Ocean Pollution

Oceans are the largest water bodies on the planet Earth. Over the last few decades, surplus human activities have severely affected the marine life on the Earth’s oceans. Ocean pollution, also known as marine pollution, is the spreading of harmful substances such as oil, plastic, industrial and agricultural waste and chemical particles into the ocean. Since oceans provide home to wide variety of marine animals and plants, it is responsibility of every citizen to play his or her part in making these oceans clean so that marine species can thrive for long period of  time.

Mining for materials such as copper and gold is a major source of contamination in the ocean. For example, copper is a major source of pollutant in the ocean and can interfere with the life cycles of numerous marine organisms and life.

Causes of Ocean Pollution

There are various ways by which pollution enters the ocean. Some of them are:

1. Sewage

Pollution can enter the ocean directly. Sewage or polluting substances flow through sewage, rivers, or drainages directly into the ocean. This is often how minerals and substances from mining camps find their way into the ocean.

The release of other chemical nutrients into the ocean’s ecosystem leads to reductions in oxygen levels, the decay of plant life, a severe decline in the quality of the sea water itself. As a result, all levels of oceanic life, plants and animals, are highly affected.

2. Toxic Chemicals From Industries

Industrial and agricultural waste are another most common form of wastes that are directly discharged into the oceans, resulting in ocean pollution. The dumping of toxic liquids in the ocean directly affects the marine life as they are considered hazardous and secondly, they raise the temperature of the ocean, known as thermal pollution, as the temperature of these liquids is quite high. Animals and plants that cannot survive at higher temperatures eventually perish.

3. Land Runoff

Land runoff is another source of pollution in the ocean. This occurs when water infiltrates the soil to its maximum extent and the excess water from rain, flooding or melting flows over the land and into the ocean. Often times, this water picks up man-made, harmful contaminants that pollute the ocean, including fertilizers, petroleum, pesticides and other forms of soil contaminants. Fertilizers and waste from land animals and humans can be a huge detriment to the ocean by creating dead zones.

4. Large Scale Oil Spills

Ship pollution is a huge source of ocean pollution, the most devastating effect of which is oil spills. Crude oil lasts for years in the sea and is extremely toxic to marine life, often suffocating marine animals to death once it entraps them. Crude oil is also extremely difficult to clean up, unfortunately meaning that when it is split; it is usually there to stay.

In addition, many ships lose thousands of crates each year due to storms, emergencies, and accidents. This causes noise pollution (excessive, unexpected noise that interrupts the balance of life, most often caused by modes of transportation), excessive algae, and ballast water. Often times, other species can also invade an ecosystem and do harm to it by interrupting the life cycles of other organisms, causing a clash of nature that has already been damaged by the overflow of pollution.

5. Ocean Mining

Ocean mining in the deep sea is yet another source of ocean pollution. Ocean mining sites drilling for silver, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc create sulfide deposits up to three and a half thousand meters down in to the ocean. While we have yet the gathering of scientific evidence to fully explain the harsh environmental impacts of deep sea mining, we do have a general idea that deep sea mining causes damage to the lowest levels of the ocean and increase the toxicity of the region. This permanent damage dealt also causes leaking, corrosion and oil spills that only drastically further hinder the ecosystem of the region.

6. Littering

Pollution from the atmosphere is, believe it or not, a huge source of ocean pollution. This occurs when objects that are far inland are blown by the wind over long distances and end up in the ocean. These objects can be anything from natural things like dust and sand, to man-made objects such as debris and trash. Most debris, especially plastic debris, cannot decompose and remains suspended in the oceans current for years.

Animals can become snagged on the plastic or mistake it for food, slowly killing them over a long period of time. Animals who are most often the victims of plastic debris include turtles, dolphins, fish, sharks, crabs, sea birds, and crocodiles.

In addition, the temperature of the ocean is highly affected by carbon dioxide and climate changes, which impacts primarily the ecosystems and fish communities that live in the ocean. In particular, the rising levels of Co2 acidify the ocean in the form of acid rain. Even though the ocean can absorb carbon dioxide that originates from the atmosphere, the carbon dioxide levels are steadily increasing and the ocean’s absorbing mechanisms, due to the rising of the ocean’s temperatures, are unable to keep up with the pace.

Effects of Ocean Pollution

1. Effect of Toxic Wastes on Marine Animals

Oil spill is dangerous to marine life in several ways. The oil spilled in the ocean could get on to the gills and feathers of marine animals, which makes it difficult for them to move or fly properly or feed their children. The long term effect on marine life can include cancer, failure in the reproductive system, behavioral changes, and even death.

2. Disruption to the Cycle of Coral Reefs

Oil spill floats on the surface of water and prevents sunlight from reaching to marine plants and affects in the process of photosynthesis. Skin irritation, eye irritation, lung and liver problems can impact marine life over long period of time.

3: Depletes Oxygen Content in Water

Most of the debris in the ocean does not decompose and remain in the ocean for years. It uses oxygen as it degrades. As a result of this, oxygen levels go down. When oxygen levels go down, the chances of survival of marine animals like whales, turtles, sharks, dolphins, penguins for long time also goes down.

4: Failure in the Reproductive System of Sea Animals

Industrial and agricultural wastes include various poisonous chemicals that are considered hazardous for marine life. Chemicals from pesticides can accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals, leading to failure in their reproductive system.

5: Effect on Food Chain

Chemicals used in industries and agriculture get washed into the rivers and from there are carried into the oceans. These chemicals do not get dissolved and sink at the bottom of the ocean. Small animals ingest these chemicals and are later eaten by large animals, which then affects the whole food chain.

6. Affects Human Health

Animals from impacted food chain are then eaten by humans which affects their health as toxins from these contaminated animals gets deposited in the tissues of people and can lead to cancer, birth defects or long term health problems.

Facts about Plastic Pollution

Just as we cannot escape plastic in our lives so is plastic pollution. Almost everything that we come into contact with is plastic from tea cups, computer mouse, mobile phones and plastic framed computer monitor among others. And this does not end there as we come into contact with plastic almost everywhere.

Plastic is like an epidemic and each person can relate to it. However, the big question is, “where does all this plastic go?” While some is recycled, some thrown into landfills and some is thrown loosely into the streets or our immediate environment, the loosely disposed plastic usually ends up into our waterways. Most of this plastic is found floating in the ocean waters most especially in Indian Ocean where a lot of plastic is disposed in its waters.

Tiny plastic beads have equally been found in several toiletries such as toothpastes and scrubs. Plastic does not just adversely impact the earth. Instead, it also affects people’s health. What’s more, plastic does not degrade instead it breaks down. Below are 40+ intriguing facts about plastic pollution.

There is high plastic pollution in the world. Over the last decade, human beings have produced a lot of plastic as compared to the whole period of the last century.

Each and every day there are plastic that are swept into Pacific Ocean. Several plastic materials are swept into Pacific Ocean. For example in Los Angeles area in the US, around 10 metric tons of plastic fragments such as soda bottles, straws and grocery bags are thrown into the Pacific Ocean.

Around 50% of the plastic that people use are used only once. They are then they thrown away as waste.

The amount of plastic that is thrown away annually can circle the earth four times. The plastic thrown away is so much so that there is need to ban it.

Currently we can only recover around 5% of the plastic bags that we produce. Most of the plastic bags once used are thrown into as waste instead of being collected and recycled for later use. Very few plastic bags are recycled which is not healthy for our environment and human health in the long run.

An American throws away around 185 pounds of plastic each year. An average American throws away so much plastic bags which weigh hundreds of pounds.

Humans generate a lot of waste and plastic accounts for approximately 10% of the total waste. Human beings generate waste such as kitchen waste among other wastes. All these waste if not most of it is thrown into landfills, on our surrounding areas, or in the water bodies. While some of its may slowly degrade, plastic will never degrade.

The Americans throw away around 35 billion plastic water bottles annually. Bottled water is ready made, portable and easily accessible hence most Americans opt for it. However, these bottles are not reused by people; they look for new ones once they are done. Subsequently, the amount of bottles that is thrown away by Americans is great which is worrying.

The body can absorb plastic chemicals. Approximately 93% of Americans who are age 6 and above have tested positive for BPA.

There are some compounds found in plastic which can alter hormones or even have some potential human health effects. PBC is one such chemical which significantly alters an individual’s hormones thus resulting in some negative health effects.

About 97% of plastics ever made still exist. Apart from the small amount of plastic that is incinerated, every other piece of plastic ever made continues to exist in some form or shape.

There are numerous microscopic particles of plastic that we consume unknowingly. There were samples which were collected from Lake Erie and 85% of those plastic particles were smaller found to be smaller than two-tenths of an inch and a lot of this was microscopic. In fact, the researchers found 1,500 and 1.7 million of the above particles per square mile.

There are so many ocean animals which are killed every year from plastic. Around one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed each year due to plastic ingestion.

There is so much plastic trash which is left floating on the ocean’s surface. Plastic accounts for around 90% of all ocean trash with 46,000 pieces of plastic for each square mile.

Plastic does not degrade easily. It takes around 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade. Plastic only breaks into very small tiny pieces but does not degrade thus polluting the environment.

Over a million bags of plastics are used annually across the globe. In a year, around 500 billion plastic bags are used globally.

Currently, Americans generate 10.5 million tons of plastic waste annually. However, they recycle only 1 to 2% of this amount.

Globally, the fishing industry dumps around 150,000 tons of plastic into the ocean annually. This does not include plastic nets, buoys, lines and packaging among others.

A lot of energy is saved, around twice, through recycling of waste as compared to burning the plastic in an incinerator.
US law which implements an international agreement known as MARPOL Annex V, took effect in 31st December 1988. This law prohibits disposing off plastic into the marine environment and requires that ports provide reception facilities for ship-generated plastic waste.

In the swirling convergences within the oceans, there are billions of pounds of plastic and they make up around 40% of the worlds ocean surfaces. Around 80% of the plastic pollution enters the ocean from the land.

Plastic in the oceans is believed to break down into very small segments. Each of these pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could spread to each and every mile of beach all through the world.
22% of cetaceans, 44% of all seabird species, all sea turtle and still growing list of fishes have been documented to have plastic in or even around their bodies.

There are countries that have already banned or even restricted the use of plastic bags. Examples include China, Australia, Ireland and Bangladesh among other nations. However, Bangladesh and India have only banned those of over 5 microns.

Along the South African coast, there are 3,500 plastic particles for every square kilometer.

The annual consumption of plastic globally has increased from 5 million tons in the 50s to around 100 million tons currently.
Each and every US resident uses 1,200 plastic bags a year.

72 billion gallons of water is required annually to make plastic bottles.
Around 24 million gallons of oil is required to produce one billion plastic bottles.

In the ocean, there are 48 particles of plastic for each particle of plankton.
In the US, approximately four out of five groceries bags used by the public is plastic.

Each and every year, the US processes about 100 billion plastic bags. This takes around 12 million barrels of oil. It clearly shows that a lot of petroleum oil is required to manufacture these plastic materials.

Around 80% of marine plastic pollution comes from the land. The plastic materials that are dumped into the oceans come from the land and they include aspects such as plastic bags, plastic cups and other plastic household materials. Along the shores of the coastline, one tends to find plastic bottles, polythene bags, plastic cups among other objects. All these come from the land.

Most of marine plastic debris concentrates in different regions of the North Pacific. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a vast gyre of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and is considered as the largest ocean garbage site in the entire face of earth. It is stated that this floating mass of plastic is almost twice the size of Texas. Additionally, the plastic pieces outnumber the sea life in like six to one.
According to a research done by Ellen MacArthur Foundation in January, the total amount of plastic waste will be greater than the total number of fish found in our oceans by 2050. Further, this amount is predicted to increase ten times by 2020.

A plastic cup takes around 50-80 years to decompose. A plastic cup has the non-renewable materials which are its basic components. This material does not degrade which is why plastic cups continue to exist up to now.

Most or all of the recycled plastic can be used to make things such as park benches, trash cans, decks, playground equipment and kayaks among others.
Recycled plastic bottles can also be used to make special fleece-like fabrics which are used in blankets and clothes.
A plastic like a jug which takes 1 million years to decompose.

Around 1,200 plastic soft drink and salad dressing containers are able to cover an average living room.

According to EPA (2006), 46% of plastics are afloat on the world’s oceans and can drift for several years before later concentrating in the ocean gyres.

Resources:

http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/intriguing-facts-about-plastic-pollution.php

World Environment Day

5th June is celebrated as world environment day globally.

People can participate in celebration of this day by contributing their ideas, planing an event, by sharing photos related to nature that inspire other people.

One can also participate by clicking following link:
http://worldenvironmentday.global/en

Solution of Plastic Pollution

The reality is that the only way this problem can be addressed is by individuals and companies around the world agreeing to implement practices that reduce waste on every level. The top tips for reducing plastic waste are:

Shop Friendly Plastic bags were once a modern convenience but can be efficiently replaced by reusable bags, many of which fold up compactly in order to be portable. Just think about how many bags you typically carry out of a grocery store, and multiply that by the number of times you grocery shop. That’s a lot of plastic! Carry a bag and always reuse plastic bags as much as possible if you have them.

Get Rid of Bottled Water People are meant to drink lots of water each day, and plastic water bottles have become a great way to stay hydrated throughout the day. However, most of these are only recommended for single use, and that means that every time someone finishes a bottle it goes into the trash. Many companies now sell reusable water bottles as a substitute, reducing plastic waste and exposure to leaking bottles.

Effects of Plastic Pollution

It seems rather obvious that this amount of a material that isn’t meant to break down can wreak havoc on natural environments, leading to long-term issues for plants, animals, and people. Some of the major long-term effects of plastic pollution are:

It Upsets the Food Chain Because it comes in sizes large and small, polluting plastics even affect the world’s tiniest organisms such as plankton. When these organisms become poisoned due to plastic ingestion, this causes problems for the larger animals that depend on them for food. This can cause a whole slew of problems, each step further along the food chain. Plus, it means that plastic are present in the fish that many people eat everyday.

Groundwater Pollution Water conservation is already a concern in places ranging from California to parts of India, but the world’s water is in great danger because of leaking plastics and waste. If you’ve ever seen a garbage dump, imagine what happens every time it rains – then imagine that being in your drinking water. 

Groundwater and reservoirs are susceptible to leaking environmental toxins.

Most of the litter and pollution affecting the world’s oceans also derives from plastics. This has had terrible consequences on many marine species, which can lead to consequences for those that eat fish and marine life for nutrients – including people.

Causes of Plastic Pollution

While solving the problem of plastic pollution may seem as easy as just implementing recycling or cleaning up empty bottles, the truth is that the plastic causing the pollution can range in size from big to microscopic. The major contributors to this problem today include:

Plain Old Trash
Plastic is everywhere, even on those items you may not expect it to be. Milk cartons are lined with plastic, water bottles are handed out everywhere, and some products may even contain tiny plastic beads. Every time one of these items gets thrown away or washed down a sink, the toxic pollutants have more of a chance to enter the environment and do harm.

Trash dumps and landfills are unfortunate major problems, as they allow pollutants to enter the ground and affect wildlife and groundwater for years to come.

It is Overused
As plastic is less expensive, it is one of the most widely available and overused item in the world today. When disposed, it does not decompose easily and pollutes the land or air nearby when burned in the open air.

Fishing Nets
Commercial fishing is an economic necessity for many parts of the world, and tons of people eat fish for their daily survival. However, this industry has helped contribute to the problem of plastics pollution in the oceans in several ways. The nets used for certain large-scale trolling operations are usually made of plastic. First, these spend long times submerged in water, leaking toxins at will, but they also often get broken up or lost, left to remain wherever they fall. This not only kills and harms local wildlife, but also ensures that pollutants enter the water and fish of the area.

Disposing of Plastic and Garbage
This may sound a bit confusing, but because plastic is meant to last, it is nearly impossible to break down. Burning plastic is incredibly toxic, and can lead to harmful atmospheric conditions and deadly illness. Therefore, if it is in a landfill, it will never stop releasing toxins in that area.

Even recycling doesn’t cut down on plastic, as it essentially uses the existing plastic, albeit in a new form. The process of recycling plastic can also lead to plastic irritants being released in a number of ways.

Resources:
http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-plastic-pollution.php