could easily get blown into the seas, get caught up in a current and get swirled up into the mixture of many currents of the ocean. Rivers also lead to the ocean, so trash that ends up in a stream in the middle of the United States could end up in the ocean, get carried along the ocean’s current and land in a trash vortex.
Most plastics end up just taking up space, suspended in the waters for centuries. Plastics do not easily wear down because their bonds are generally non-polar. Because plastics don’t usually fully decompose, they only break only into tinier and tinier pieces called microplastics. Microplastics are so microscopic that they can not be seen by the naked eye. While some patches are constructed of large pieces of garbage lurking on the ocean’s surface, many patches are more like plastic soup. Even though it is easier to disregard the trash that can not be seen, it is everywhere. These materials take up almost 90 percent of all trash in the waters and outweigh the amount of plankton by a ratio of six to one (Silverman 1). Every second, 1500 bottles of plastic appear in our oceans (Claudio). It is almost impossible to clean out the microplastics because they take up a massive amount of space in the ocean. Plastic is everywhere. Heavy trash sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor, microplastics suspend on the surface of the water and when near land, the ocean’s waves wash the trash onto our beach shores.
How Does it Impact Animals?
The garbage patches disturb the entire marine food web. Microplastics block sunlight from the plankton and algae which will deprive them of their source of energy. Fish and birds also mistake plastic for food (“Great Pacific Garbage Patch”). Animals can also get entangled in marine debris causing injury or death. Marine debris shifts the ecosystem since it is able to harm more than one species at once, causing many unnecessary deaths in the oceans. Degrading plastics release harmful toxic chemicals and more than one million birds and animals die each year because of the marine debris and the chemicals it emits (Claudio). Marine animals swim in these oceans with their lives on the line. People have to be more cautious because the ocean is not only home for the animals in the ocean, it is their only source of life.
Why Should We Care?
Marine debris not only puts the lives of marine animals in danger, but the lives of mankind as well as well. It may be hard to think that trash in the far-away oceans could reach us in any way, but it directly affects us physically and chemically in many different ways.
What Effects Does It Have On Us?
Thomas Kostigen states that “around 2.5 billion people rely upon fish for at least 20 percent of their animal protein” (2). This is a hazard because small bits of plastic can soak up chemicals released by the decomposing plastics. These chemicals include BPA and PS oligomer which destroys the hormones of animals (Kostigen). These chemicals can widely diffuse in the ocean which will make the ocean highly concentrated (Silverman 2). Highly concentrated oceans have low pHs, which means the ocean is more acidic than it should be. A highly concentrated ocean is not a good sign for marine life nor human life because marine life is accustomed to a particular pH, temperature and environment, and when mankind comes and destroys that homeostasis, or constant environment in response to environmental changes, much damage can occur. This damage affects mankind because we consume these harmed creatures. Plastic debris also releases chemical toxins which can find their way into the food we eat. To be exact, the poisonous chemicals and plasticizers absorb hydrophobic, or water resistant, pollutants, which can accidentally be taken in by an oblivious fish. In other words, we are basically “eating our own trash” (Master’s
Degree). Not only can you spot trash in fish, but in beaches as well. And we’re not just talking about plastic bottles laying around on the beach. We are talking about tiny “grain-like pieces of plastic” (Silverman 3). Some
beaches are buried under five to ten feet of trash that washes up onto their shores, while others are forced to tread on tiny bits of “plastic sand” (Silverman 3). Plastic sand is This is nearly impossible to clean up, leaving us with contaminated beaches that are no longer safe to live in.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The obvious solution would be to clean out the oceans, get rid of all the trash and keep the animals safe from harm. However, that is an impossible task considering how vast the garbage patches are. The patches are 6,000 miles long, the length going to California and back from Maryland, and trawling the ocean for all of its trash would also hurt marine life (Silverman 3). It is also hard to pick out anyone who is truly responsible for all this trash because plastic can be picked up by any current, making ocean garbage an international problem (McLendon). The only action we can take right now is to focus on improving our way of using and discarding plastic and other trash. It is pointless to cut off plastic supply or to clean it up because the patches are still growing. Recent studies have shown that the garbage patches will continue growing for centuries if there is no control of plastic leaving our recycling bins (McLendon). Many international organizations are focusing on preventing the patch from growing even bigger than it is now by spreading the word (“Great Pacific Garbage Patch”). So, what can you do? Even the smallest action will help. You can recycle your plastics to reduce their chances of entering the ocean, support organizations or volunteer in cleaning the shores of our trash-filled beaches, but most importantly, you can spread the word.
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Raising Awareness