Plastic In The Ocean Essay
Plastic in the Ocean
More than 200 animal species are dying everyday because they are consuming plastic in the ocean. This paper will discuss the environmental issue of polluted oceans, the causes, and possible solutions. The current environmental issue is littering in the ocean. Everyday hundreds, thousands, and even millions of trash is dumped into the ocean. Hundreds of marine species eat large amounts of plastic debris. “Yet the question is why so many species from the tiniest zooplankton to whales, mistake so much of it for food has never been fully explored” (Parker). Some studies say because of the smell of the algae in the ocean. That very well could be true. As algae breaks down naturally in the Ocean they emit a stinky sulfur odor known as dimethyl sulfide. ( National Geographic). Most sea turtles mistake ziplock bags for jellyfish. Bigger fish mistake tiny pieces of debris as plankton. More than two hundred marine animal species have been documented consuming plastic. Seabird’s are one specific species …show more content…
They gave it the name “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” , because of all the trash in the ocean. The Pacific Ocean is only a collection of garbage today. Because of the large amount of plastic in the ocean the plastic does not disintegrate. It breaks down into tinier pieces until it is smaller than the size of plankton. “The sea floor beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologist recently discovered that about seventy percent of marine debris actually sinks into the bottom of the ocean “ (National Geographic.org) About eighty percent of the debris comes from Asia and North America. The remaining comes from boaters and cargo ships that dump or loose garbage right into the ocean. Scientist have collected up to 750,000bits of microplastics in a single square kilometer in the
More than 200 animal species are dying everyday because they are consuming plastic in the ocean. This paper will discuss the environmental issue of polluted oceans, the causes, and possible solutions. The current environmental issue is littering in the ocean. Everyday hundreds, thousands, and even millions of trash is dumped into the ocean. Hundreds of marine species eat large amounts of plastic debris. “Yet the question is why so many species from the tiniest zooplankton to whales, mistake so much of it for food has never been fully explored” (Parker). Some studies say because of the smell of the algae in the ocean. That very well could be true. As algae breaks down naturally in the Ocean they emit a stinky sulfur odor known as dimethyl sulfide. ( National Geographic). Most sea turtles mistake ziplock bags for jellyfish. Bigger fish mistake tiny pieces of debris as plankton. More than two hundred marine animal species have been documented consuming plastic. Seabird’s are one specific species …show more content…
They gave it the name “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” , because of all the trash in the ocean. The Pacific Ocean is only a collection of garbage today. Because of the large amount of plastic in the ocean the plastic does not disintegrate. It breaks down into tinier pieces until it is smaller than the size of plankton. “The sea floor beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologist recently discovered that about seventy percent of marine debris actually sinks into the bottom of the ocean “ (National Geographic.org) About eighty percent of the debris comes from Asia and North America. The remaining comes from boaters and cargo ships that dump or loose garbage right into the ocean. Scientist have collected up to 750,000bits of microplastics in a single square kilometer in the