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Research paper the great pacific garbage patch
Research paper the great pacific garbage patch
Research paper the great pacific garbage patch
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While a beautiful sunset on the beach can be astounding, a spectacular scene is not the only benefit oceans provide. Without the oceans, we would not have adequate amounts of oxygen to breathe or enough protein to eat. The Earth's climate would not be inhabitable for human beings and many animals. The oceans supply medicines, food and drinking water which arise from ocean processes. Out of the five oceans, the Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest and deepest ocean. It spreads over an area of 165.2 million square kilometers. More than 25,000 islands float within the Pacific. Within the Pacific Ocean lies an unusual island, an island that is more than twice the size of Texas and is earth’s largest landfill, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (McLendon). Society is unaware that the excess use of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials has ended up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is the main source of ocean pollution. The solutions, ranging from manual clean-up to eliminating any further obliteration to the Garbage Patch, will reduce the amount of effluence the world has to endure.
Accumulating plastic bags, bottles and other debris, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch forms a tenuous junk yard hovering over the North Pacific Ocean (McLendon). The floating junk extends for hundreds of miles (McLendon). Located between Japan and California, the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, one of the six major oceanic gyres, collects trash along a strip that connects the Eastern Garbage Patch and the Western Garbage Patch (McLendon). These garbage patches are two spinning vortices that make up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (McLendon).
Although scientists do not know a plethora of information about the garbage patch, they have concluded...
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...“America’s Living Ocean”).
Works Cited
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – The Environmental Horror In The Pacific Ocean.” Save the Enviornment . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
McLendon, Russell. “What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?” Mother Nature Network. N.p., 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
NOAA Marine Debris Program. “De-mystifying the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch.’” Marine Debris. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2010.
Rastogi, Nina. “Sea Trash.” The Green Lantern (Feb. 2010): n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
“Scientists to examine floating dump.” Science News (Aug. 2009): n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Silverman, Jacob. “Why is the world’s biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean?” How Stuff Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Wheeler, Drew. “Voyage to the Center of the Trash.” Scuba Drew’s Trash Voyage. AlphaBytes computer services, n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
The North Pacific Gyre, home to the north pacific Garbage Patch, occupies the zone of the subtropical High between Haeaii and California. It is the largest and best studied of the gyress, though still fraught with unknowns. It is thought to be the trashiest, though this question is still being studied. Covering more than 20 million square miles, it is the largest on earth and therefor the planet’s largest garbage dumps. (Humes, 2012, p.
Jeremy Jackson. How we wrecked the ocean.TED.com [Video/Internet]. Emily McManus; May 5, 2010 [cited 2014 Jan 28]. 18 mins. Available from: http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/05/how_we_wrecked/
Every year eight million tons of plastic trash end up in the ocean (National Geographic), and every year little is done to stop the destruction of this resource. As trash continues to pour into what happens to be the most relied on resource, humans continue to stand idle and witness the atrocity. While it has become evident that many are not aware of this issue, or simply do not care, organizations such as “Surfrider” have taken on the tedious task of bringing this travesty to attention of others. Surfrider is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving oceans around the world. As part of their campaign, Surfrider published a strong and effective advertisement in hopes of convincing viewers to halt the destruction of the ocean. This advertisement effectively utilizes various rhetorical devices such as imagery to provoke pathos, an anaphora, and
Do you know that people are polluting oceans in so many ways, and what we are doing about it. First, my evidence shows that two billion people within thirty miles of the coast create 100 million metric tons of coastal plastic waste (Doc.1). In my own words, this evidence show that all this pollution is really harmful to ocean creatures and us. More evidence is that the North Pacific Gyre has collected lots of these pollutants, so it is nicknamed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (O.I.). This shows how we are polluting the oceans. My next evidence shows that a Beach Act was passed in 2000 saying the EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency will help states test and monitor coastal water pollution to protect swimmers (Doc.2). This evidence
Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in today's global politics. The delicate balance of Earth's ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earth's many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for 3/4 of the Earth's surface, they are an ideal method of transportation for pollution, allowing the rapid spread of seemingly far away toxins into a river near you! It is increasingly important that we educate ourselves as to what, exactly, ocean pollution is, so that we can identify the causes at their source and take action in small and large ways, and hopefully, prevent this terrible form of pollution from getting any worse than it is today.
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.
“Plastic Pollution” Disney Oceans. NP Web. 18 April 2014. http://takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution. Roach, John “Source of Half Earth’s Oxygen Gets Little Credit” National Geographic.
a. Firstly, we are not in danger of running out of landfill space. According to Jay Lehr PhD, in the April issue of public policy magazine, Intellectual Ammunition, ?all the garbage we will generate in the next 10 centuries will require less than 35 square miles to a height of only 300 feet.? Also, according to Daniel Benjamin of PERC Reports, ?the United States has more landfill space then ever before.?
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Ocean polluting is also caused by a legal act of ocean dumping. The definition of ocean dumping refers to the dumping of garbage, sewage, waste chemicals, and construction debris into the ocean (Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan). There are many cases where ocean dumping is controlled and regulated. However, this act is allowing hazardous materials to regularly be dumped into the sea by tankers and ships (Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan). In October of 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), sometimes referred to as the Ocean Dumping Act, declaring that it is the policy of the United States to regulate the dumping of all materials which would adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a vast island of rubbish found in our ocean. The island, twice the size of France, is clogging the ocean and killing wildlife. On hidden beaches in Hawaii the rubbish of mainly plastic is replacing the sand. It is known as the Great Pacific GYRE. There are beaches covered in plastic not something people would want to visit. In the stomach of one bird 276 pieces of plastic were found in it’s stomach. The 45 year old Keep Australia Beautiful Campaign is trying to prevent our rubbish from going to the island. This issue is God telling us to do something, he is telling us to fix this, to be the person he created us to be. He is telling us that it’s time for us to make the world how it once was not how it is now.
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
The number of landfills in the United States is decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, methane, which contributes to global warming, is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, schools and cities are promoting the “going green” trend.... ... middle of paper ...
...harges of Human-made Debris Comprise the Largest Source of Marine Debris in Oceans World-wide (nearly 80%)." Plastic Debris Rivers to Sea Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.