Our Dying Oceans
Plastic bottles, plastic bags, cigarettes, wrappers and so many more items have started to suffocate our oceans, some parts more than others but that doesn't change the fact that we are poisoning marine life, land life, the oceans and ourselves. There are so many different products that pollute our oceans, educating yourself about them and their damage is important!
Water is essential to life but with polluted water what do we do? Even if we have the resources to collect clean water, marine life does not. the smaller fish consume the microplastic and are then eaten by the bigger fish, eventually, we consume the big fish and the microplastics with it. The problem with consuming microplastics is that you can not digest them so they can not be excreted of properly. these plastics remain inside you and over time toxins attach to them. These toxins can be harmful to your health.
Let's talk about the Atlantic Ocean and how it contains approximately 12-21 million tones of microplastic. Microplastic is almost worse than large pieces of plastic because the large ones can be more easily seen and removed but microplastics are usually around 5 millimeters in length. These pieces of plastic are so small that sometimes they can be consumed without knowing.
Chemicals polluting the ocean can come from the runoff of farms and their fertilizer according to the National geographic. Not all businesses have the money to properly dispose of their waste so they can end up dumping it in the rivers that then carry it to the oceans. The film “Dark Waters” which is based on a true story explores this idea of Businesses dumping toxic chemicals in local water supplies. This story takes place in the United States, West Virginia.
Oil spills and oil leakage also pollute our oceans but how do they affect marine life in our oceans and birds that paddle around in the oil infected waters. Firstly it ruins an animals fur and insulation, it leaves them vulnerable to the severe environment. The animals can get hypothermia which then kills them.
There are four main currents in the world called gyres. In these gyres, garbage can accumulate over time because they are pulled into these currents. This garbage is stuck in these gyres that are almost like whirlpools so eventually they create these great garbage patches.
You may know a famous Garbage patch known as the “Great Pacific garbage patch,” from the North Pacific gyre. This Garbage patch can fluctuate slightly in size but currently, it is almost twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France! According to “The Ocean Cleanup”
Plastic also affects our Coral reefs, since plastic isn’t biodegradable, (Does not decompose, because it is not a natural material. It is man-made) it just keeps collecting in our oceans. plastic can also harm not just the marine life but also the coral. Coral becoming diseased becomes 85 percent more likely when in contact with a piece of plastic.
In my research, I also gained the luxury of an interview with a Dr Perry. She has a Ph. D. in Neuroscience and also volunteered for many educational movements in an attempt to help preserve the magnificent and fascinating Oceans we have. From her knowledge, she informed how exponential the rate of plastic production is. From 1964 to 2014 the rate of plastic production was twenty times more!
All in all, Plastic is going to Conquer our world if we don’t make a move against it. We can all help remove plastic as a problem. Dr Perry says that if we recycle our rubbish efficiently and stop producing more plastic we could move toward a nonpolluted world. “We need to find new or return to old ways that did not use plastics in our everyday lives,’’ she said. Dr Perry also mentioned that the Zurich lake may not be a marine system but the waste treatment centers are efficient so that people can safely swim in a clean lake, if all countries used a similar waste treatment process then that would prevent less chemical and sewage pollution. Lets stop polluting our oceans!
Works cited
Dianna.parker. “Garbage Patches: OR&R's Marine Debris Program.” Dianna.parker, 11 July 2013, marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html.
National Geographic Society. “Marine Pollution.” National Geographic Society, 27 June 2019, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marine-pollution/.
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The Ocean Cleanup, 11 Feb. 2020, theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.
Joyce, Christopher. “Plastic Pollution Is Killing Coral Reefs, 4-Year Study Finds.” NPR, NPR, 25 Jan. 2018, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/25/580227045/plastic-pollution-is-killing-coral-reefs-4-year-study-finds?t=1607516898579.
Snowden, Scott. “Atlantic Ocean Contains More Plastic Than Previously Thought, According To Study.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 18 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2020/08/18/atlantic-ocean-contains-more-plastic/?sh=5f2a4d483f07.
