The Effects Of Plastic On The Ocean

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.

Is plastic really that harmless innovation that saves us time and energy without any repercussions? “80% of plastic waste in the ocean originates on land, and recycling rates are poor, with just 9% of plastic in the U.S. recycled, according to the EPA.” - Kieron Marks. Massive amounts of our plastic begin on land and appear in the ocean. The majority of plastic that is in the ocean is in a microscopic form which makes the plastic extremely difficult to find let alone clean up. This affects not only the ocean life by killing 1 million sea creatures a year, but it also has effects on the fishing and the shipping industry, along with tourism. Furthermore, the pollution causes 13 billion dollars in damage to the marine environment every year. This

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

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

Over the few years, humans have discarded millions of tons of garbage into the oceans. Ever wonder where the cup you threw out this morning will end up? Or the plastic spoon you used for lunch? How about the cap of a water bottle? The calamitous plastic ends up in the water, taking thousands of years to decompose. The consumption of plastic by the marine life is perilous and the leading cause of death for life on shore.

From the polar regions to the equator, these microplastics are everywhere (Avio, 2017). While we know there are tons of plastic in the ocean, it is difficult for researchers to give an exact amount. However, after twenty-four expeditions, a team of researchers in 2014 estimated that there are at least 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing 268,940 tons floating in the ocean (Eriksen, 2014). They estimate that the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans contain 55.6% of the particles found in the oceans (Eriksen, 2014). These researchers have helped give emphasis and proof as to why the worlds plastic consumption needs to be dealt with, either by banning non-biodegradable plastic all together, or by providing people all around the world with an easier way to recycle plastic.

It is a short video that examines the depth of plastic used and Europe and how they are sometimes dumping the excess waste into the ocean and that is greatly hurting the earth because there are Mediterranean animals that live there and are eating it thinking it is plankton. They also say that it is more plastic in the ocean then it is plankton in the ocean and that is a problem. When fish eat this plastic, it is known as a toxic fish because the chemicals that eats the main plastic that are the main threat is the micro plastic. This is what it takes to make plastic with some of the ingredients added like anti-inflammatory chemicals. With as much plastic it is in the ocean they believe it to be another continent. Animals die from it Plastic

Plastic in the Oceans: Having been to the Centers for Disease Control’s David J. Sencer Museum this past year, I was able to see the exhibition GYRE: The Plastic Ocean. The ocean has become littered with enormous amounts of plastic over the years and, in some places, entire islands can be found entirely composed of discarded or lost plastic objects. The sheer volume of new and current information currently being put forth on this topic makes it an excellent one for research.

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,

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

Plastic is everywhere. People use it every day, in everything. There is no possible way to live 100% without plastic in this day and age. Plastic is made with natural oils. Monomers form when molecules connect together, then chain up to create Polymers. When this happens, it creates the substance everyone knows of -- plastic. Plastic is polluting the ocean and contaminating our drinking water, but at the same time plastic has proven to be convenient and versatile for our everyday use.

Pollution of the ocean is widely seen all around. The litter comes in so many very different forms that are almost terrifying. It ranges from a cigarette to a 4,000-pound fishing net (Franc, 2013). Medical waste such as needles were even noticed in New York and New Jersey in 1988. The world’s merchant shipping fleet in 1975 was blamed for 85% of 14 billion pounds of garbage dumped into the sea (Amaral, n.d.). Out of all of the garbage and waste in the ocean it is said that more than 80% of the garbage in the ocean comes from land alone (Mosbergen, 2017). In just one hour, nine minutes, and 44 seconds, a very large number of 2,877,783 pounds of plastic has entered the ocean (Leeson & Elliot, 2016). Today after all of the dumping that goes on there are over 25 trillion pieces of plastic inside of the ocean. While that is a large number, only 269,000 tons can be seen afloat the water (“Ocean Pollution: 14 Facts that will Blow Your Mind,” 2017). The easier way of explaining just how much waste enters our ocean would be just to say “too much,” but to be exact, in 2007 2.12 billion tons of garbage enter the ocean and just three years later in 2010, 215 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean (Lonne, 2016). In 2006 the United Nations Environment Program did an experiment on how much plastic there was every square mile of the ocean. They ended up estimating about 46,000 pieces of plastic every square mile (“Facts and Figures on Marine Pollution,” 2017). In the Northern Pacific Ocean lies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is said to be about seven million square miles (“Marine Debris Impacts,” n.d.). Plastic accounts for about 70% of all the litter in the ocean and can take a very short time or a very long time

Australian marine wildlife is becoming obsolete at what seems to be a very fast rate. It is quite common to watch the news on national television and hear about our coastlines becoming drowned in plastic and toxic waste. Misuse of goods such as plastics in our communities, are being found in our waters which in turn, is causing life threatening disasters for marine wildlife. Plastic debris can cause injury or death through drowning, entanglement, internal injuries and starvation from ingestion (“Marine Debris - What is Australia doing - Home Page”, 2016). Through the misuse of plastics Australia now has a number of endangered and vulnerable species in our marine wildlife. Thus, this inquiry will explore the impact and severity that plastic

Ocean dumping and trash pollution are huge environmental health problem in the United States and around the world. Not only does the water pollution affect water we use, but endangers and kills animals and plants that use the ocean as their home or as a source of food to survive. If trash, such as plastic, makes their way into the main sewage system, they also can make their way to the ocean when water treatment system facilities are overflowed with rain water. In addition, some boater’s will dump their trash directly into the sea, which at one point was the main cause of plastic being in the ocean.

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.