Plastic Pollution And Its Effects On The Environment

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

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

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.

Some ways that plastic enters the marine environment can be  through improper waste management, intentional or accidental dumping and littering near shorelines or at sea, or it could even be through stormwater runoff carrying them to sea. “Plastics are used in many aspects of daily life and are a big part of our waste stream. Many plastics are colorful and will float in water, which makes plastic debris a very visible part of the marine debris problem.”(OR&R's Marine Debris)”. Plastic is used by humans everyday because it is in mostly everything. From phones to water bottles to your toothbrush. Plastic comes in many colors and can easily seen floating on the water's surface. That means that it is even easier for fish to see and be mistaken for food.

150,000 tons of plastic are littered into our ocean each year, yet we do nothing to stop it. Plastic is capable of being deformed continuously and permanently in any direction without rupture, making it almost impossible for the plastic to disintegrate. Our population uses plastic for almost everything, once these objects are used they are left in the street, beaches, and other places, natural sources then carry the objects into the oceans. There, the plastic becomes stuck in currents, where it takes years to disintegrate. The only people benefiting from this are companies who produced the plastic. The problem is this plastic is harming marine life. Some simple solutions to this include using reusable water bottles instead of plastic water

In the article, "Plastic in Our Oceans", Kimberly Amaral discusses the everyday uses of plastic and how it can be beneficial to humans, but harmful to marine life. As fishermen casually dump waste overboard, animals mistake it for food sources, such as a turtle mistaking a plastic grocery bag for a jellyfish. From the trash brought out to sea, gyres, large circulations of water, carry the garbage through currents, spreading it to all over the ocean, specifically to the central gyre. Amaral notes common ways for marine life to die from plastic, which include entanglement by plastic rings, consumption of plastic bags and pellets which stuff the intestines and lead to health problems, and suffocation. As researchers today work hard to discover

Every year, millions of tons of plastic are tossed into the ocean, harming all types of marine animals as well as the environment. Hundreds of marine mammals like whales and dolphins are found washed ashore filled with bottle caps, plastic bags and basically anything they can swallow. Not only does plastic pollution harm marine life, but it affects the entire ecosystem. If a predator is dependent on a certain species for prey and the predator has a role in the environment, it is important for the prey to not be disturbed by pollution. If that species of prey were to go extinct, then the predator species could be seriously impacted as a result. These problems warrant the need for more research into the magnitude and causes of plastic

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

“Around 260 million tons of plastic is produced every year, approximately 10% of this ends up in oceans. This litter is frequently consumed, often with fatal effects, by marine animals and birds who mistake it for food. The Trash Vortex of the Northern Pacific ocean is a patch the size of Texas consisting of trillions of pieces of decomposing plastic.” (Geer) Water pollution often directly correlates with other natural recourses that is being harmed by the same

Fish cannot eat plastic, if they do they can be choked or they are unable to pass it through their stool (Derraik). Pollution does not only affect fish, but anything that lives in the ocean, for example water mammals like dolphins or turtles can get hurt by being trap with a loose net, coral is unable to grow because of oil, birds can drown because of plastic materials (Derraik). There is a lot of life within the ocean and it will cause damage. Therefore as long as we are aware that pollution can be anything, then we are able to try and organize as much as

The earth’s oceans take up roughly three fourths of the planet’s surface area and hold roughly 97 percent of all water on earth (Silverman). It is important that people make sure that the oceans are kept clean because the ocean contains many essential elements for the survival of both humans and animals. A rising problem that is not often brought up is the increasing amounts of man-made debris, especially plastic, that are accumulating in these waters that is slowly effecting the oceans ecosystem as well as the health of humans. Some may argue that the plastics have little effect on the environment but the facts show that this is not the case. The amount of ocean debris has increased

Plastic harms the ocean and everything in it. National Geographic says that over eight-million tons of plastic are dumped onto the ocean every year. That means that over one-hundred million marine animals die from plastic debris every year. Humans are also getting hurt from plastic. Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently discovered that people that eat the average amount of seafood are eating up to eleven-thousand plastic fragments in their seafood each year. So next time you bite into a piece of fish think about the plastic you may also be eating. How would you feel if you couldn’t eat fish without getting sick? That’s what it could come to

Plastic debris is polluting the human food chain. In a 2008 Pacific Gyre voyage, Algalita researchers began finding that fish are ingesting plastic fragments and debris. Of the 672 fish caught during that voyage, 35% had ingested plastic pieces.

Plastic never, ever, ever, ever, ever goes away. It will continue to break down, but it will never fully decompose. What does this mean for our ocean? It means that more and more plastic is getting into our waterways and ocean-life is consuming the plastic, thinking it is food. Unfortunately, they are being poisoned by our trash. They are also consuming it, and think about this, then we eat that fish, which means we are consuming the plastic - YUCK!

As many of us tend to use plastic in our everyday life, we don’t notice that plastic is constantly being thrown and left on the streets. Eventually, the plastic makes its way down to our city drains and into the ocean, resulting in several problems. People may not think that it’s such a big deal if they throw one bottle onto the ground but in the long run it is because it makes its way down our drains. Then, once it reaches the ocean the fish will eat it resulting in death or even fishermen catching them and then the plastic contamination gets into our body’s by whoever consumes the fish. Which is causing us to get sick because we are starting to have plastic run through our bodies, this all starts with the humans and then ends with negative effects on us. Many people in my community need to realize that by just throwing away one simple plastic bottle on the ground can have a major effect on those in the ocean and on human. The plastic making its ways into our oceans killing sea creatures, also the villages rely on reefs to capture the fish but they are dying off, and many wetlands are being destroyed by all the landfill.