Recycling and going green has been at the forefront of everyone's mind for the last 10 years. It has become a major concern to able to preserve the planet and reverse some of the damage that society has been inflicting over the last two hundred years. Everyone's concerned with emissions and electric cars but the world is in fact over two-thirds water. So naturally what society should be concerned about should be the oceans in the pollution and negative human impact that people have placed on them. Part of the problem as an initial estimate of the amount of plastic is not accurate. Not to mention incredible environmental and ecological effects the plastic has on marine life. Ocean plastic has reached a critical level where human intervention needs to take place.
People are linked to the oceans in many ways that they can understand and others that are not so obvious; a means of transportation and support economies by providing a food source are the obvious ones .Civilizations through the millenniums have used the sea to nurture them providing the food source and other resources. Today the ocean is utilized for escape or tourism for its serenity and if all of the majestic biological organisms that ocean has to offer. People need to preserve this in incredible resource and start working on this today.
Ocean pollution has been a difficult thing to measure and for the public to be concerned about. Most of the concern has only ever been on the shore level where people can physically see pollution collecting. There is a difficult to get people interested and a problem that happens hundreds of miles out where very few people will ever see the plastic collecting on the surface of the ocean. Funding for research to acquire accurate numbers on plastic pollution understand how it affects the environment of these marine organisms has probably been delayed because of the lack of interest people have trouble associating why the oceans are important for them. The truth currently there are no actual models to estimate the distribution of plastic the ocean, these models use data from surface
If we do not stop plastic pollution in our oceans the ocean will eventually lose its habitat and our ecosystem will be changed forever. Not only will plastic pollution hurt animals, damage our oceans waters, and change our ecosystem but it also can have a great effect on the human race as well. Plastic is not biodegradable so when a little particle gets eaten by let’s say a fish, we (the humans) catch, kill and eat the fish and these tiny particles may still be inside of the fish that we are eating. This shows that the whole food-chain is effected by plastic pollution, and not just animals. Although people know about how bad plastic pollution is, the problem is still occurring. If everyone just took one second to recycle it will save so many animals lives as well as keeping our own safe. Working together is the key to a greater future, showing as many people as possible the long term effects
There are several different types of pollution that negatively impact the ocean. Most people are primarily familiar with pollution of the oceans as solid waste, usually plastic waste. As a result of carelessness and littering plastic pollution of the world’s oceans is at an all time high. In fact, in 2014 it was discovered through several research expeditions that scientists, “estimate a minimum of 5.25 trillion particles weighing 268,940 tons,” are floating around the world’s oceans (Eriksen, et al. 1). Just the sheer numbers estimating the amount of plastic pollution found in the ocean in 2014 is alarming, it is very likely this number has risen in the past three years since this article was written. Items that are considered garbage such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic six pack rings
The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet and plays a vital role in the worlds environment. It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface, contains 95% of the water on the planet and is an essential part of the natural cycles that make our planet habitable. The ocean is not only dynamic and sensitive, but it is also severely affected by our lifestyle choices. It regulates global temperatures, is the world’s biggest carbon sink (absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases), provides a home for trillions of plants and animals that make up various levels of the food chain, and so much more. Because of its immense appearance, it is frequently misinterpreted to be a stable and resilient environment immune to human activity. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Ocean is a resource for us to use and benefit from, however, it needs to be protected. It
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.
If things keep going the way they are humans will inevitably destroy the ocean and in doing so destroy themselves. There need to be more Loraxes. We the people need to work together to minimize and ultimately stop the production and use of plastics. Driving down the highway, or the gravel road it doesn’t matter I look on either side of the road and what do I see; plastic debris and trash. Someone had to have thrown it there or maybe it blew out of the back of a trash truck going by but regardless there it sits until someone picks it up or an animal mistakes it for a meal or a home.
In today’s world it’s hard to go anywhere without finding something wrapped in plastic. Plastic bags, packages, bottles and other items are scattered across the world. This has become a problem for the entire world and specifically the oceans. Plastic and other garbages that are resistant to the natural recycling process take a long time to recycle. These items will gather at certain points in the pacific ocean. Such places are known as garbage patches. The garbage patch isn’t the only thing causing problems for our oceans. Dead zones and rising ph levels are also contributing to create uninhabitable areas within the ocean. Depending on the ability of the marine life, some will make it to a place they can live, while others will not have enough oxygen, or proper ph levels to maintain their own lives. With marine debris rampant throughout the oceans accumulation is a real problem.
Earth's oceans are dying. “About 80% of the ocean around the world is polluted with chemicals industrial and residential waste, all of which comes from the land” (“Marine Problems…”). Pollution is mainly coming from the people. Marine pollution should be stopped because it is the cause of many problems and if something is done about it, people will see an increase in sea life and healthier waters. It makes its way into the ocean and kills marine life. Ocean pollution is affecting the way of fisherman and their everyday lives. It is also very bad on the community because pollution is very bad on tourism. Ocean pollution should be stopped because it is poorly affecting marine life, it is not good for fishermen, and is very bad on tourism.
One of the issues that is currently harming the ocean is the presence of pollution. Studies have shown that over the past thirty years, people have increased their use of plastics and synthetic materials and recently it has become even more abundant (Laist). The amount of plastic debris that has entered the ocean is partially due to people 's inability to properly dispose of plastic and waste. This has immeasurable effects on the physical ecosystem, as well as the creatures who inhabit it. While plastic is very buoyant, it takes a very long time to degrade, and it is usually eaten by
The numbers of how much plastic and trash that are dumped into our oceans every year are sickening. According to Julie Mailto (2017) from her website Plastic Oceans, “More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into our oceans every year” (para. 1). Plastic debris in oceans affect more than just simply ocean plants. Around 250 species of ocean animals are affected and are known to suffer from the consequences of severe plastic pollution. Reusable plastics are a great alternative to single use plastics. By using refillable water bottles the amount of plastic waste could be drastically decreased. Not using plastic straws, silverware, and sandwich bags could also lessen the effect of waste in our oceans. Recycling is the best way to cut back on how much debris ends up in the water. I have been recycling since I can remember. If people got paid to recycle then everyone would without question. I believe recycling should be a law in our state because it already is in other states and has been shown to reduce waste pollution so I believe it needs to be implicated in ours.
Walking through the traditional grocery store, consumers find hundreds of plastic items to make their lives more convenient. Individually wrapped pop tarts, plastic zip lock bags to store sub sandwiches for lunch, deodorant cases, plastic combs to groom hair, diapers, and soda bottles. Unless specifically requested to carry a cloth bag, even the bags we use to carry our groceries home are produced plastic. To society, these are items of convenience and not necessity. But to marine animals that reside in our ocean, they can be a hazardous warzone, “which ends up polluting our oceans and killing millions of birds and fish and more than 100,000 sea turtles, according to the Sierra Club”(D.G.22). Plastic whether it is a syringe,
The overuse of plastics in today's society has become major environmental issue for our oceans. Plastic pollution is the dumping, littering, or disposing of any type of man-made plastic that has been produced and has ended up in our ocean and has not been recycled.
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.
Throughout my research on Plastic Pollution I learned that plastic is a material that our planet cannot digest but it has become the lubricant growth of globalization. Thus, Plastic is made from oil that contains many chemicals harmful to humans and animals. Humans are barely aware that Plastic is so part of our lives that it can be found in everyday products that we consume and even the food we eat. Humanity plastic foot print in the oceans has caused a major garbage path located thousands of miles off the coast of California, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This is caused due to humans that throw their waste into the sea and went those plastics are in the water, it breaks down into smaller particles; then pushed by winds, tides and currents, plastic particles form with other debris into large swirling glutinous accumulation zones. For instance, The World Economic Forum (WEF) report stated that if we keep producing plastic and improperly dispose of it, there will be more pound of plastic debris than fish by 2050 because we have been made three times more plastic stuff since we did in 2014. The dangers of over-produced plastic, is that much of it escapes from collection systems that end up floating in the ocean than into the stomachs of marine birds and sea turtles. This is very alarming to me because we are killing thousands of marine’s lives and its ecosystem by over producing plastic.
People tend to take plastic for granted. It’s everywhere, from bags to water bottles to toys to machine parts. About 300 million tons of plastic is produced in the world each year, which is about the weight of all the adults on the planet. More has been produced in the last decade than in all of history until 2000. Last year alone, people around the world used over 50 billion disposable water bottles and around 1 trillion plastic bags. All the waste must go somewhere, though, and unfortunately, that somewhere is usually our oceans. People can help reduce the amount of plastic ocean pollution and prevent the destruction of the world’s ecosystems and the poisoning of seafood by taking simple steps like recycling, limiting plastic use, buying from more sustainable companies, and participating in cleanup events.
I am writing this letter because our ocean’s ecosystem is in danger due to plastic pollution. According to the United Nations, approximately 60 to 95 percent of the pollution in our oceans is caused by waste, specifically plastic. In a study conducted by Plymouth University, they found that at least 700 marine species are negatively impacted by plastic pollution and approximately 100 million marine mammals are killed each year from plastic pollution. That being the case, plastics have affected a large amount of marine species. We see plastic everywhere; plastic bags, drink bottles, Styrofoam, micro plastics, and so on. Plastics also releases different types of toxins that are both harmful to marine animals and humans.