The Ocean Cleanup

People are constantly throwing trash outside their window when they are driving down the street or throwing trash on the ground when they are walking. As minor as littering is, there are long term effects. Trash that ends up in the storm drains, eventually make it’s way into the ocean. Once the trash is in the ocean, it can eventually make its way into a whales blowhole, or can be consumed by an animal; which could harm them. Also, trash that makes it’s way into lakes and oceans is very difficult to remove. If you cannot remove the trash, how are you going to prevent these animals from getting

Pollution is one of the most concerning topics to talk about in today's modern world. It acts as a poison for anything that lives and breathes; it could toxify water, air, land, humans, and animals, and is not to be taken lightly.

Much of this trash ends up in the ocean harming not only marine life, but us too. However, this is not only happening in America it’s happening all over the world with China at 8.82 million metric tons of mismanaged waste. All this waste if caught in a gyre, can lead to one of the garbage patches. This has been happening since we started using plastic but it the garbage patches were discovered in the early 1990’s. We keep throwing trash away that keeps being misplaced, then it ends up in the oceans with the rest of the trash. I propose multiple solutions, to enforce plastic bag ban and to enforce recycling. California has banned the use of plastic bags, meaning that if you do use them a fine will be put in place. Environment California explained how before the plastic bag ban California used up to 19 billion plastic bags each year with less than five percent being recycled. However, we can change that. By using less plastic bags we harm the ocean less. Another solution is to each week collect each household’s trash, per pound of trash found in the recycling bin provided by the city should be a $11 fine. Tiffany Edmonds, Solid Waste Management Department spokeswoman, explained why they started the fine “ It is an attempt to change behavior. The fine covers the cost of sending a garbage collection truck to the house to pick up the contaminated recycling bin” this will encourage people to recycle. Since the plastic

Have you ever been to the beach? I have and swimming in the ocean is one of my favourite things to do when I go on vacation! You wouldn’t want someone to come into your house and throw their cigarette butts or their plastic drink container on your kitchen floor when they’re done would you? I know I wouldn’t. Littering in the ocean does not magically get rid of your garbage; the marine wildlife has to deal with it in their homes. Roughly 75% of our earth is covered with water (IDRC 2010). Many people think that when you dump trash into the ocean that nature will biodegrade. It can take up to hundreds of years for this trash to fully

This study is definately eye-catching indeed. Just by your summary alone I am already interested in future research oppertunities. The concept of errorless learning implemneted by the surf program not only address the social participation aspect, but also safety since they are near/in the ocean. From a researcher's persepctive, the checklist used for data collection incorperated verbal and non-verbal cues, which can be challeneging for individuals diagnosed with ASD. Using the ocean as an intervention is a refreshing method for enviornmental aspects. We seem to already established that nature and being outdoors can be theraputic, espceially to people who enjoys being outside.

“Prince Charles 's Newest Cause: Combating Ocean Trash” (March 2015). “New Titi Monkey Found: Fire-Tailed, With Sideburns” (Mach 2015). “Bolivia launches an innovative forest certification system” (January 2015). “Alleged King of Amazon Deforestation Detained in Brazil” (February 2015). What do all these headlines have in common? That finally people have taken action towards the biggest problem facing the World today, and over the next centuries to come, climate change. Countries all over the world have started investing their power and time on focuses for environmental issues because we are on the point of no return. What does this mean? We have reached such a level of pollution that if we don’t act now, as in every day for the rest of

People are polluting the ocean in many ways, and we need to make the ocean healthier. In 2010, 192 countries bordering the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean and Black seas produced 2.5 billion metric tons of solid waste, and within that, 275 million metric tons is plastic waste. Two billion people within 30 miles of the coast create 100 million metric tons of coastal plastic waste. An estimated eight million tons of plastic entered the ocean that same year. Also, every year, eight million metric tons of plastic goes into the ocean. Because of all this trash, ocean and sea animals are losing their healthy habitat. They could get trapped in six-pack rings, mistake solid waste for food and eat it and die, or could get harmed or

drug residues and sediments in the field, it will then eventually runoff into our streams, lakes, rivers. Which cause our water to be contaminated and affecting our food quality and living organisms in the water. I think it is good that we have a system to take control of our agriculture but we don’t realize how much it is hurting us and the environment around us. We are not the only ones who are affected by water pollution but also plants and animals who feeds out of these waters.

Ocean pollution is a problem that can not be solved unless everyone is focused on doing so, our world will suffer drastically in the long run if we do not fix the increasing pollution, and its not just effecting the air we breath but also the food we eat because of water contamination. "The single biggest problem in reaching international agreement on a topic lies in convincing sovereign nations with different goals, opposing political systems, and fluctuating positions in day-to-day politic that their interests all lie in the same direction" (1, 106). Pollution gets into the sea from many sources but has the same effect, consequently swimming in our seas can make you ill. It costs big time to help decrease pollution and to study it. Poor or struggling nations will have a hard time affording it, which does not help because it has to be a world effort. Researchers calculated that $44 million a year is spent just protecting aquatic species from nutrient pollution, still there is so much pollution.

In the documentary “Inside the Garbage of the World”, the main social problem being explained is that there has been a great influx of plastic and other type of garbage in oceans and their beaches. This buildup of pollution has largely affected the wildlife population ranging from animals on the beaches to the creatures of the ocean. In oceans, what is called ‘garbage patches’, a large buildup of garbage that flow to one area in the oceans, are being created. Approximately 50 percent of all plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor but about 2 times that much is actually already on the ocean floor. In fact, according to the documentary, there is a garbage patch that is to the left of California that is the size of half of the United States. Each year, about 4.7 million tons of plastic goes in the ocean a year and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be another 33 billion tons of plastic added to the present amount. Eighty percent of the current pollution comes from the land. According to marine researchers, twice as much plastic debris is one the ocean floor than it was 10 years ago. In the futures, plastic will break down into smaller pieces of plastic, creating a bigger problem from the habitat. This plastic pollution is one of the leading cause for beach and ocean inhabiting creatures be extinct because animals are mistaking these plastic pieces for food. When scientist began to dissect beach animals such as birds, they discovered that at least fifteen pounds of

Littering and pollution is everywhere. It hurts the environment about as much as it hurts us. Usually the trash and sewage that we humans let out eventually heads into the ocean, lakes, rivers, and into the food that we eat. The article, “Ocean Pollution is a Global Threat”, explains why litter is dangerous for sea animals themselves, “Plastic garbage, which decomposes very slowly, is often mistaken for food by marine animals”. Some of the fish and sea animals that we eat may sometimes confuse trash with food and are contaminated by dangerous chemicals. The contaminated fish later end up on our plates and later in our stomach. There are ways of preventing this though. Setting up advertisements on television and on billboards is a good way of getting the message out to people. Everyone

We need the government to realize that some of their plans are one of the reasons that our oceans have been polluted and reinforce more laws about littering. One of the main litter sources is plastic, plastic breaks down extremely slowly in water and it takes about decades to even centuries, the amount of it is constantly increasing. We easily get plastic in our ocean because of our storm drains that go into the ocean. Those storm drains were suppose to bring storm water there and only stormwater but since there is litter almost everywhere the rainwater brings it to the ocean also. Littering in the United States is a huge problem to our environmental state right now yet a majority of people do it because it’s not taken as seriously as it should

The oceans face many types of pollution every day, every second. The ocean is our greatest ecosystem and out most valuable resource. A common misconception is that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet however, the majority of our oxygen is made via the algae in the sea. The oceans feeds, hydrates, and provides us with oxygen; ironically enough, despite its monetary value to mankind, it is what is treated the worst. For ages we have been dumping our trash, chemicals, and waste into the oceans with no fear or regret, almost an “out of sight- out of mind” mentality. People once and still assume that the oceans are so vast that all of the pollution is diluted and would be dispersed through out, going unnoticed. However, dilution is a myth and an idea that renders ocean dumping to be less impactful. Even so much of the man made pollution is becoming even more concentrated and have entered our natural food chain. However vast the waters of the ocean are, they are not meant to house all of these external factors. There are many alternatives to marine pollution including recycling, finding alternative trash dump sites, cutting down on harmful chemicals for agriculture, and most importantly having the ability to recognize when a problem is developing and counter act, immediately.

However, beyond that, this is a subject that is of great importance to me. My long-term goal is to become a marine biologist and as such the health of the ocean is of the utmost importance to me. Over the last few years I have chosen to research and write about environmental issue. One of the main issues I researched was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how plastics in the ocean affect marine life. Because of that, I understand the true impact that any debris, and particularly plastics, have in the ocean. They entangle animals, hinder their digestion, and transport of invasive species, to name just some examples. For these reasons, I believe that preventing debris from entering the ocean is paramount. I realize that participating in one beach cleanup is not going to save the ocean and the real problem lies in how humanity is using plastics. However, I want to help contributions the wellbeing of the ocean. Ultimately, that is why I participated in a beach cleanup event. Furthermore, Indianola is close to my home, so I was not only benefitting the ocean, but my local community as well. While I cannot solve the ocean garbage problem, I would like to be part of the solution, not the problem. Participating in beach cleanup events is my way of doing

There are ways to stop this dangerous waste. One way we could stop it is cleanup the ocean areas. Join a volunteer group or even make your own volunteer and pick up the dangerous litter that floods the seas. You do not have to do an eight hour day, seven days of week kind of thing. You just need to volunteer for a couple of hours. If you have a lot of friends, family, and community helping you, you will be able to see a lot of differences throughout the weeks. It’s such a small act, but doing small thing will sooner or later lead into a big outcome. Another thing people could do is just educate citizens about the problem. Have teachers take a time out