Our Plastic Shouldn't Be Nature's Problem

Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters

After watching a Ted Talk with Andrew Forrest titled, A Radical Plan to End Plastic Waste, I began to think about the effect our waste has on the environment around us. Last week I talked about climate change and the ways an individual can help. This week my focus is on speaking up for wildlife that can't speak up for themselves.

Plastic covers our planet, harming all kinds of wildlife. It fills our oceans killing large amounts of our marine animals. In an article published by the Australian Museum, they state several facts about plastic. One of these facts reads, "An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash, much of it plastic is dumped in the world's oceans every year." Another astonishing fact released by the Earth Day Network reads that every day nearly 500 million straws are used every day in America alone (Fact Sheet: End...). This amount of waste leads to patches of the ocean being covered in plastic. The largest of these patches is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is roughly double the size of Texas (The Great Pacific...). Not only is it large in surface area, but it also has a mass of roughly 100 thousand tons ( The Great Pacific...).  When it comes to depth of the trash it can vary from a few centimeters to meters (Great pacific Garbage...). This mass of garbage floats on top of the water where it slowly degrades into microplastics, which are pieces of plastic that are less than one-fifth of an inch in size (We Know Plastic...). . 

Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region

Now you may be wondering how this affects marine life, one way is through sunlight. The size and thickness of the patch block sunlight from algae and plankton (Great pacific Garbage...). When these producers are kept from fulfilling their duties, such as producing nutrients, the food web is thrown off (Great pacific Garbage...). Marine animals that depend on these nutrients such as jellyfish and fish are depended on by animals such as whales and turtles. By harming the plankton and algae a chain reaction is set off that throws off the balance of the ecosystem. 

Photo Credit: Skeeze 

Another reason this plastic is harming our oceans is through microplastic, and this comes from any plastic, not just the patch. Plastic in the ocean is breaking down and smaller fish are eating them mistakingly for food (Ocean Life Eats...). In some cases, it is found that animals as large as whales have mistaken the plastic bits as food ( We Know Plastic...). As bigger fish eat the small fish they get a build-up of microplastics inside of them, and then they are eaten by bigger fish, and the build-up continues until the fish get to us (Microplastics Endanger All...).  It is proven that microplastics have clogged digestive tracts of marine animals and alters eating habits (We Know Plastic...). Some believe that this build-up becomes toxic by the time it reaches our plates (Microplastics Endanger All...). 

We need to be more conservative with our plastic. It is already harming marine life, and it is making its way back to us. Instead of buying bottled water use a reusable bottle. Bring your own reusable bags while grocery shopping. When you get a drink using a reusable straw, or no straw at all. We can all help in little ways that make a big difference. Think of the smaller you have individually on the environment and do what you can to make that impact smaller, for cleaner water and happier fish.

Photo Credit: Peak PX

Works Cited

"Fact Sheet: End Plastic Pollution." Earth Day Network, 7 Mar. 2018, www.earthday.org/2018/03/07/fact-sheet-end-plastic-pollution/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Galeon, Dom. "Microplastics Endanger All Marine Life, From Fish to Top Predators." Futurism, 22 Feb. 2018, futurism.com/microplastics-endanger-marine-life-fish-predators. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

"Great Pacific Garbage Patch." National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

"The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." The Ocean Clean Up, theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

"Interesting plastic facts." Australian Museum, 22 Apr. 2010, australianmuseum.net.au/blog-archive/science/interesting-plastic-facts/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Marine, Tropical, Fish, Underwater, underwater, undersea. Peak PX, www.peakpx.com/630094/marine-tropical-fish-underwater-underwater-undersea. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Parker, Laura. "Ocean Life Eats Tons of Plastic—Here's Why That Matters." National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/08/ocean-life-eats-plastic-larvaceans-anchovy-environment/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Royte, Elizabeth. "We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us?" National Geographic, June 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-health-pollution-waste-microplastics/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Skeeze. Humpback Whale Breaching Jumping. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/humpback-whale-breaching-jumping-1945416/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters. Beach Strewn with Plastic Debris. 14 Sept. 2009. Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beach_strewn_with_plastic_debris_(8080500982).jpg. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region. Hawksbill Sea Turtle. 16 June 2011. Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast/5840602412. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

Workrinoj. Monkey Wild Animal. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/monkey-wild-animal-jungle-mammal-4576737/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.