Imagine clear blue waters, subtle ocean waves, and a cooling breeze flowing. Now, replace these ideas with polluted waters and garbage lying around the beaches. While unpleasant and horrifying, these images of terrifying waters is a reality. Due to trash becoming ubiquitous in nature, the oceans consumed these unhealthy items and is filled with those grotesque substances. Although this is the case, the problem correlates to what is know as humans’ habits. Commonly seen in almost every place, individuals create a mess by throwing a piece of garbage on the ground rather than in a trash bin. This event in turn is causing great damages to the marine life and even to humans themselves. As a recent issue from the 1900s era, the massive trash is starting from the local beaches. Ranging from the beaches of Tasmania to the panoply bays of California, the marine debris is only continually spreading further to a myraid of coastslines. Evidently, the litter in the oceans connects back to those in the previous generations’ actions. By setting an improper behavior, the younger generations became influenced by this attitude. This behavior in turn is only causing a major problem to not only the sea, but also an increase in additional damages. As a result, the habits caused by individuals brought forward a massive catastrophe leading towards an environmental, economical, and cultural apocalyptic nature plaguing the oceans. One critical issue that is currently affected is 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
Our oceans are vast and they are some of the most mysterious and diverse places on earth. They provide food and shelter for countless organisms, they also provide a key factor to life; water. Unfortunately, pollution is dangering Marine life and slowly destroying the oceanic ecosystem. We have always had this notion that because of the sheer size of the ocean, that dumping our trash and other toxins into the sea would have no major consequences. As we have seen, that is entirely inaccurate. Oil spills, floating trash, toxic spills are just some of the various factors that contribute to the pollution of the oceans (Heimbuch, 2009).
Although the ocean covers approximately two thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is surprisingly susceptible to human influences. The effects of rubbish dumping have tainted our oceans and they have taken their toll on the vast marine environments and the populations in which they contain. Rubbish dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas. In the report “Causes and Effects of Ocean Dumping”, the author Sharda states that “The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This leads to a marked depletion of oxygen
Every day, many people around the world dump trash into rivers or off of boats. To them it’s “out of sight, out of mind”, but it’s not that easy for inhabitants of the ocean. As the garbage flows from rivers into the oceans, it eventually combines with the garbage already floating in the ocean and results in garbage patches, which all
In the article When the Mermaids Cry” The Great Plastic Tide by Claire Le Guern Lytle, she wrote “For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years” This means that more and more trash is added to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. Almost everything around us is made out of plastic, this is later misused and ending in the wrong place. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote “In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste.” Our plastic is misplaced and it escalates from there. However, plastic pollution hurts us as well. “Trash in the water compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;” wrote a non-profit group called Ocean Conservation. If our oceans are covered in trash, everyone that relies on the ocean is going to suffer. The effect is not just in our health, it also affects our economy. Ocean Conservation also
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
A large number of marine species are known to be harmed and/or killed by plastic debris, which jeopardize their survival, since many are already endangered by other forms of anthropogenic activities. Marine animals are affected through entanglement in and ingestion of plastic litter (Marine Debris). Less conspicuous forms, such as plastic pellets and “scrubbers” are also hazardous. To address the problem of plastic debris in the oceans is a difficult task, and a variety of approaches are required. According to research conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean each year. That is more than 38 million pounds a day. More than 85% of all the trash that is dumped comes from the world’s merchant shipping fleet. According to the same research, the United States is responsible for an estimated one- third of all the trash that is dumped into the ocean (Amaral). The reason this is still going on is because the majority of the trash that is dumped is in international waters. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that convened in 1982 defines territorial waters and international waters as: territorial waters are waters extending up to 12 nautical miles from a coastal state, and they are considered to be within the jurisdiction of that particular state or ‘territorial waters’ If oceans, seas, rivers or lakes extend beyond international boundaries and are not territorial waters, they are classed as
Imagine a peaceful paradise, where the heavenly ocean breeze and the glorious blue waves set the mood for delighted sensations. This beautiful fantasy of a beach will perish, if humans continue to let ocean pollution conquer Earth’s alluring waters. Terrible things are deposited in our ocean including, garbage, toxic waste, oil, sewage spills, and plastic waste. Every hour, 1.5 million pounds of garbage are dumped into the ocean, killing 100,000 marine creatures due to plastic entanglement, poisoning, etc. (All-Recycling-Facts.com). If we continue to be incautious, we could be dealing with a mass extinction of marine life! Humans could lose a food source soon if we can’t consume fish because of the intoxicated waters. Something must
Have you ever been to the beach? I have and swimming in the ocean is one of my favourite things to do when I go on vacation! You wouldn’t want someone to come into your house and throw their cigarette butts or their plastic drink container on your kitchen floor when they’re done would you? I know I wouldn’t. Littering in the ocean does not magically get rid of your garbage; the marine wildlife has to deal with it in their homes. Roughly 75% of our earth is covered with water (IDRC 2010). Many people think that when you dump trash into the ocean that nature will biodegrade. It can take up to hundreds of years for this trash to fully
Dating back hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the act of dumping into waters has been practiced without any thought into the possible damages this could inflict on the ecology of the marine life present. The dumping of garbage and sewage in these waters is detrimental to the species that inhabit it, it can destroy their habitat, and it can destroy themselves as organisms (Chenery AM. et al. 2005). Since these organisms are usually fully submerged in these waters, there is nothing protecting them from being surrounded by polluted waters that could potentially harm them. For the past couple of decades though, and in many areas of the world, people have begun to notice and understand these problems and have begun setting out laws and required permits to do anything remotely close to dumping in waters (Chenery AM. et al. 2005). However, this is only but a single step in a process working towards cleaning and keeping both oceans, and in-land bodies of water, including their organisms, safe from human waste.
Based on the article by National Geographic, there is a giant island made of trash. The name of this trash island is the great pacific garbage patch. This patch is about 20 million square kilometers. Based on the amount of garbage collected there is about 70% of all the garbage there sinking to the bottom of the ocean(National Geographic). The garbage in the ocean are not able to decompose so they just sit there within the ocean. Trash in the ocean is also a safety hazard for marine life. The garbage their kill animals like turtles or albatross, birds (National Geographic). The problem with the gyre is that it is still growing, pollution is still entering our ocean and are not decomposing. The trash also hold chemicals that is harmful to the environment. Examples can be that decomposing bottles leak out bisphenol A or BPA for short; BPA can lead to many “environmental and health problems” (National Geographic). Data from NOAA tells us that these gyres of garbage are formed by the circulation of “wind and wave actions” (NOAA). The ocean holds many wonderful life and creatures, but we humans are not always considerate of other lives, so as a result we end up hurting our home and our
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
The oceans face many types of pollution every day, every second. The ocean is our greatest ecosystem and out most valuable resource. A common misconception is that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet however, the majority of our oxygen is made via the algae in the sea. The oceans feeds, hydrates, and provides us with oxygen; ironically enough, despite its monetary value to mankind, it is what is treated the worst. For ages we have been dumping our trash, chemicals, and waste into the oceans with no fear or regret, almost an “out of sight- out of mind” mentality. People once and still assume that the oceans are so vast that all of the pollution is diluted and would be dispersed through out, going unnoticed. However, dilution is a myth and an idea that renders ocean dumping to be less impactful. Even so much of the man made pollution is becoming even more concentrated and have entered our natural food chain. However vast the waters of the ocean are, they are not meant to house all of these external factors. There are many alternatives to marine pollution including recycling, finding alternative trash dump sites, cutting down on harmful chemicals for agriculture, and most importantly having the ability to recognize when a problem is developing and counter act, immediately.
Although the ocean covers approximately two thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is surprisingly susceptible to human influences. The effects of rubbish dumping have tainted our oceans and they have taken their toll on the vast marine environments and the populations in which they contain. Rubbish dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas. In the report “Causes and Effects of Ocean Dumping”, the author Sharda states that “The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This
As the world develops and the human population grows there is more pollution being dumped into the oceans, causing major problems to marine life and ecosystems. Major causes of marine pollution involve non-point pollutants, marine garbage, toxic ocean pollutants and sewage disposal in oceans. From heavy metal poisoning including lead and mercury killing predators such as sharks and whales, to waste getting trapped in the digestive tracts of marine animals, this essay focuses on how human interference causes horrifying problems to the marine life, but also how to fix it. It will also explore the normal activities of people including farming and how this can cause an imbalance in an ecosystem. Everyday activities can cause massive nutrient