The Importance Of Trash In Our Waters

Marine debris is more than ugly, it kills. There are two proposed plans to cleanup the North Pacific Garbage Island. An island that is made of garbage, primarily plastic. It is over 100 kilometers wide. That is an unbelievable amount of trash. That trash island is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California. It has been spun together over time by currents, and the atmospheric pressure in the middle of the ocean is stronger than average. The island’s plastic has melted together, creating a bed of plastic for the rest of the trash to lie on. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

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

Is anybody aware that on a daily basis you could be consuming the 5 million tonnes of plastic that enters the sea annually? That is why today I will be informing you on the dangers and risks of animal and human lives due to ocean pollution. Clearly, I am against the actions of these careless people. The trash and plastic that is thrown onto the streets everyday ends up blowing into the water and polluting our world’s beautiful oceans.

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.

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

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

To put this in perspective, if ten small fish who ate a single piece of microplastics are consumed by a single larger fish, that large fish will then have all ten of the pieces of plastic that the smaller fish ate earlier. Not only does the larger fish have the pieces of plastic in its body, it also has a concentrated amount of chemicals that come along with the plastics. If marine animals are higher in the food web, the more concentrated the chemicals are within the organisms along with all of the pieces of plastic the previous organisms has consumed, this concept is called biomagnification. Humans are also heavily impacted as well. Due to the fact that fish is the world's primary source of protein, meaning that when we consume fish we are potentially as well consuming the tiny pieces of plastics and highly concentrated chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency agrees that bioaccumulation has integrated itself into the human food web, which could result in malfunctions of the kidneys, liver, and the nervous system. It may also contribute to the development of cancer. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 75,000 chemicals that need further research, before any conclusions can be made regarding the chemicals

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

Ocean dumping/littering is one of the biggest causes to harming sea life. According to Passage #1, it states, “Materials like plastic are non-degradable which means they will not be absorbed and recycled.” This shows that when plastics are being dumped into the oceans, they will stay there forever because they have no way of breaking down. This results in animals choking, and getting tangled up in plastic items. According to that same passage, it states that, “When oceanic creatures and even birds consume plastic inadvertently, they choke on it which causes a steady decline in their population.”

Research indicate that garbage such as plastic can create a problem for humans as well as marine species. Pollution in the ocean endangers defenseless marine creatures that wander in the ocean. Occasionally, when scientists dissect marine life fragments of plastic that has littered the ocean floor is found in their digestive systems. Animals are not equipped to distinguish between trash and food. If individuals experienced conditions similar to the ocean marine life, they would probably hesitate before discarding litter in the water and on the beach. Just like creatures in the sea humans can be exposed to the toxic chemicals from manmade debris. Sea turtles are especially susceptible to choking from discarded plastic. We can preserve beaches

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.

Slat’s project, The Ocean Cleanup Project, is similar to Kellett’s trash wheels but on a larger scale. It utilizes a large structure of beams to funnel the trash onto a conveyor belt, which collects the debris in a large container. Powered by the ocean currents and a series of solar panels, the project hopes to passively remove trash from the Pacific gyre with little to no impact on the environment (“How To Clean Up All That Plastic In The Oceans”). Although The Ocean Cleanup Project is largely disputed for potentially killing zooplankton, a vital part to the marine ecosystem, if it is successful it will greatly decrease the amount of plastic in the

The website divides the information into three main sections; environment, economy, and health. 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean and then accumulate in five gyres. As of 2014, there are at least 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic. A third of that is in the Great Pacific Garbage patch. All that plastic causes a huge environmental problem. One-hundred thousand marine mammals and 1 million sea birds die each year because of the pollution. Not only does plastic pollution have a major impact on the environment but it also impacts the economy. Such a large impact in fact that it causes $3 billion of damage. US West Coast spends $500 million for clean up. If harming the environment and the economy isn't enough, human health is significantly damaged. PCBs, DDTs, and other toxic chemicals in the plastics are increases a million times. Once in the food chain, the concentrations increase. Cancer, malformation and impaired reproductive abilities are all health effects linked to plastic

Due to the lack of recycling, the Great Pacific Garbage patch increases, as it increases, much of the sea life is affected and the food chains are growing weaker. Many fish assume that the plastic is food and then eat some of the small bits, although the fish feel full they are actually being starved, and not getting the nutrients needed to stay alive. If more people would recycle the amount of plastics in our oceans would slowly decrease, since the fish are already eating much of the plastics.

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.