How The Plastic Problem is Effecting Our Oceans; Why You Should Care

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How Plastic has Impacted Our Oceans

Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean. Adding to the estimated 150 million metric tons (as of 2018) that already circulate our marine environments. With all this plastic in the ocean,there is one irrufutable fact that classifies this as a top priority issue, plastic debris injures and kills fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Plastic polltuion within the Marine environment, has impacted at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species. The most common fatalities associated with plastics within marine animals are, ingestion, starvation, entanglment, suffocation, infection, and drowning. The marine life are not the only animals these plastics are effecting, they are also resulting in decreased quality of life for much of humanity, with plastic acting as a contaminate in a major food source (fish); in a 2008 voyage to the Pacific Gyre, Algatita researchers found that of the 672 fish caught on the voyage, a near 35% of the fish has ingested plastic, causing the fish to be terminally ill, as well as very unhealthy to eat. Having 35% of the fish taken from the 672 fish study being contaminated, one can only imagine the effects when 10% of the worlds population depend on ocean life for their livelihoods, as well as 4.3 billion people reliant on fish/marine life for a lesser 15% of their animal protein intake. However, there is action being taken, people all over the world have contributed as they could, coming up with ways of lessening our toll on natures oceans.

Sources: plastic-pollution.org http://www.fao.org https://www.cleanwater.org

What Properties the Ideal Solution(s) Should Have

The ideal solution should be attainable, practicable & practical, as well as be progressive to the clean-up & removal of waste within the ocean environment. The solution has to be attainable, the problem of plastic and wastes within the oceans are growing exponentially, without something that is attainable there is no progress being made, only speculation about possible future solutions (which is not immediate, but should be worth noting). The solution has to be practicable & practical, meaning that the solution has to be able to do as provided and the solution should have very few constraints, with no major drawbacks, for example, as of October 2019 firing multi-million dollar rockets full of trash into space, is not a practical or viable option what-so-ever.

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Possible Solution: Recycling & Reusing

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After use of a disposable product (most commonly glass, plastic, and paper), the product would be recycled by getting thrown away in its own classified bin. The product then goes through a process that allows the product to be reused as, most commonly, a plastic component, glass component, or a paper component in a brand new product, reducing the need to manufacture the substance needed in the brand new product.

How the Solution Works:

The solution reduces the demand for the manufacturing of new plastics, this ultimately reduces the amount of plastic being introduced into the world, making less plastic able to be erroneously disposed of.

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This won't be a final solution to fix the current state of our oceans, there is already too much damage done, this will only slow down the rate of decay the oceans are suffering from. However, this solution is readily available across the US, making it very easy to help keep our oceans environment from deteriorating faster than it already is. Recycling can effect much more than people think, one plastic ring can kill a multiplitude of fish, those mutliple fish could have over 20 offspring in their lifetime, then those 20 fish could have each had 20 of their own, and the numbers soar from there,each fish potentially being caught by a fisherman, to be fed to a family. Making the decision to recycle plastics could help preserve future familys, fish, and the ocean environment.

Sources: plastic-pollution.org http://www.fao.org https://www.cleanwater.org

Possible Solution: Cleaning Up & Implementing Counter-Measures

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Experimental Solutions

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