and environment is made dirty and unsafe to use. This is done by contamination of the natural environment, which can be tangible to intangible. According to a non-profit organization named Pure Earth, toxic pollution affects more than two-hundred million people worldwide. These pollutants are created from different elements and affect our society and the human race in several ways. There are many types of pollutions, such as air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, food pollution, and land pollution that have been affecting our world greatly and the human race that live in it.
As the human population continues to grow and we continue to progress, the environment suffers. Ever since the Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century, human actions have added to the increase in “heat-trapping gases”. This brings us to one of the most talked about issue caused by humans, pollution. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment which causes harm to the environment, and pollutants take form in many ways, however, the most common are water, soil, and air pollution.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful substances or products into the environment. It is a major problem in America and as well as the world. Pollution not only damages the environment, but damages us also. It has cause many problems ranging from lung cancer to the greenhouse effect. It is all among us but we continue to live in our own filth. What is the reason behind this flawed logic? In this paper I will examine the problems and solutions for this issue.