The Effects Of Plastic Pollution In No Impact Man By Colin Beavan

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

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

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

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

“The amount of plastic the world consumes annually has steadily risen over the past seventy years, from almost nil in 1940 to closing in on six hundred billion pounds today. We became plastic people really just in the space of a single generation” (Freinkel, 2011, p. 7). This quote is from the first chapter of Susan Freinkel ’s book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. She talks about how much plastic has taken over our world, but specifically in the past decade, she notes, we have produced more plastic than we did the entire 20th century (Freinkel, 2011, p. 10).

Ocean pollution has been a difficult thing to measure and for the public to be concerned about. Most of the concern has only ever been on the shore level where people can physically see pollution collecting. There is a difficult to get people interested and a problem that happens hundreds of miles out where very few people will ever see the plastic collecting on the surface of the ocean. Funding for research to acquire accurate numbers on plastic pollution understand how it affects the environment of these marine organisms has probably been delayed because of the lack of interest people have trouble associating why the oceans are important for them. The truth currently there are no actual models to estimate the distribution of plastic the ocean, these models use data from surface

I recently viewed a video on “The economic injustice of plastic” by Van Jones. The film started off by talking about the fact that the petrochemical corporations use oil and concentrate it into plastic; which in turn kills individuals. Van Jones discusses the demise of people who are underprivileged because they can only manage to pay for the products that are hazardous to them. Additionally, poverty-stricken people also assume the burden to dispose of plastic bottles and containers.

As the United States deals with the overwhelming amounts of waste building up, Nitin et al explain that “plastics take anywhere from 15 to 1000 years to biodegrade” once they are discarded (Nitin). Changes in recycling methods can no longer keep up with the exorbitant amount of waste produced in the United States. This is why some states choose to take their initiative one step further by placing either fees or a ban on the use of plastic bags. Due to the enormous waste the United States produces on a daily basis and the negative outcomes of this trash including adverse health effects, harmful impacts on nature, and the exponential piling of trash in landfills, the US government should ban plastic bags.

By just a simple walk on any beach, anywhere, and people could see plastic or garbage waste. Many people may think this issue does not affect them but, it affects everyone and more sadly enough sea animals. Too many people plastic is a modern-day thing that they must have because it is cheap to produce and durable. For others plastic is the cause of great trouble and suffering because, “the world uses more than 100 million tons of plastic annually but recycles less than 5 percent of it” (Kiener). Many people only focus on the benefits of plastic but, besides the benefits do not be foolish; think beyond satisfying material needs. Plastic bags, water bottles, and many more other waste end up in the oceans and along shorelines. Plastic litter clogs sewer systems causing deadly floods, chokes sea animals, and contaminates fish with toxic chemicals that can develop endangering humans who eat the fish. (Kiener)

The overuse of plastics in today's society has become major environmental issue for our oceans. Plastic pollution is the dumping, littering, or disposing of any type of man-made plastic that has been produced and has ended up in our ocean and has not been recycled.

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.

According to the trade association PlasticsEurope, “world plastic production grew from some 1.5 million tons in 1950 to an estimated 275 million tons in 2010”(http://school.ebonline.co.nz.ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/levels/secondary/article/plastic-pollution/477253). Behind the staggering numbers is a global issue what we must solve by reducing the amount of plastic being used. Are there negative effects from the mass use of plastic on the land, Oceans and the human body? The answer is, ‘yes’. Thus, we see such consequences as plastic not only contaminates land but also pollutes water, and these are the natural elements which support human life. The more important threat is that plastic can have an enormously negative influence on human healt

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.

Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies.