The Danger of Plastic in the Ocean
By: Olivia Marino
Have you ever wondered how many pounds of plastic are thrown into the ocean each year? Have you ever taken a second to think about all the dangers sea animals are in and the suffering they endure because of pollution? If plastic continues to be thrown into the ocean the number of sea animals will slowly begin to decrease.
Plastic is one of the most treacherous threats to the marine environment. Plastic ingestion kills around one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year. Marine animals generally eat microplastics because of their minuscule size. Plastic contains toxic chemicals, which can escalate the chance of disease and affect reproduction. Also, the fate of many sea animals is suffocation, starvation, or drowning due to ingesting, or getting tangled up in plastic. Studies found that half of the sea turtles around the world have ingested plastic due to thinking the plastic was food. This is an immense problem!
Oxygen levels in the ocean are negatively affected by plastic. This is detrimental to the marine life. There is a toxic substance in plastic called Bisphenol A. This substance does not get diluted in water, and the debris left from it uses oxygen. As oxygen levels descend, it abominably affects the survival of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and penguins. Shores and beaches are also overwhelmed with plastic. Plastic on shores become effortless threats to seabirds that get caught up in the choke-hold of plastic. It has been stated that the number of marine animals getting entangled in plastic debris and ingesting it has increased by 40% in recent years.
Sea creatures are at a substantial risk of dying from their habitats being infested by plastic. Plastic is a tremendous and dreadful scare to the marine life. Fortunately, there are many organizations that are fighting to help reduce plastic pollution in the oceans. Oceana, The Surfrider Foundation and the Bahamas Plastic Movement are just a few organizations that are working to help eliminate plastic pollution. Eliminating plastic would establish beneficial effects for our world.
Anonymous Post:
ReplyDeleteI liked the facts that you put into your writing, such as "ingested plastic due to thinking the plastic was food" and specific organizations like "The Surfrider Foundation and the Bahamas Plastic Movement". I personally agree with your stand. I feel that people should limit their usage of harmful products and properly dispose of them. You say "Sea creatures are at substantial risk of dying" because of this. This shows how plastic and other things are affecting marine life.
I like the fact that you put pictures in to really paint a picture of whats happening. I also think that you are very, very right about pollution. It's becoming a serious problem. For example, we dump about eight-million TONS of plastic into the ocean, which some people might not worry about, saying (more to themselves than to other people, to assure them that what they did is not bad.) that it will break down naturally, and that bacteria will decompose it, and turn it into nutrients for plants and animals. But the truth of the matter is, plastic takes decades, even centuries to naturally decompose, and in that time, it will harm many animals. Have you ever seen the "save the earth" pictures and ads with baby seals and turtles choking because there is a soda yoke(the plastic rings that hold six and eight packs of cans together) around their neck, cutting of the flow of oxygen to the rest of their body, until eventually, they either die, or the yoke gets cut off their neck. Those yokes are only in the ocean because of humans polluting it. Heck, without humans, yokes, and everything else made of plastic wouldn't even exist. If plastic didn't exist, there would be no such thing as pollution. Basically what i'm saying is that humans shouldn't exist in the first place. All we do is cause trouble and death to the rest of the animal kingdom.
ReplyDeleteThis is Kieran, signing out.