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Plastic Debris In The World's Ocean Case Study

1100 Words5 Pages

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Situation Analysis In today’s world, there is enough plastic thrown away each year to circle the world around four times. This is a major global problem that all countries have. Plastic is something we use for a few minutes and throw away. What most people don’t know is these simple plastics actually take centuries to degrade. Take for example a simple plastic bottle, this innocent looking plastic bottle that everyone uses take about 450 years to degrade. As said by Jeb Berrier in the movie BagIT, "Think about it. Why would you make something that you 're going to use for a few minutes out of a material that 's basically going to last forever, and you 're just going to throw it away. What 's up with …show more content…

If wildlife’s ingestion of plastics caused by people’s improper throw of these materials isn’t enough of a burden. There are other ways that the wildlife are affected by plastic pollution. Such as entanglement, this is mostly common in marine life, such as fish, seals, turtles and birds. These animals get stuck in these debris and end up suffocating or drowning. Because they are unable to untangle themselves, they also die from starvation or from their inability to escape predators. On a report in 2006 called Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans, It was estimated that at least 267 different animal species have suffered from entanglement and ingestion of plastic debris. Some species are consumers of jelly fish, but often mistake plastic bags for their natural prey, which obstructs the oesophagus of sea turtles therefor killing them. It has been estimated that about 400,000 marine mammals die annually due to plastic pollutions in the ocean. As said by Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra “One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure”. Air wildlife are also greatly affected by plastic pollution. Seabirds area a common example. Seabirds often mistake trash floating on the ocean’s surface as prey. Or often their food sources had already ingested plastic debris, thus transferring the plastic from prey to

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(Ornithology) These seabirds, however, have been affected by plastic being left in the ocean and on the ground. Since the Laysan Albatross eats their food from the top of the water, they usually mistake their food for pieces of plastic and end up being harmed in the process. The plastic that these seabirds eat are hard for them to digest which causes it to become stuck inside of the bird’s body which starves them and kills them in the process. Also the Laysan Albatross can pass this plastic on to their chicks, mistaking it for food which then kills the chicks as well due to the plastic being literally impossible to digest.

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In society today, something better is always being produced and everyone thinks they need the new product as soon as it comes out. Subsequently, we all throw valuable products away that can be reused and we do not even think how it is affecting the earth. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, “planned obsolescence” was a philosophy discovered by manufactures to produce products that are made to fail or become less desirable over time; therefore, the consumer will have the desire to buy again. As a society, we are set up to throw everything away and buy new things. For example, in third world countries, people live off of so little and in our country; we take so much for granted.

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D.W. Laist research claims that the polluted gyre affects 267 species worldwide: 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species. Oesophagus and stomach contents of the endangered green sea turtle were examined from 38 representatives, 23 of which (60.5%) had swallowed debris, especially plastics. Scientists have documented 6 pounds of plastic for every pound of plankton in this area (“Plastic Ocean - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”). Most of this plastic is eaten by sea birds and animals, including turtles and albatrosses. Sea turtles often eat plastic bags instead of jellies.

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Due to the negative effects caused from plastic it will always play a role in our environment. One hundred different chemicals have been created after the 1950s to the current day. Something people do not realize is that throwing a plastic wrapper on the ground will end up in a birds stomach, burning plastic in a fire will end up in the air we breathe, and recycling plastic will end up back in our homes. The author states, “I don’t even shop anymore. Anything I need will just float

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Imagine living in a world where the air is polluted and most people are afraid to step outside their front door, in the near future, this may be reality for Americans. Americans throw out over 200 million tons of garbage a year, yet recycle not nearly as much. Most people do not realize it but recycling is a vital part of America’s society and if Americans do not perform this action, it will backfire on them. People in America are debating whether Americans are recycling enough and correctly. After analyzing the data, one will definitely agree that Americans need to be more educated on recycling due to the fact that most people do not know what happens after they recycle an item, nearly all Americans are recycling incorrectly, and Am To begin,

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796 Words | 4 Pages

While researching about how pollution affects sea turtles, we faced some issues on finding different types of pollution. As most people know, the plastic waste that is being dumped into the oceans and onto the beaches is becoming a main food source for sea turtles. When sea turtles see this trash, they consume the plastic causing death or severe sickness which has caused this species to become endangered. They also get tangled with the plastic in the ocean restricting them from normal movement and function. During our research, we found that there are more types of pollution affecting sea turtles than just plastic waste in the ocean.

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Such as sea turtle, whales, and other marine mammals, and more than one million seabirds die each year from ocean pollution. Plastic bags are petroleum based material and is not biodegradable. While floating on the water it looks like sea organisms (such as jellyfish), Sea turtles often mistake plastics and other garbage as food and eat them. This mistake can causes fatal blockages in their digestive system and lead to

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Imagine what happens if we keep on polluting our planet? What happens to our future generation? Since plastic takes years to biodegrade, if we keep polluting our environment with plastic, then our future generation will suffer from the environment around them. It also means that plastic and other trash will continue polluting the ocean, which can cause thousands of sea animals to go extinct, providing us with less source of food. Not only sea animals, but animals all over the world might extinct or become endangered because of pollution.

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Everyday people buy plastic things from the cafeteria, from plastic containers, lids on cups, and things as small as straws, and like 50% of plastic used it will be thrown away after one use. However, do you ever stop and think, what happens to the plastic? If you’re thinking that it just magically goes away you 're wrong. It will most likely end up in a landfill somewhere or in the ocean, and as you may think that your actions do not impact the world, think again. Everyone in the world has at least used one piece of plastic, adding to the problem of plastic pollution and helping certifying the terrifying statisticc that acooording to the 2018 Earth day video, “by 2050 there will more plastic in the ocean than fish”, which almost is impossible to think of.

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According to a Biological Diversity website (https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/), the author states that “Thousands of seabirds and sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic.” People keep littering and that littering is killing precious marine life. The level of

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

The reason plastic is used in many products is because it can withstand up to tons of pressure per cm3, is cheap, is durable, and finally, there is no worry for discoloring. But these days, plastic is becoming a major problem the world has to deal with. Plastic is thrown into the ocean, and it is breaking down into very small pieces, and killing marine life, as they mistake those pieces to their prey. As a matter of fact, nearly all plastics are recyclable, but it 's the recycling companies ' machines that refuse to recycle that kind of plastic(eartheasy.com).   I. Plastic, what have you done?

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It is impossible to give an accurate estimation of the amount of plastic that is being polluted into the ocean. However, in 1975 the global fishing fleet alone dumped approximately 135 400 tons of plastic fishing gear and 23 600 tons of synthetic packaging materials

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This has been going on since the world started to produce more. We throw away food, clothes, materials, etc. that can be recycled and reused so that we don’t have waste build up. The world needs to reduce the amount of waste we produce every year so the future won’t have to deal with the problem. Instead they can invent new things so the world is a better and more functional

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Water Pollution is a huge environmental problem that has serious effects on marine habitats, animals, and water quality. BP1: The world's marine habitat has been getting worse because of how bad the pollution has gotten. “ Over 80% of marine pollution comes from land based activities “ (source 5 ). This quote explains how most of the water pollution is caused by human activity. “ Plastic litter does not degrade, can be expected to last in the oceans for hundreds of years “ ( source 6 ).

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The ocean is nowadays undergoing numerous environmental issues that further lead to marine pollution. Marine pollution is a very serious environmental issue that most of the countries of the world encounter. Aquatic littering is considered as one of the major causes of marine environment. The misleading use of the marine environment is extremely impacting the marine life and ecosystems. Moreover, the total amount of toxins and debris discharged by human beings is incredibly increasing in today 's world.

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