Pollution Essay

Pollution

What is pollution? Pollution is the introduction of a contaminant into the environment. Pollution is mostly caused by human actions, but can also be results of natural disasters.

The most common of pollution is plastic. Because plastic single use bags find their way to the ocean, dolphins, turtles, and other marine life mistake them for food. Plastic contains toxic chemicals that, when ingested by fish or sea life, causes serious damage, and even death. Marine debris is all collecting in the North Pacific Gyre, the main ingredient for all this debris, by far, is plastic. Instead of naming it the “Pacific Garbage Patch” it is called “Plastic Soup”. World-wide, day by day, the quantity of debris is increasing tremendously. Marine plastic pollution has affected at least 267 species world-wide. Suffocation, entanglement, ingestion, starvation and drowning are just a few examples of how plastic affects our marine ecosystem. Plastic doesn’t just affect our animals; it can potentially affect us too. The plastic starts degrading at temperatures we didn’t think they could. Scientists thought they started degrading at high temperatures, but come to find out, they start degrading at temperatures at just 86 degrees Fahrenheit. When these plastics start degrading, they leach out chemicals into the waters that can possibly kill us. Chemicals like Bisphenol A can lead to cancer, and serious health issues, even death. (Oceana)

The next important topic on polluting our ecosystems’ is drilling. To be able to drill, researchers have to find the oil reserves, but in order to find these oil reserves, researchers have to send seismic waves into the ocean. If the wave bounces back, then they might have found the reserve. The seismic waves ...

... middle of paper ...

...ing them to die and potentially go extinct also. Not only would the disappearance of coral reefs affect marine life, but it would affect us socially. The extinction on coral reefs would hurt the fishing and tourism industries tremendously. Also, if we lose these coral reefs, hurricanes and storms could become a lot harsher. Coral reefs protect coastal communities, without these coral reefs, these storms can become more intense with stronger winds.

Women and children are the people who are most effected by pollution. Children are more vulnerable than adults are. Sometimes they even have higher exposures since they eat, drink, and breathe more than adults do. Children also tend to inhale more dirt and dust than adults because they crawl and play outside more. More than three million children, below age five, die annually from environmental factors. (Pollution Facts)