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Our ocean covers more than 70 percent of our planet and it is essential to life here on earth. They are home to everything from the biggest blue whales to the smallest microscopic algae and despite their importance to our survival, we are bombarding them with over 8 million tonnes of plastic every year. From dangerous carbon emissions to plastic to oil leaks the types of ocean pollution humans generate are vast. Ocean pollution itself is defined as the introduction of toxic materials such as plastic, oil, chemicals, agricultural waste, and industrial waste into the ocean. The constant pollution being dispersed through the sea is degrading its heath at an alarming rate causing.
Ocean pollution mostly has negative impacts on our seas ecosystems. One consequence of the waste that is dumped into the oceans is the release of toxic substances that soak into the oceanic oxygen. This leads to a depletion in the levels of oxygen available to mammals and other fishes which can lead to death. The pollution may immediately kill marine life and cause diseases over the long term or affect the ability of organisms to reproduce. Organic materials dumped into the oceans such as sewage can also cause problems as it causes an excess of nutrients in the water which leads to an increase in algal blooms that turn oceans into dead zones. Ship pollution is also a huge source of ocean pollution and the most devastating effect it has is oil spills. Crude oil can last for years in the ocean and is extremely toxic to marine life often suffocating animals. In addition, many ships lose thousands of crates each year due to storms, emergencies, and accidents at sea. This causes noise pollution where excessive, unexpected noise interrupts the balance of life under the sea. Many of the effects of ocean pollution are negative and disrupt the harmony of ocean ecosystems but in some cases, what's dumped in can actually help. There are some items of trash that can actually improve the marine environment. Large items of garbage, including old tires, decommissioned ships, and car bodies have all been strategically placed to create artificial reefs. In the right location, trash can create new habitats for sea creatures and can enhance rather than damage marine ecosystems.
The changes to the marine ecosystem from pollution can be managed through a range of small and large-scale processes. Ocean pollution is being managed by strategies that help to reduce the amount of litter such as banning plastic bags as well as cleaning the already polluted waterways through the use of technology that collects the rubbish. One way it is being managed is through governments that have put bag taxes or bans in place to help reduce the plastic that ends up being dumped into the environment. Many cities have begun introducing or supporting legislation that would make plastic bag use less desirable to customers. By urging this change to reusable bags we are limiting the materials that end up polluting the natural landscape and harming the animals that live there. Other methods used to mitigate the changes are being implemented by companies such as The Ocean Cleanup. They have been making a large-scale effort to rid the ocean of garbage by using the ocean currents to their advantage. The ocean currents concentrate plastic in five areas in the world known as the 'ocean garbage patches'. Once in these patches, the plastic won’t go away by itself. Covering this area using vessels and nets would take thousands of years and cost billions of dollars to complete. Ocean Cleanup is developing a system of roaming devices that are much more effective in that it uses the natural oceanic forces to catch and concentrate the plastic. As well as developing technology to extract plastic from the ocean they also investigate how to reuse the materials they collected once it is back on shore. Initial work on ocean plastic recycling shows that the material can be turned into high-quality products that are made from garbage that otherwise could have ended up inside an unsuspecting marine animal.
No matter who you are there is always something you can do to make a difference even if it's a small one. In everyday life, you can make changes such as using a natural face wash or investing in a reusable drink bottle/coffee cup. Do you know those cute little beads in your exfoliating face wash? Cute probably isn’t the word you would use when you hear about its environmental impact. Microbeads are non-biodegradable plastic particles that travel through our water systems and add to the amount of plastic in our marine environment. These microbeads are then consumed by marine life and can in fact even make their way into our food. By swapping out your products with microbeads for natural options such as oatmeal scrubs you can achieve your beauty goals while helping reduce pollution. Another way you make a positive change is by simply using reusable coffee cups or reusable drink bottles. It seems simple but just Australians alone use over 1 billion disposable coffee cups and 118,00 tonnes of plastic drink bottles each year. That's a lot of cups and plastic bottles that could potentially end up in our waterways. As well as it is better for the planet it could also be better for your pocket as many coffee shops have created a discount for reusable coffee cup users. Switching to reusable cups and drink bottles is just one step that everyone could easily take that could help reduce litter and little by little make this planet a cleaner place to live for all organisms big or small.
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