b. Fewer women were abstaining and fewer men were marrying the women they got pregnant.…
When the single-use plastic shopping bag was introduced to consumers worldwide in the mid 1960s, a time when governments encouraged their economies into extravagant consumerist lifestyles, I doubt the general population considered the consequences these bags would have on our environment. These bags revolutionized commercial industry by providing us with lightweight, water-resistant, flexible bags for a hassle-free shopping experience. We so thoroughly adopted the practice of consumption that by 2004 an estimated 4 to 5 trillion bags were produced globally, with Northern America and Western Europe accounting for more than 80% of the use of this product (Behind the Scenes). Were the plastic bags to end up solely in landfills, they would compare better even than paper bags for their effect on the environment since neither type decomposes well in such a situation. These innocuous seeming bags, however, often times go where they should not. They can be found washed up along coastlines, tangled in tree limbs, clogged inside gutters and water outflows, wrapped around fences, and even caught in the throats of animals mistaking the bags for food. It is documented that over 267 species of animals have been found suffering from entanglement and ingestation of plastic marine debris (Ocean in peril). Every year, tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals, and turtles die from contact with ocean-borne plastic bags. Even if the bag manages to disintegrate somewhat (even though estimates place decay happening over a 1,000 year period) it poses a threat to smaller marine life that accidentally ingest toxic chemicals contained in the plastic particles. While some manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to exert an effort in reducing these environmental hazards, such as introducing bags made of biodegradable material, the “disposable” plastic shopping bag remains as one of the most epic global dilemmas of our generation.…
Often times, there are debates surrounding controversial environmental issues, such as global warming, deforestation and nuclear power. But then, there is little or no public debate on the impact of plastic bags on the environment. Plastic bags kill tens of thousands of animals every year. In the marine environment plastic bag litter is lethal, killing tens of thousands of birds, whales, seals and turtles every year as they often mistake plastic bags for food such as jellyfish (planetark, 2015). Various experts estimate that up to a million birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed each year from plastic debris including bags (One Green Planet, 2015). It is estimated that between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year ( One Green Planet, 2015). This means that plastic bags is serious environmental issue. Given this, we as sustainability leaders should start to think of a way to trigger some public debate on this issue. Sustainability is about…
Recycling greatly benefits many aspects of the world, particularly the environment. Almost everything used in today’s society is manufactured from plastic (i.e. water/ shampoo/ mouthwash bottles, food containers, furniture, technology, etc.). Due to this, not recycling plastic can lead to many problems in our environment. Recycling plastic promotes the conservation of energy and natural resources. It also contributes to the decrease of water and air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. To add, recycling plastic can save landfill space, or structure…
Walking on any beach these days, you're sure to find at least some form of plastic on the shoreline. Granted, there's a lot of other stuff floating out in the sea, but unlike natural materials, plastic doesn't degrade normally. Plastic bottles, containers, foam pieces made from polyurethane, and fishing lines are showing up in whole or pieces, and are getting dissolved into the water, to be absorbed by plankton. So much plastic has taken over our oceans, in fact, that in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, there is a gathering of plastic, debris and toxins twice the size of Texas (Casey, 2007) affectionately dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.…
Plastic is one of the resources that is polluting our environment. Some scientist believe that the more plastic added to the ocean the more harmful it is for the organism in the ocean. According to Tobias Kukulka, a physical oceanographer by University of Delaware stated in, Plastic below the Ocean Surface, "You have stuff that's potentially poisonous in the ocean and there is some indication that it's harmful to the environment, but scientists don't really understand the scope of this problem yet." Meaning that the more plastic put into the ocean it becomes more fragile it get and drift to the surface the birds, fish, or even other wildlife animals mistaken these plastic as food.…
We 're treating the oceans like a trash bin: around 80 percent of marine litter originates on land, and most of that is plastic. Plastic that pollutes our oceans and waterways has severe impacts on our environment and our economy. Seabirds, whales, sea turtles and other marine life are eating marine plastic pollution and dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Scientists are investigating the long-term impacts of toxic pollutants absorbed, transported, and consumed by fish and other marine life, including the potential effects on human health.…
Our oceans are polluted with many types of trash, but one that really stands out is the amount of plastic that infects our oceans. Plastic pollution in our ocean strangles the food chain, and marine wildlife like dolphins, fish, and sea turtles have been found with plastic six-pack rings around their necks. (Figure 1.1) Microscopic pieces of plastic are drifting like fish food throughout the water, mimicking plankton which is a food supply of most aquatic life (McLaughlin 2008). A very shocking stat I found was that after a quick calculation that estimated the debris at half a pound for every hundred square meters of sea surface, then multiplied by the circular area defined by our roughly thousand-mile course through the gyre, the weight of the debris was about 3 million tons (Moore 2003). (Figure 1.2) Unlike most waste trashed into the ocean, most plastics do not biodegrade. Instead they "photodegrade," a process where sunlight breaks them…
As mentioned in the article, “plastic actually does decompose, releasing potentially toxic chemicals that can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals and marine life” (CBCnews, 2009) .The released wastes are harming the marine system, and animals that are in this whole food chain. And human beings get no benefits from their harmful actions to the ocean. At the top of the food chain, humans are the ultimate consumers, which means that the health quality of the animals at the bottom of the food chain have an accumulating impacts on the food (animals) we are consuming. When the ocean is polluted with toxic plastics, the seafood we get from the ocean are also…
The world has a titanic problem with disposing of plastic bags. Literally. Floating in the midst of the Pacific Ocean is a double-vortex of garbage that stretches from the west coast of the United States to the Islands of Japan. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is composed six thousand three hundred and twenty-one miles of trash. The majority of this artificial waste continent is discarded fishing nets, plastic water bottles and caps, and plastic bags. Obviously, garbage in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean may not seem like a serious problem for many people because they assume that it is spread out over such a large area that the earth sort of just absorbs it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s look at the ways that this plastic waste, much of it from plastic bags, are threatening the life of our oceans.…
Plastic trash takes a very long time to degrade in the oceans. The actions of sunlight and wave motion tend to break plastic objects into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become smaller than a grain of sand. That's why there is no obvious floating island of plastic debris, but rather a fine soup of plastic particles floating in the water column. These fine particles are now thought to act like sponges, concentrating pollutants such as PCBs, DDT and PAHs. When the particles are ingested by filter feeding sea creatures, they enter the food chain and ultimately into fish destined for human consumption. They also harbor unique colonies of microbes, but it is too early to say what impact this emerging 'plastisphere' will have on marine ecological…
Marine debris, commonly known as marine litter, is man-made waste that is deliberately or accidently released into oceans, lakes, seas or any other type of waterway. 6.4 million Tonnes of garbage are found in the world’s oceans every year and it just keeps increasing. 90% of this garbage is found to be plastic.…
Every year, more than 300 million tons of plastic is made, this poses as a threat when you take a look at how much of this plastic is only intended to be used once and thrown away. Throughout the entire planet, plastics are being used more often and are being thrown away rather than using the recycling bin. When you throw these plastics away, they are taken to a landfill which often times will bury the garbage underground; nevertheless, although you can no longer see the plastic waste, it is still taking a toll on our health. Burying these products creates issues with the ground water that we humans, as well as our pets and other animals, drink from. When the plastics are buried in landfills, they have the potential to leak harmful chemicals into the ground water. Not only do these plastics effect our ground water, but they often times will find their way to the ocean if the landfill is found near a beach. The trash that has found its way to an ocean can float for thousands of…
The waste of mankind can literally be found throughout all parts of our planet. Contrary to what people would like to believe, not all garbage magically makes its way into some convenient dump. In fact, it is estimated that mankind dumps about 14 billion pounds of plastic into our oceans each year ("Marine Debris"). Everywhere leads to the ocean; whether pollutants travel by river, sewer, or runoff makes no difference. In recent years, the amount of debris making its way into the marine environment has been the cause of great concern. Fragments and remains of discarded plastics have been observed to be forming a landfill of sorts stretching for hundreds of miles across the North Pacific. This "Great" Pacific Ocean garbage patch has been found to be having grave effects on our environment and the wildlife that resides within it. Plastics and toxic chemicals are ending up in the stomachs of marine animals. Besides killing sea life in substantial numbers, the garbage patch is also creating detrimental toxic effects on our environment through the absorption of chemical compounds in the seawater.…
The purpose of this research is to find out the damage that is caused by plastic rubbish and how to avoid it. Plastic rubbish is a global problem and affects us all. This research will be based on secondary research, so by existing literature.…