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Impact of plastic in the ocean
Impact of plastic in the ocean
Impact of plastic in the ocean
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Animal Narrative/Marine Life
Unfortunately, we live in a world were pollution and death occurs a lot in our Marine life. The Marine life is scarce and abundant, were there is no possible way to survive. There once was a time when we didn’t have to worry about pollution. We didn’t know the effect it had on our marine life. It eventually became a habit and it couldn't be stopped. According to Emily Gertz, “Tens of thousands of individual animals from hundreds of Marine species—including every kind of sea turtle and around half of marine mammals-have encountered plastic, glass, and other garbage in the ocean” (Gertz).
Sadly, this is what happens to marine life everyday and they have no say in this at all. Ocean pollution has an effect on 800+ animal species around the world, and it is still increases rapidly with the birth rates increases around the world. The five most common found trash items are plastic bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic straws, and drink stirrers.Plastic is the number one cause to 80 percent of
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Without this charty, thousands of animals would be endangered. This organization is a great help to all living animals around the globe. This organization is very important for animals that need homes/habitats and better health. WCS should continue because it saves millions of animals and endangered species around the globe every year. Without WCS lots of animals would be extinct or endangered. Without the help WCS puts towards the animals, they would all be endangered or harmed in some way. Not only are they helping animals, there making humans feel better, know that the animals are safe, and in good care. Know one knows how bad and hard it would be without animals, wildlife around us. The whole world would be dead and there would be nothing to do. Lucky, WCS has turned that nightmare around.animals where saved. Without the help from WCS there where be no wildlife.
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 &
Fifty-million plastic bags enter the Australian waters every year, causing the death of thousands of sea creatures. Imagine you went on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. As you arrive, it is clear to see garbage floating on the ocean and you can only imagine what rubbish lies beneath the surface. This disturbs me! What are we doing to our beautiful, yet innocent marine life?
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
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
Marine Biology Marine biology is the study of ocean life, estuaries, and wetlands to the extent of marine life and environments. Remotely operated vehicles, underwater habitats, satellites, sonar, computers, fiber optics, and many more are all used in this field of study. Marine biology can prevent the effects of ocean health, planet health, human health, sustainability, biodiversity, research, and product development. The oceans being effected can spread around to the whole world and impact a wide range of people and land masses. Marine biology and oceanography are typically confusing terms.
"Ocean Pollution." MarineBio Conservation Society ~ Marine Biology, Ocean Life Conservation, Sea Creatures, Biodiversity, Research... Web. 19 May 2014.
Every time we throw away a plastic bottle, drive our cars, and even burn those millions of fossil fuels to operate all those huge factories, there is a chance it will pollute the ocean and eventually affect the way we live. There should be stricter laws regulating human pollution, in order to protect our ocean ecosystem. The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousands 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.
Seaworld has many majestic animals under captivity in their amusement parks across the United States. There are nearly 50 orcas in captivity around the world, Seaworld owns 23 of those captive Orcas. Many of these orcas that are in captivity are held in small tanks that are just a fraction of their natural environment. Many of the sea life animals are used for amusement park entertainment. There are countless number of animals being held captive in Seaworld. Orcas, dolphins, beluga whales, sharks, manatees, penguins, sea turtles, and stingrays are just some of the animals that Seaworld claims to be their “stars”. These animals belong out in the wild where they came from not in a tank or cage being watched by the human eye every second of their lives.
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.
By the oceans being polluted not only are animals affected humans are too. What some people don't know is that they are killing of and disturbing offspring by polluting waters. "Ocean pollution results in smaller catches of fish all over the world, either by killing fish directly, preventing them from breeding, or causing birth abnormalities. Seabirds are unable to breed and whales are poisoned. Pollution also seems to be responsible for a new disease among seals. Without even swallowed, plastic can kill seabirds, turtles, and other creatures by trapping them. People drinking water from polluted seas can become sick. Deadly infectious diseases like cholera and typhoid can break out." There are many different types of sizes of plankton everywhere in our ocean waters.
...ic and get ill from it. All this trash can kill the mammals in the ocean even if it’s just floating on top of the water. It’s still harmful to them and humans. It can kill, suffocate or poison the mammal. If humans decide to go swimming in the ocean and choke on a piece of plastic that breaks into pieces and they open there mouth for some reason and get trash in their mouth they can choke and maybe die. Just because people like to put their trash anywhere they please.
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
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).
Success comes with goals, hard work, and determination. All three aspects are valued to become successful. I am deserving of this bursary because along with maintaining my academics, I am very involved with my community and employed in a part-time job. I recognize my future career goals as I strive to become a marine biologist and work with organizations such as Scouts Canada to help kids understand their role when helping the environment and finally I constantly work on my school involvement to stay active and grow as a team player. Setting goals is a great way to motivate yourself.
More than fifty species of birds are known to ingest plastic. When they eat plastic, they feel full, so some of them die of starvation. Algal blooms are another thing that kills marine life. Algal blooms are sea scum, whale food, and sea sawdust. Algal blooms are bundles of fine threads, rusty brown, they have a fishy smell, and are common in August through December.