Back in the 1800s most waste that ships carried were dumped in our oceans without much thought. The

Millions of tons of trash are dumped into the ocean each year (OI). Ocean pollution can be stopped! I am going to explain what people are doing to the ocean and how it can be stopped. First, two billion people within 30 mile of the coast create 100 million tons of trash every year (Doc. 1). This can be stopped if we reduce plastic in the waste stream, improve solid waste management, and increase, capture, and reuse more plastic (Doc. 1).

People incautiously toss their trash into the ocean or to the sidewalks as if it is a giant trash can. It is causing the oceans to become dirtier every year. Speaking on the bottom half of marine life and people everywhere, nobody wants to swim in water with used straws, crinkled up wrappers, or old deflated balloons. Not only is it un-enjoyable, but it is taking an animal’s life everyday. Many of you have probably watched the movies, read the book or heard the story of Winter, the bottlenose dolphin with a prosthetic tale.

Our oceans are vast and they are some of the most mysterious and diverse places on earth. They provide food and shelter for countless organisms, they also provide a key factor to life; water. Unfortunately, pollution is dangering Marine life and slowly destroying the oceanic ecosystem. We have always had this notion that because of the sheer size of the ocean, that dumping our trash and other toxins into the sea would have no major consequences. As we have seen, that is entirely inaccurate. Oil spills, floating trash, toxic spills are just some of the various factors that contribute to the pollution of the oceans (Heimbuch, 2009).

One of the issues that is currently harming the ocean is the presence of pollution. Studies have shown that over the past thirty years, people have increased their use of plastics and synthetic materials and recently it has become even more abundant (Laist). The amount of plastic debris that has entered the ocean is partially due to people 's inability to properly dispose of plastic and waste. This has immeasurable effects on the physical ecosystem, as well as the creatures who inhabit it. While plastic is very buoyant, it takes a very long time to degrade, and it is usually eaten by

In the article When the Mermaids Cry” The Great Plastic Tide by Claire Le Guern Lytle, she wrote “For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years” This means that more and more trash is added to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. Almost everything around us is made out of plastic, this is later misused and ending in the wrong place. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote “In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste.” Our plastic is misplaced and it escalates from there. However, plastic pollution hurts us as well. “Trash in the water compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;” wrote a non-profit group called Ocean Conservation. If our oceans are covered in trash, everyone that relies on the ocean is going to suffer. The effect is not just in our health, it also affects our economy. Ocean Conservation also

Plastic is a huge problem to the Earth’s ecosystem, including to the marine wildlife of the oceans. It gets into our oceans in large quantities, and they pile up to a point they become an “island of plastic.” Some of which are estimated to be as big as a few million square miles, the biggest being in the Pacific ocean. This could result in environmental issues that could harm the ecosystems of the oceans. It would be eaten in small quantities by fish and by birds, which could cause many health problems that could lead to death. This is a problem that will only lead us to think more critically the waste we produce as humans. In only of a short time span of 35 years, was the oceans transformed into a landfill of plastic.

Fish cannot eat plastic, if they do they can be choked or they are unable to pass it through their stool (Derraik). Pollution does not only affect fish, but anything that lives in the ocean, for example water mammals like dolphins or turtles can get hurt by being trap with a loose net, coral is unable to grow because of oil, birds can drown because of plastic materials (Derraik). There is a lot of life within the ocean and it will cause damage. Therefore as long as we are aware that pollution can be anything, then we are able to try and organize as much as

“Around 260 million tons of plastic is produced every year, approximately 10% of this ends up in oceans. This litter is frequently consumed, often with fatal effects, by marine animals and birds who mistake it for food. The Trash Vortex of the Northern Pacific ocean is a patch the size of Texas consisting of trillions of pieces of decomposing plastic.” (Geer) Water pollution often directly correlates with other natural recourses that is being harmed by the same

For the last few decades hundreds of human activities have been severely impacting one of our most important ecosystems and the life it sustains. Ocean Pollution also known as Marine Pollution is defined as the spreading of deleterious substances such as human, industrial, and agricultural waste, oil, plastic, chemicals and much more. An article from the NOAA states “Eighty percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from the land.” Humans are responsible for the destructruction of the oceans, therefore it is our obligation within every citizen in playing there part to keep our oceans clean. Ocean Pollution doesn't only affect marine life, but us as well. An article from PlanetAid.org states “It provides over 70 percent of the oxygen

Plastic pollution affects every waterway, sea and ocean in the world. When we damage our water

Although the ocean covers approximately two thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is surprisingly susceptible to human influences. The effects of rubbish dumping have tainted our oceans and they have taken their toll on the vast marine environments and the populations in which they contain. Rubbish dumping involves depositing all the waste materials from factories and industries, tankers and ships and sewerage waste materials into the oceans and seas. In the report “Causes and Effects of Ocean Dumping”, the author Sharda states that “The wastes that are dumped into the oceans tend to have toxic substances which soak in all the oceanic oxygen. This

In the essay “ The Harmful Effects of Ocean Pollution” by Clair Christofersen they state, “ Records show that 850 million meters cubed of liquid and solid wastes have been dumped into the ocean in the past 85 years. Not only does our population toss these solid wastes into

Everything in this world we use comes from the ocean in some way. The air we breathe, the water we drink, even the products we use day to day, would not be possible without the ocean. That's why the issue of ocean pollution is so important and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We depend on the ocean for so much in our life, without it we would surely become extinct. People seem to think that since the ocean is so large and vast, we can dump as much waste as we'd like into it and it will never have an effect on us. However, since we've been polluting the ocean as far back as Roman times, the evidence of ocean pollution becoming a major problem is all too clear.

According to Oceana, the agency in charge of protecting the world’s oceans, the number one pollutant in the North Pacific Gyre is still plastic. Oceana remains unsure of the quantity of plastic in the water. Our “need” for plastic has harmed innocent little creatures and ourselves as well when we should be searching for safer alternatives instead.

The overuse of plastics in today's society has become major environmental issue for our oceans. Plastic pollution is the dumping, littering, or disposing of any type of man-made plastic that has been produced and has ended up in our ocean and has not been recycled.