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Every year, millions of kilograms of plastic and other pollutants enter the ocean. Where do the pollutants come from? Where does this waste...eventually go? And why is it allowed? the pollution in the oceans is killing animals and killing the plants that we need to breathe. Other forms of pollution that impact the health of the ocean are run off from fertilizers or big oil spills and yet, if the pollution did not go in the ocean where would it go? Would it be scattered across our national parks or buried underground left to biodegrade over thousands of years so, is the sea the right place to dump it?
Most of the ocean's plastic pollution comes from rivers. A small amount plastic comes from a land-based source and rivers are potentially a highway system for all sizes of plastic pollution to hitch a ride on and float out into the ocean. Plastic waste being thrown into rivers is directly related to the poor management of plastic waste not having a place to go causing rivers to put the most plastic into the ocean. large rivers primarily LEDC's with a dense population of people surrounding them (e.g., the Hooghly River in India and the Meghna River in Bangladesh) pollute a higher fraction of waste into the sea than regular dumping. The 10 most polluted rivers carry 95% of the worlds plastic pollution into the sea. More than 4 tonnes of plastic are transported into the sea everyday by people dumping into rivers making rivers the main source of ocean pollution. Many marine animals are used as food sources for humans such as sushi where fish like tuna and salmon are consumed however the pollution of oceans results in these animals having defects and them becoming toxic. Which in turn can cause illness in humans if consumed to much which is ironic as it was caused by humans.
Human pollution is damaging and potentially fatal to marine life in many ways. It is well-documented that animals can become trapped in plastic, but the debris can also be a choking hazard, with animals mistaking plastic for food. Unfortunately, many animals starve because of swallowing plastic because it clogs their digestive system. 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. It is estimated that 56% of the planet's whale, dolphin and porpoise species have consumed toxic plastic. This can cause many species of marine animals to become extinct which could also be detrimental to other species in the ecosystem as they have no food source causing even more animals to perish. This has been shown as marine biologists have seen a decrease in a variety of species in marine life over the past 50 years. This means unequivocally that ocean pollution is not good for the environment.
The most common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean environment include pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers, oil, industrial chemicals, and sewage. Many ocean pollutants are released into the environment far upstream from coastlines mainly in rivers. Nutrient-packed fertilisers applied to farmland, for example, often end up in local streams from run of due to excessive rainfall and are eventually deposited into estuaries and bays. These excess nutrients result in massive algae blooms that deplete the water of oxygen, leaving dead zones where large marine animals cannot live. Some chemical metals climb high into the food webs like mercury, found in old fungicides responsible for making fish toxic and fatal to consume and also making drinking water unsafe to drink. Scientists are starting to understand how specific pollutants, leached into the ocean from other materials, affect marine wildlife. chemicals incorporated into many household products, accumulates in human and marine mammal blood. Even pharmaceuticals ingested by humans, but not fully processed by our bodies, end up in aquatic food webs from sewage run off making the animals toxic and eventually making us toxic from the food we eat.
The main reason people and businesses dump waste at sea is that it is easy and a very cost-efficient solution to discarding humans waste materials and as it is known that there is more area to dump this waste in the oceans rather than the land. For an individual, there may be little regulation for it and no landfill fees to pay. Naturally, something being illegal does not always prevent individuals or companies from doing it, and the oceans are a difficult place to regulate due to their sheer scale. You might notice somebody dropping chemical barrels in a pristine local lake, but somebody doing the same thing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is unlikely to be spotted. Chances are high that anybody violating local, national, or international regulations simply will not get caught and will continue to do it until they get caught or an easier way presents itself.
In conclusion I think ocean pollution is not only immoral but horrendous. The fact that hundreds of thousands of plants and animals die from consuming pollutants is disgusting and being directly responsible for algae blooms and the dead zones they create. The companies that are trying to clear up the plastic pollutions are turning them into something that could be useful and can be worn by humans this better use of plastic is a positive step forward for the future, as the money made from these recycled plastics is going back into fixing and clearing up the oceans. As the pollution in earth's oceans is such a current issue that needs to be dealt with therefore it should be widely discussed in public spaces and being made aware of more as it is not always talked about. The stupidity of polluting is tolerated in some places and Something needs to change, ocean clean-up is going to be detrimental to the planet's future. It is up to all of us to rise to the challenge and make a difference and limit the extent of ocean pollution.
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