Unaware animals, including those way out in the ocean, get a ring of death wrapped around their throat from human actions. Even simple actions like throwing a can of soda into a bush beside the road or in a neighbor’s yard can eventually affect wildlife in the sea. As a whole, littering is basically depositing an item where it does not belong. Although there isn’t a person who hasn’t littered, it needs to stop before it gets out of hand.
Surprisingly, some people think littering is okay. This is not the case; there are far too many consequences. They argue that since everyone does it, why shouldn’t they? Or what difference could one person make? Another claim is that biodegradable items, such as bananas and paper towels, are okay to
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A simple action like throwing an empty water bottle out the window penalizes the world for hundreds of years. Littering impacts the economy. According to the University of Southern California, 100,000 marine animals are entangled, suffocated, or cut by rough edges each year. The majority of these cases could have easily been prevented, just by throwing trash away. Litter originates on land, where eventually it migrates to a waterway, and then into the ocean where it ensnares wildlife. Most of this trash goes into one of the five ‘gyres’ (a giant ocean based whirlpool) throughout the world. The largest, commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), is located between Asia and the United States. According to National Geographic, there are approximately 1.9 million pieces of plastic per single square mile in the GPGP. The ocean debris can disrupt the food chain: Plankton is threatened, which results in fish starving. This not only puts sharks and larger marine animals in danger of starving, but it also closes businesses throughout the world. As more fishing industries are shut down, more individuals become unemployed, which results in a weak economy. Finally, and most tragically, wildlife is killed by trash. As stated by West Virginia University, “Every year, millions of birds, fish, and animals die from litter.” Many factors contribute to the demise of these animals. First, as mentioned above, marine mammals can be caught by discarded waste and slowly
When ever you go to the beach, do you ever think about what can happen to an animal and the water when you leave a wrapper in the sand or a plastic bottle in the water? If you think about it, even a small piece of plastic can harm a fish. The fish could mistake it for food. This could potentially kill the fish. There are other things that people d that pollutes the ocean. An oil spill from a boat can get fish sick (Doc.2). Also, solid waste, plastics, glass, and foam (OI). Marine life can get trapped in any of these items (OI). There are many things we can do to prevent this, like, reducing plastic waste in stream, improve solid waste management, and increase, capture, and reuse (Doc.1). These are just a few of the many things we could do to
Over the years many animals have been affected by the trash in the ocean. The trash can affect the animals by making animals eat and pick up plastic, by trapping animals in a net, and by cutting their wounds. The trash is causing animals to die, mainly from the plastic objects and from getting cut by trash or by getting stuck in the trash. Some animals mistake plastic for food. When the animals eat the plastic their organs can get ruptured. In addition to that, animals mistake plastic for food because the plastic smells like krill (a small fish that is found in the ocean, and a fish that is eaten by some animals). Another reason why animals die is because of ghost gear. Ghost gear is what people call fishing supplies that were thrown into
Recycling one ton of paper saves seventeen mature trees, seven thousand gallons of water, three cubic yards of landfill space, and two barrels of oil (“Environmental Impacts”). It is much easier than most people think to make such a big difference. If every person took a few minutes to go through the trash being put in the garbage and recycle the things that can be, it could completely change the world. It is the peoples job to take care of the planet and everything on it, and if people are not willing to do the right thing on their own, then they should be forced to. Everyone should be required to recycle because it is good for the environment, helps the economy, and saves energy, space, and resources.
Littering can be a major fire hazard, all its takes is one discarded cigarette butt into a pile rubbish to ignite a towering inferno of sadness. If we litter too much garbage will pile up and will grow a harmful bacteria which would make us sick. It
Imagine someone tossing a cigarette out of their window. That cigarette gets blown onto someone’s yard and is eaten by their pet. That pet could become seriously sick because of someone else's laziness. According to www.kab.org, over 51 billion pieces of litter land on U.S. roadways each year. That is just roadways. For that cleanup, America spends 11.5 billion dollars each year. 9.1 billion of those dollars are paid by businesses, with the other 2.4 billion being paid between schools, government, and other organizations. Another reason why if all this littering could be disposed of properly, America would have much more money put toward other important
Ocean currents corral trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage patches (Pacific Trash Vortex)
More than 750,000 pieces of microplastic can be found in just one square kilometer of it. Approximately 80 percent of its debris comes from land, 10 percent is made up of over 700,000 tons of commercial fishing nets, and the remaining 10 percent consists miscellaneous objects discarded by recreational and commercial ships. What is it? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The garbage patch lies in the Pacific Ocean between the west coasts of America and the East coasts of Asia. Because the effects on marine life caused by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are detrimental to their habitat, diet, and
According to the Humane Society, littering is an indirect killer. Animals get curious and want to explore unknown items that they come across. Many will smell it and probably try to chew on it. Some animals end up getting trapped it it. The most common piece of trash that people litter is gum. Some birds mistake it for food and end up with their beak stuck together or the gum stuck in their throat making them unable to eat. These birds starve and die all at the hand of someone just spitting their gum out on the side
People are constantly throwing trash outside their window when they are driving down the street or throwing trash on the ground when they are walking. As minor as littering is, there are long term effects. Trash that ends up in the storm drains, eventually make it’s way into the ocean. Once the trash is in the ocean, it can eventually make its way into a whales blowhole, or can be consumed by an animal; which could harm them. Also, trash that makes it’s way into lakes and oceans is very difficult to remove. If you cannot remove the trash, how are you going to prevent these animals from getting
Society tends to blame the fisherman for the trash that turns into marine debris. They are wrong. According to the California Coastal Commission, “Only 20% of the items found in the ocean can be linked to ocean-based sources, like commercial fishing vessels, cargo fish or pleasure cruise ships. The remainder (80%) is due to land based sources like litter (from pedestrians, motorists, beaches visitor), industrial discharges (in the form of plastic pellets and powders), and garbage management.”. Fisherman and other trained workers in the oceans are not the only
It may seem harmless and innocent, but littering is an unhealthy habit people of all ages in each country do every day. Littering is a second nature to some people; after doing it for so long and often, they do not realize they do it. As more and more people continue to litter, environments, animals, and humans are being harmed by people’s carless actions. Americans, as well as all humans, need to be more aware of how hazardous and costly littering is to the world and the creatures living in it. Littering shows lack of respect for the world, and needs to be prevented in order for future generations to live in a clean and healthy environment.
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
Carelessness and laziness are two common factors that contribute to littering. We have a piece of trash in our hands and a trash can is in site, yet we decide to just throw it on the ground. Littering has become second nature even if it is unintentional. We assume that the trash we throw will eventually disappear into thin air and it won’t affect our surroundings. Little do we know that every little piece of trash thrown out the window all adds up. That small piece becomes a pile of trash that ends up clogging storm drains, contaminating water and endangering wildlife. According to McWhorter, “Sustainability involves conserving resources to prevent their depletion, protecting ecological processes, and eliminating waste and pollution, so as to ensure that our society’s pratices can continue and our civilization can endure” (p. 394).
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.
We should all be living in a clean world and that is why a large part of the society recycles.