Plastic Pollution Essay

Fishnets improperly discarded into the ocean can also cause major issues, tangling into unsuspecting mammals and fish. According to the Marin Academy's Oceanography website, there are over 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in each square mile of ocean off the Northeast coast of the United States, which contributes to the death of 100,000 marine mammals and two millions sea birds yearly.

For decades, oceans have been one of the biggest dumpsters used throughout the world. Plastics among other pollutants have affected our oceans and freshwater as well as marine life. Plastic pollution effects not only the ocean and its’ marine life, but humans as well and not just in the United States, but everywhere. Landfills are running into water systems every day, carrying more plastics and trash into all of the oceans. For instance, in the Mediterranean Sea, sewage is untreated and that totals eighty percent. Sewage can lead to eutrophication, which is an enrichment of chemicals in an ecosystem, but it can cause human diseases as well. (Oceans) In reality, exposure to all marine organisms will be some sort of toxin or chemical, whether it is from the ocean or contaminated from human chemicals like pesticides. Deliberately dumped plastics and toxins spread into water systems daily. During the 1970’s dumping radioactive waste, chemical weapons, pesticides, and plastics have been disposed into oceans. The reason being was that people believed that since the oceans were so big that all the pollutants should be diluted, broken down, and dispersed throughout the ocean floor. In reality after disposal has continued for years, not a single pollutant has disappeared. In fact, 80% of plastics float, which means they will float for years until someone has picked them up or they have been broken down into smaller parts of oceans. Ocean pollution should end, even if it is recycling

Plastic is polluting the oceans, and the animals that live there are being harmed as a result of the pollution. Some animals, such as Sea turtles thinks that the plastic in the ocean is food. A piece of evidence that supports this is an article by the center

Ocean dumping/littering is one of the biggest causes to harming sea life. According to Passage #1, it states, “Materials like plastic are non-degradable which means they will not be absorbed and recycled.” This shows that when plastics are being dumped into the oceans, they will stay there forever because they have no way of breaking down. This results in animals choking, and getting tangled up in plastic items. According to that same passage, it states that, “When oceanic creatures and even birds consume plastic inadvertently, they choke on it which causes a steady decline in their population.”

Once plastic gets into the ocean there is no way out due to the fact that it does not biodegrade. Plastic bags can take 20 years to decompose, plastic bottles up to 450 years, and fishing line, 600 years; but in fact, no one really knows how long plastics will remain in the ocean. With exposure to UV rays and the ocean environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments. Not only this, since plastic is lighter than water it ends up floating in the ocean being swept by currents. As a result, a lot of plastic gets caught in the spiralling ocean gyres. The circular motion of the gyre draws the debris into the centre where it becomes trapped and builds up. While the water in the centre of the gyres sinks, the plastic is too light

In the world today, not a single of us can truly say that we don’t at lest come in contact with plastic. They are everywhere, in our cars, carpets, food, and virtually every other product we consume; it has becomes a globalization needs that we can’t run away from. As according to the National oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA) state the approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash enters the ocean per year. Most of it get washed up on the beaches by waves and tides, some of it sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor, some got eaten up by marine animals mistaking it for food. Ultimately plastic pollution is a man made catastrophe, as soon as it enter the Oceans it is causing harm to the ecosystems and environment, as wells as affecting

Plastic debris and litter is a serious pollution that is currently affecting oceans, waterways and coastal lines. Plastic is a man made tangible substance made from a range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, and nylon. This material is high on demand with the human kind but takes an average of 450 years to disintegrate. This product is impacting the marine environment, wildlife, and then eventually circling back to humans. Currently, the world’s biggest plastic patch is located north in the Pacific Ocean, trapped in what’s called a gyre (known as an ocean rip). There are also another two plastic islands located in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. These three plastic patches contain a higher amount of plastic but to today's count, in total there are 5 forward. Sea Education Society scientists studied plastics in the Atlantic and calculated there are 580,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer. Causes of plastic are endless, but trash is the main contributor. Plastic is located in almost every item around, and once it's in the trash, all the garbage gets dumped in land fills and seeps into the ground and soil affecting wildlife. Plastic is cheap and substantially available, so over production of plastic is high. The cause of plastic filling up land and oceans is a couple of reasons. People normally have a one-time use for plastic then throw it away but after that, the plastic is hard to eradicate. Burning plastic leads

Plastic bags, balloons, glass bottles, shoes, packaging material—if not disposed of correctly, almost everything we throw away can reach the sea...This garbage can also come back to shore, where it pollutes beaches and other coastal habitats.” Whenever one litters, a lot of that garbage will eventually find its way to the ocean, causing the oceans to become filthy. But, the garbage does not only just stay in the ocean, the garbage comes back to the land to the shores and causes pollution on the coasts. Another quote from the article is, “Plastic garbage, which decomposes very slowly, is often mistaken for food by marine animals. High concentrations of plastic material, particularly plastic bags, have been found blocking the breathing passages and stomachs of many marine species, including whales, dolphins, seals, puffins, and turtles. Plastic six-pack rings for drink bottles can also choke marine animals.” This quote explains how the garbage in bodies of water impact the marine species, the marine animals can even die from the garbage. Both of these quotes tie in with our topic because the article gives information on the impacts of

Research has shown that there is 5.25 trillion pieces of rubbish floating in the ocean and all that pollution is coming from the shore. Plastic bottles, caps and straws, grocery bags, plastic wraps, disposable cutlery, coffee-cup lids are the main items

The significance of this image is for people to become aware of the harmful impacts of plastic pollution in the oceans. Over the years, plastic pollution has emerged as a serious threat to marine life. This visual combines skilfull use of color and persuasive text for the purpose of encouraging plastic waste reduction.

Plastic Pollution is a man made disaster, but it is rapidly growing every day. It is causing harm to oceans, sea life, and even human life, as we know it. It is important to prevent plastics from ever touching the ocean and we need to do something about it soon. Plastic pollution is something that is dramatically impacting the environment and taking action is something we have to do before it affects more of our planet.

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.

Among the many types of ocean pollution, microplastic in the ocean is also a huge concern not only for the environment, but also for all marine life. TOXIC: Garbage Island is a documentary that focuses on microplastic in the ocean. The research team took a seven day voyage to the North Pacific Gyre which is the ocean’s “dump.” Most of the trash that sails with the waves in the ocean is plastic, plastic that never fully disintegrates. Overtime, the plastic will break into individual polymers less than or equal to five millimeters in diameter (microplastic) that still floats in the ocean. The problem with this is the pieces of plastic photograde to polymers and can be accidentally ingested by marine animals. These polymers then make their way up the food chain and eventually back to us. “Microplastics as vectors for bioaccumulation of hydrophobic organic chemicals in the marine environment: A state-of-the-science review” is a scholarly article that also focuses on the impact of microplastics on the aquatic life by presenting many laboratory studies. “Props 65 and 67: Stop profiteering from polluting the Golden State” is an editorial by “Los Angeles Times” that talks about the ban on plastic bags in the state of California because of the harm to the sea creatures. “Flotsam and fashion: recycler of 'ghost ' fishing nets makes marine litter trendy” is another article by “The Guardian” that talks about how fishing nets that are floating in the ocean are turned into apparel for

Plastic pollution has directlyor indirectly caused injuries and deaths ,that scientists have documented. These problems are because of various reasons which include poisoning due to consumption of plastics, suffocation due to entanglement in plastic nets etc. The millions of tons of plastic bottles, bags, and garbage in the world's oceans are breaking down and leaching toxins posing a threat to marine life and humans. Some marine species, such as sea turtles, have been found to contain large proportions of plastics in their stomach.. Income cases small bits of plastics are accidently consumed by animals. by another will cause the plastics to travel up the food chain. This may cause serious health hazards in a wide array of creature(Michelle Allsopp, Adam Walters, David Santillo

ng produced at alarming rates recently and according to (Jenna Jambeck) over 275 million metric tons of plastic was created in 2010 and 12.7 million tons entered the ocean. Effects on people, environment, animals, where does it go?