In order to better understand the problems of plastics in the ocean, It’s important to know the harm it causes to wildlife animals, and the negative effects it has on humans and finding out the causes of pollution, and how it enters our oceans and a way to try and prevent future problems. First, The amount of wildlife animals that have died due to plastics in the ocean is outrageous. "The overwhelming amount of plastic pollution isn’t even visible to the human eye, with much of the pollution occurring out at sea or on a microscopic level" (Henn,2016). According to a study from Plymouth University, “plastic pollution affects at least 700 marine animals” (Henn,2016). The major type of wildlife animals that are currently dying includes sea turtles, …show more content…
The sewage has a direct path to the oceans, this is where most of the trash comes, though. The animals are getting affected due to these paths directly into the oceans. “The dumping of toxic liquids in the ocean directly affects the marine life as they are considered hazardous and secondly, they raise the temperature of the ocean, known as thermal pollution” (Rinkesh,2009). The landfills are overflowing with trash and just running off into the oceans waters. The ships in the oceans, which releases all kinds of oils, which is something that isn’t very easy to clean up once it is in the waters. The littering phase is the most common thing is polluting our waters. The most common things that you see polluting the waters is plastic bags, bottles, cans, cigarette butts and leftover food wrappings. The number one way to try and prevent a number of plastics going into the ocean is to start a recycling plan. The thing about recycling is that it helps out our planet, to be a cleaner place to live on. When one recycles they are preventing the pollutions from entering the waters and decreasing the number of plastics that are going into the
Which means their obviously bad for the aquatic marine life environment & are cause many different forms of damage for them & us as one. On p.g. 23 of The New York Times upfront magazine “Birds,fish, sea turtles, & others are getting tangled in plastic bags or mistake them for food & choke”. Someone else might argue that they could the plastic bags in landfills instead of oceans. But that counter- argument is flawed because you’re just polluting by burning plastic which is bad on our part we’re not doing our part to support & taking care of the earth. Plastic in the ocean isn't just bad for plants & animals but for humans too because of the food chain some of us eat animals as a meat source such as aqua marine life like fish. If the fishermen catch fish that have been eating plastic then it's in our food supply if we eat that fish it's gonna be bad for us so many will end up getting sick from the plastic inside of the fish then what will we do our aqua marine food supply will go down the drain we couldn’t eat the fish since it's basically contaminated with plastic that we’re dumping there instead of trying to fix it & getting rid of plastic bags for good for the good of the earth. We’re causing damage towards the earth by dumping all that plastic into the ocean which damages our water supply it’ll poison us although we clean the water it depends on how big the plastic particles are, it’ll make us sick & sense it’s been lying in the oceans could bring in new pathogens &
According to a study conducted by the University of British Columbia, approximately “93 percent of beach fulmars (migratory seabirds related to the albatross) had bellies full of plastic, with one even having upwards of “454 pieces of plastic in its stomach” alone. (Source B) Similarly, in a 2011 International Coastal Clean-up, there were 964244 plastic bags found in the ocean, each having the potential to kill wildlife (Source C). A major reason as to why plastic bags are so hazardous to animal health is the fact that they have no biodegradable capabilities, meaning that instead breaking down into organic materials, plastic takes 500 to 1000 years to simply photodegrade, fragmenting into smaller pieces but not presenting any less danger (Source F). As these pieces become smaller, making it easier for any animal life, marine or not, to ingest it and suffocate as a result of the blockage. This is when the implementation of a tax on plastic bags could become extremely useful as a method of regulation and
"An Ocean Of Trash." Scholastic Action 33.12 (2010): 16. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousand of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. (National Geographic) Pollution especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem. Ironically plastic, which is a material designed to last forever is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides either way it finds its way to the ocean.(Biomass Packaging Co., et al)
Plastic bags kill thousands of marine animals. For example, in the text, “ Plastic Bags: Convenient and Cruel,” Lauren Magaziner says that marine animals mistake the plastic bags for food. If the marine animals swallow the plastic bags, it will block the digestive tract, causing a slow and agonizing death. Marine animals including sea turtles, seals, seabirds, dolphins, whales, and sharks die from these plastic bags. Also from the text, “ Plastic Bags: Convenient and Cruel,” Lauren Magaziner states that since bits of plastic are found in fishes stomachs that
We are living on a plastic planet. Starting from the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, and the soil that we live on, plastic is everywhere. It may be hard to believe that a substance that was made for convenience would turn into a product that could ultimately destroy our planet. Plastic is a non-biodegradable material that has been mass produced for our convenience since the 1950’s. Today, over 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean each year and is estimated to increase to 800 million tons by the year 2025. The film “A Plastic Ocean” uncovers the plastic issue that is ever so prevalent in today’s world and shines a light on the reality of what we as humans are doing to our oceans.
There are many types of pollutions in the world but Ocean pollution harms a lot of living things in the world. Due to the severity of ocean pollution it kills many people, animals, and poison the waters. Ocean pollution originates from many sources therefore the problem is becoming difficult to prevent. This paper will examine the history of ocean pollution, what the situation is like today, and what is being done to help resolve or alleviate the problem.
Our oceans take a large beating every day by the extremely large amount of pollution humans produce. Our society easily dumps their waste into the oceans to dispose of the excessive amount of garbage, sewage, and chemicals, but this small and simple solution is creating an even bigger problem. The way humans dispose of their wastes is causing the death of our beloved marine life. Not only are we killing off our animals, our food source, and our resources, we are also minimizing our usable water. By having a better understanding of the problem on the severe dumping, it will be easier to find ways to help minimize the pollution that is going into the ocean.
More than “eight million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every single year” according to “Plastic Oceans” (Plastic 1). The ocean is connected to human life more than most people realize which is why things should be done about it. Imagine looking forward to a day at the beach, traveling there only to see that the beach is closed due to the fact that there was a recent oil spill near the coast or having plastic all over the sand. It necessary that oceans are cleaned, preserved, and guarded due to the direct connection they have to human life and what the effect of pollution has on the growth and well being of marine ecosystems.
One of the main challenges that face the environment today is the threat of plastic materials in the environment. All forms and sizes of plastic are harmful to the environment; this paper looks at the effects of microplastics which are small forms of plastic that are at least 5mm in size. Due to their small size, the microplastics end up being ingested into the bodies of aquatic animals causing health consequences that are uncertain to the organisms. This review focuses on the susceptibility of marine organisms to the physical, chemical and biological uptake of microplastics.
People are hurting the animals, and they don’t realize it. That’s one of the issues that the people don’t realize what they are doing. All of the sea creatures about 100,000 marine animals and countless fish are being harmed by the floating plastics. Those animals die in the North Pacific every year from either eating the plastic junk or becoming ensnared, and even drowning in it. Since there is plastic in the ocean and it’s killing fish over time and from the over time it could actually make the fishes go extinct because we are throwing our garbage in the ocean, which is killing the species and affects the food chain in the ocean. Also, every people are eating plasticizing additives, drinking them, breathing them, and absorbing them through their skin every single day. Only 3 to 5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way. Which means each person tosses about 185 pounds of plastic every year. So, the plastic never really goes
At least 88% of the ocean’s surface is covered in plastic trash. This number, while already extremely high, can’t even begin to encompass the rest of the debris that isn’t on the top of the ocean, but under the surface (Walia). Ocean pollution is a national problem that affects not only the marine life living in the Earth’s oceans, but that affects humans, too. Plastics destroy ocean habitats and kill 100,000 marine mammals annually, along with 1 million sea birds (D'Alessandro). The plastic garbage in the ocean is often choked on by animals who mistake the plastic for food; even if they avoid choking and are able to swallow it, they can starve because it blocks their digestive tracts (10 Things You Can Do to Save the Oceans). Animals are also
Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution. They can have a damaging effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks, and trees. Plastic bags are potentially one of the main causes of death to marine animals (Harbor keepers,2008). Up to one hundred thousand marine animals or more die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This can result in blocking the animal’s intestines and possibly lead to the animal’s death. Another possible situation is that wildlife, such as birds, can get tangled in plastic bags causing choking and immobility, which may eventually lead to death. (Senior, 2008) and (Citizen Campaign, 2010). In other situations, after plastic bags photo degrade they remain toxic and could be eaten by fish, shellfish or any other marine life and survive this allows the toxins to enter our food chain through bioaccumulation (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, 2011).
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do to change this. Imagine a world where we didn’t have to constantly worry about the vicious cycle of humans affecting animals and then animals in turn affecting us through consumption.