Essay on The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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

Over the years many animals have been affected by the trash in the ocean. The trash can affect the animals by making animals eat and pick up plastic, by trapping animals in a net, and by cutting their wounds. The trash is causing animals to die, mainly from the plastic objects and from getting cut by trash or by getting stuck in the trash. Some animals mistake plastic for food. When the animals eat the plastic their organs can get ruptured. In addition to that, animals mistake plastic for food because the plastic smells like krill (a small fish that is found in the ocean, and a fish that is eaten by some animals). Another reason why animals die is because of ghost gear. Ghost gear is what people call fishing supplies that were thrown into

It was said in that our ocean is becoming one big “wasteland”. The affects that plastic pollution in our oceans have on our future is very simple; the animal deaths will greatly increase, ocean floors will be destroyed, the wildlife of sea animals will greatly change. In my research I found that 25 billion plastic products are not being recycled each year. If plastic is not biodegradable and its 25 billion each year, imagine how much plastic pollution will be in our oceans 10 years from now!

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

The garbage in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t only harmful to the aquatic animals that live inside it, but to the surrounding marine life as well. Several birds who depend upon fishing as their source of food are in just as much danger as the fish who live in the water. As Katherine Cooney, from the New York Times, states, “An Environmental Protection Agency study showed that the chicks that died of those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs. Bottle caps, combs, golf tees, toothbrushes and even toy soldiers were found inside the birds.” Cooney is trying to show that the death of these innocent birds is undeniably due to the plastic found in their bodies. An approximated 200,000 of the 500,000 chicks born there each year died from dehydration and starvation (Cooney).

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

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

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.

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 trash we throw away is killing sea life. Pacific ocean contains over 480,000 pieces of plastic per square kilos. 500,000 ton of floating trash in the ocean. They found 9 percent of fish had ingested plastic. Of 671 fish collected, 35 percent had ingested plastic particles.

The Santa Monica Daily Press recently revealed an article discussing the trash in the Pacific Ocean. I believe that humans should do everything they can to prevent the pollution of our oceans. The ocean is a major food and water source and has large economic value. The ocean has contributed $ 1.2 trillion dollars and over 350 million jobs. One of the major consequences of oceanic pollution is the destruction of coral reefs, which is a habitat to many of the world’s marine wildlife. It is said that the coral reefs are home to more than 4,000 species of fish and 800 species or hard coral. If the coral is wiped out we would lose $375 billion dollars worth of goods and services. Also, pollution can contribute to the movement of harmful invasive

Oceans make up seventy percent of earth's surface, and are the largest place to sustain and accumulate various species. However, humans' wastes, such as oil spill, industrial toxic wastewater, and

With ocean pollution’s rapid growth, concerns about the negative effects of ocean pollution have led to increased research. It is shown that “more than 4.8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans from land each year” (An Ocean of Plastic). As that number is already large it continues to get bigger. Majority of the litter dispersed into the ocean came from land because of human activity. Whether it is intentional or nonintentional, the waste released into the ocean is because of humans. With humans feeding towards the negative effects on the ocean in return it poses as a threat to them and the rest of the world around them. In attempt to perform a large-scale removal of ocean pollution, it is impractical to remove such a vast amount of waste due to many factors. In order to protect our ocean from environmental problems, the world should stop polluting our oceans.

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.