Pros And Cons Of Polyethylene

Plastic isn’t known to be a substance made for consumption, but you may be eating it every day. In “Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic…Are You?” the author Susan Casey is informing us how bad plastic is polluting our oceans. Susan Casey is the author of a New York Times best seller, “The Devils Teeth”, helped publish Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, and is the editor and chief of Oprah Winfrey’s Magazine “O”. She argues that these pollutants are doing damage in multiple facets, such as affecting food chains, disrupts organism reproduction, and directly cause the things we consume to be harmful to us. The author found many creative ways to appeal to all three persuasive appeals which are Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Although the article was great at the end she added things that weren’t needed and seemed to just be there as filler.

In modern times, there are numerous materials used to make the everyday necessities we need in life such as our phones, clothes, shoes, plastic bags, and many more. However we could narrow the materials down to metal-based products, polymer-based products/ plastics, and cellulose-based products/paper. To narrow things even down further so that we could have an argument, plastic and cellulose could both be used to make the same type of material such as containers for juice, containers for food, chairs, tables and many more. With this, we could now compare if plastic or paper is the better material to make our basic necessities. I would say that plastic would be better because of its durability, energy efficiency in making plastics, and the ability to mold plastic.

After Berrier saw the problem, he couldn’t stop seeing it, plastic was everywhere! So, he took some time to do research and show the world what the danger truly is with all this plastic. Yes, sure there is plastic everywhere, so what? Why is this a problem? Berrier uses this documentary to explain just that. To bring this big problem to the light, he covers three main topics: Single use disposable items and the effect on our environment, ocean health, and human health.

With over 5000 types of plastics, Heather explains that the problem is very complex. As plastic ends up in marine ecosystems it begins to pollute and has massive monetary effects. Marine litter costs Europeans billions annually though cleanup projects, damage to vessels, and fish catches. Heather also mentioned the harmful amounts of microbeads, which Megan Leslie banned in Canada, in the oceans that are harming small ocean ecosystems. She explained that the effects of marine litter on the economy and ecosystems are extensive, however she noted that there is one place that we haven't check for the harmful effects of plastic. People! Plastics are made with harmful toxic chemicals and it only makes sense that people would be as negatively affected by plastic as our ecosystems and economies are. When asked if parents should be worried about the plastic toys parents buy their children Heather explained how when children put plastic toys in their mouths they are potentially being exposed to toxic flame retardants. Heather explained that our economy is linear, which means it destructively uses finite resources and creates waste. Heather believes that we must create circular economies that feed into each other which would allow us to reuse our resources and recycle our waste (Leslie, H. 2017, February, 2). The idea of a circular economy relates back to the “Green Economics” where

The author proves the falsehood of the long known assumption that plastic is a threat to our planet. By citing the research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the author convinces his readers that not only are plastic bags not harmful as people think, but also beneficial. This surprises his audience and shows them how exaggerated the cries of environmentalists, which gets the readers wondering what else have they falsely believed in and what other information are paper-bags advocates hiding from them, and that pulls them into the argument and intrigues them further. Additionally, Summers lists the harmful consequences of using reusable bags by presenting research results and observations. This alarms the audience and raises concern in their

I mean for crying out loud my computer is made WITH plastic! Also after reading it I have started to feel a little bit of guilt. Not that it has me overly messed up it’s just got me asking questions. Such as, “How in the world can this issue be reversed?” Or “Am I compounding the issue with my own consumer notions?” Of course I personally find it disturbing that I would even be remotely linked to this issue. But I am. Most all of America is linked to it with the rest of the world following in suit. But I tend to try and put a positive spin on it myself so that maybe just maybe there is a solution. A clean up method that could work, or a better way of using our current materials so as to try and make our economy bounce back and stop or slow this whole water pollution issue. This chapter is now also making me consider whether or not the shrimp I ate at a restaurant awhile ago may have been affected as well. If it did then what effect has it had on me physically? Also, another thought that comes to mind is if it has had any major affects on the U.S. population as a whole? Or if it has anything to do with why our politicians don’t seem to do anything remotely right or close to what they say they are going to do. Then there is the fact that FOUR MILLION tons of plastic just up and poof, disappear, every year. That in itself could be a major factor in the U.S. economic crisis as well as a number of other ecological issues as

Plastic – an American-made synthetic material, renowned and praised for its almost indestructible quality and versatility, yet on the contrary has had detrimental consequences on our environment and ourselves. It is quite amazing to observe how plastic has completely changed our way of life. In Susan Freinkel’s book “Plastic: a Toxic Love Story” she writes about the effects of plastic on our world. The author points out, a commonly overlooked fact, that plastic is literally everywhere. Plastic is in the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the cups we drink from, and sometimes even the ground we walk on. Two chemical bonds made in a laboratory have forever changed the way we live, through small commodities like

The plastic around the world is building up to become a huge world problem. Each year eight million tons of plastic

There are many problems that we either face now, or might face in the future, but we do not really look at the problems. Rather, we ignore many of these and continue on our lives not thinking about any consequences. Weisman does not just discuss problems for the environment and move on. He goes into great detail as to why this is a problem, and what harm comes from each issue within the environment. When talking about the plastic, he talks about great effects from the waste such as what happens when animals eat the pieces. Degrading plastic is a problem as well. It gets broken down into extremely small pieces best seen with microscopes or as a group bunched together, yet this is still a problem. As Weisman states, “When they get as small as powder, even zooplankton will swallow them” (Weisman 146). No matter the size or type of plastic, it can be ingested by a variety of animals and

“We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam … The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas.” – George Carlin. Since 1950 humans have made 8.3+ billion metric tons of plastic, 6.3 metric tons have become waste; only 9% of that waste has been recycled. In the last 50 years, plastic has done more harm than good. If we continue we leave our legacies with this world and leave Earth to restore itself.

are being presented with the facts of how much devastation plastic is causing and will

One material dominates the entire world, a material incapable of degrading for centuries and used in all facets of life. While very new to the earth, this synthetic polymer has flourished rapidly since the 1950’s, and, still at full throttle in the 21st century, the Age of Plastic sees no imminent end. Plastic continues to ascend at an exponential rate as its plethora of uses extends to new branches of technology and innovation. Even with their differences, both the working class American and the CEO of an industrialized company utilize plastic for its low cost and versatility. Nevertheless, humanity cannot sustain this nonrenewable resource for long, and eventually the issues of this material will one day outnumber the benefits.

Where does all the plastic go. Every bit of plastic that has been created is still here. This is because plastic is one-hundred percent non-biodegradable! Even the most degraded plastic down to polymers cannot be digested by bacteria (Laist, 1997). If global issues like starvation and climate change are not enough to stress on, the weight of an issue literally churning in the Pacific Ocean is startling. For decades the majority of the world’s population has not been properly educated on the nature of plastic and the potential harm it can do to our environment and our physical health. Due to factors of man and the natural effects of nature, a major problem has developed that is now harming our food.

Initially when plastic was discovered, it gave people a sense of hope to accomplish things that were once thought of impossible. Additionally, new companies, factories and idea’s emerged as a result of the discovery of plastic and its flexibility in manipulating the chemical structure. For example, Industries in 1960 adapted to supply produce with plastics from plastics bags to plastic bottles because it saved them lots money from collecting raw materials from all over the world and it gave them the advantage to control the production. It was then thought of as a boon to our economy because people were able to divert from purchasing expensive materials to cheaper ones; however; people did not expect the plastics material to cause harmful effects on our environment. Furthermore, since the discovery of plastics by Leo Hendrik Baekeland, other researchers have came up

"Plastic: Too Good to Throw Away."?The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.