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The effects of plastic pollution on the ocean
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The effects of plastic pollution on the ocean
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Plastic
If you look around your house right now, I can almost guarantee that you will see plastic somewhere. It’s used in just about everything nowadays, from your toothbrush, to the clothes on your back. In fact, without plastic life today probably wouldn’t even be possible for most of us. Plastic seems like such a great material; its strong and very durable, but it’s these traits that make plastic so harmful. Plastic to our knowledge does not biodegrade; and since nowadays it’s one of the most common materials used by man this poses a huge problem.
Plastic makes up approximately 13 percent of the municipal waste stream in America, a dramatic increase from the less than one percent in 1960 (EPA). Having so much plastic waste makes one wonder, where does it all go? Well, 6.5 percent is recycled, 7.7 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities, and the remaining 85.8 percent goes to landfills/waste (Cho). Of all that plastic waste, you’d be surprised how much of it ends up in the ocean. Around 80 percent of all floating waste found in the ocean is plastic (NRDC). Furthermore not all plastic floats, so the problems not just on the surface, it’s also below it.
The Western Pacific Garbage Patch and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch; collectively called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is the worlds biggest ocean garbage site. It is estimated to be twice the size of texas. These garbage patches are formed in gyres (systems of rotating ocean currents) and carry marine debris all over the place. There are five major gyres in the world: the North Pacific Gyre, South Pacific Gyre, North Atlantic Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, and finally the Indian Ocean Gyre. There is plastic in every one of these gyres, moreover, now there is plastic fou...
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Plastic Planet. Dir. Werner Boote. Perf. Werner Boote. Netflix. N.p., 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
"Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans." NRDC:. N.p., 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
"Plastic Problem." MNN. Glick Interactive, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
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"THE PROBLEMS WITH PLASTICS." Ecology Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
Silverman, Jacob. "Why Is the World's Biggest Landfill in the Pacific Ocean?" HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
"Why Is Plastic in the Ocean a Problem." Algalita. Algalita Marine Research Foundation, n.d. Web.
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.
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 &
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trash vortex, is a collection of litter which has ended up in oceans, seas and other large bodies of water. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch spans from the West Coast of America to Japan. These areas are linked together by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone; this convergence zone acts as a highway for litter to move from one patch to another. It has also been theorised that the ocean floor beneath the Great pacific garbage patch is also littered with a lot of rubbish on its own. This is a valid theory because it has been proven by Oceanographers and Ecologists that 70% of marine debris actually sinks down to the ocean floor. Although the scientists have researched this garbage vortex, they did not find it. However, when the founder of this garbage vortex, Charles Moore, was boat racing, he found this garbage vortex while he was travelling from Hawaii to California. He and his crew members noticed that their ship was surrounded by millions of
In recent years, it has become blatantly obvious that the Earth’s environmental deterioration is showing signs towards a cause of global concern. Drastic increases in water pollution, global warming, and deforestation, among other environmental issues have caused a sudden desire to raise awareness of and to resolve human-initiated problems. One of the more controversial topics involving human impact on environment is the excessive use of plastic, specifically in the form of plastic bags. Used for their convenience, durability, and inexpensive nature, plastic bag production and consumption has exploded, allowing them to become a seemingly necessary part of everyday life. Unfortunately, however, this abuse of plastic bags has brought a slew of environmental health
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a floating patch of garbage that has collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is located in the middle of two high-pressure areas between Hawaii and California. The majority of the garbage, which is also called marine debris, in the patch is plastic, but items made from other materials such as glass and rubber are also present. Though the garbage patch is too large and goes too deep under the surface of the ocean for scientists to determine exactly how much garbage is in it, they have collected up to 750,000 bits of plastic one square kilometer (CITE). This sort of debris floating around in the ocean is dangerous for several reasons. One important reason is that marine animals mistake some of the garbage, especially plastics, for food (CITE). Another reason that the floating debris is so dangerous is because it can block sunlight from reaching deeper levels of the ocean, and thus, it removes the energy source for many autotrophs like alga...
There is also debate on how much better biodegradable plastics are in the first place. This is because as biodegradable plastics break down, they break up into smaller and smaller pieces, but never quite disappear. This leaves the potential that the plastic would continue entering the food chain. But although biodegradable plastics aren’t perfect, they are still much safer than standard plastic and present a much lower risk. In addition, by making the shift to ban single use plastics, research towards better plastic alternatives will speed up and better solutions will become available. Over time, these new alternatives to plastics may spread to other items that aren’t single use, making an even greater impact on the health of humans and the
Preston says that “a lot of ocean debris is ‘microplastic,’ or pieces smaller than five millimeters. These may be the beads from a facial scrub, fibers shed by synthetic clothing in the wash, or eroded remnants of larger debris” (Preston). She goes on to say that “compared to the number of studies investigating large-scale debris, Rochman’s group found little research on the effects of these tiny bits. There are a lot of open questions still for microplastic” (Preston). This indicates that the information used to inform the public about the effects of ocean plastic widely focuses on larger pieces of debris rather than smaller ones. This is negative because the debris which average individuals have the most power to control are usually microplastic and come from objects such as facial washes, etc. This is problematic because if a lot of the plastic in the ocean is smaller, but only the effects of large pieces of debris are being reported, not all of the possible effects are presented. Therefore, the harm done by these smaller pieces (facial beads, etc) will continue because people will not be informed about the negative impacts and won’t know that they could improve the issue by changing their
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...
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
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.
The article “Junk Planet: Is Earth the Largest Garbage Dump in the Universe?,” by Robert J. Burrowes, claims that earth likely is the largest garbage dump in the world. Burrowes describes the types of garbage that are created, the locations where it is being discarded, and potential solutions to the problem. One form of garbage is pollution, the carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere from cars, electricity, and farming of animals. These pollutants can potentially cause cancer, asthma, and birth defects among other consequences. The solution he proposes to this is to not travel by air or car as well as refrain from eating meat. The next form of garbage Burrowes examines is the ocean garbage. While plastic largely contributes to the destruction of oceans, the absorption of carbon dioxide and chemical runoff does as well.
The comparison between how people and companies turn plastic wastes into treasure implies the infinite possibilities of reusing plastic and protect the environment. Then, through the interviews with the recycle companies and scientists in Japan and America, the documentary further supports its argument by proving that only two types of plastic can be truly recycled, most of the others will stay for hundreds of years in the dumping fields and the plasticizer goes through chemical reactions in the ocean which make the plastic particles poisonous and possibly cause diseases to all living organisms. The documentary criticizes the disposable lifestyle and introduces the possibility of future progress by substituting plasticizer with other bio-additive so that they can be fully recycled or reproduced in many different ways. The documentary effectively conveys the message that plastic can be extremely harmful, and appeals audiences to pay more attention on reducing daily usage of plastics, such as plastic water bottle, and producing and recycling with the new
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – The Environmental Horror In The Pacific Ocean.” Save the Enviornment . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
It is sad to say but humans have played their part in deteriorating the earth. We have polluted and killed the very thing that takes care of us. If you ride by any lake or river you find trash and debris around it. In the “The Call of the Wild” the author says that we have committed war against the earth by the dumping of poisons and explosives upon it (337). Unfortunately, plastics are the things that are doing the most harm to our environment. Plastics are convenient and we use them everyday and these are the things that we find in the oceans, rivers and lakes. They are harmful to the earth as well as human health by directly intoxicating us with lead, cadmium and mercury. Plastic debris laced with harmful chemicals are often found inside of our marine life and can poison them. Plastic can survive for thousands of years and many invasive species are found in them which can disrupt our habitats. We need to limit our consumption of plastics and make sure that they are disposed of in their proper places.
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