If you are here reading this blog post right now either you are interested in how to stop polluting or how to make others stop polluting and both are welcome! Water covers about 71% of the Earth’s surface so I’d say it’s pretty important. Also, only .5% of that water is available freshwater that we can use and consume, so why would you want to ruin that?! The available freshwater isn’t the only important water though. We might not drink the salty ocean water, but it is EXTREMELY necessary to our survival, and here are a few reasons why:
- The ocean produces over 50% of the world’s oxygen
- The ocean regulates our climate by transporting heat from the Equator to the North/South poles
- 76% of U.S. trade involves marine transportation
- The ocean stores 50x more CO2 than the atmosphere
- The ocean provides seafood, key ingredients for many common foods (like peanut butter), and ingredients for medicines that fight diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, and more
It also does some stuff for our economy like produce hundreds of billions of dollars ($282 billion to be exact) in goods and services and provides millions with jobs… in the U.S. alone. And if all of that is not enough for you, then at least think about how much fun it is to go to the beach and swim in the waves.
We have already greatly damaged our planet’s oceans with the large amounts of plastic and waste that get dumped into the water. It is said that over 8 million tons of plastic get dumped into the ocean every year. EVERY YEAR! That is a LOT. And it is not even worth it considering the “working life” of a plastic bag is an average of 15 minutes and it takes 10-1,000 years for that bag to decompose.
I recently watched this video posted on YouTube by Guardian News and it physically made me feel sick to my stomach. A British diver named Rich Horner caught footage of himself swimming through dense layers of garbage off the coast of Bali. In the video, you can see a handful of fish and a manta ray swim past, showing that these animals are forced to live in these conditions because of humans.
Don’t think that the fish are the only ones having to deal with all that pollution, we are experiencing effects from it as well. Toxic chemicals get dumped into the ocean every day, whether it is on purpose or through runoff. Lead, mercury, oil, plastic, pesticides, and other heavy metals are some of those contaminants that end up back in our own sources of food and water. All it takes is for a fish to become contaminated, a person eating that fish, then that person has consumed the toxins the fish consumed/absorbed. Statistics show that 1 in every 3 fish caught for human consumption contain plastics. Stop using single-use plastics and stop harming yourself!
There are a handful of options that each of us individually can do to help reduce the amount of plastic and pollution going into our oceans. There are a ton of ways to help but here are five:
- Stop using single-use plastics! Single-use plastics include grocery bags, water bottles, cups, straws, ziplock bags, and anything else that you use once then throw away. Swap plastic bags for reusable bags, water bottles for refillable bottles, straws for metal straws, and ziplock bags for Tupperware.
- Avoid any product containing microbeads! Microbeads are in many body washes, face scrubs, and kinds of toothpaste and they are affecting hundreds of different marine species.
- Recycle and recycle properly! If you do happen to use a single-use plastic, find a way to give it a second and maybe even a third purpose. If you can’t do that, recycle the item or bring it to a recycling facility.
- Help clean up the ocean, beaches, and/or rivers! If you already do the things listed above and are looking for more ways to help, participate in or organize a beach cleanup. If you don’t live near a beach, organize a river cleanup because you know what they say, all drains lead to the ocean.
- Educate yourself and others! Stay informed and spread the word. Tell your friends, your parents, your dog, your grandparents, and anyone else in your life the dangers of polluting the ocean. Staying educated and spreading knowledge is the greatest power you have!
WORKS CITED
7 Ways To Reduce Ocean Plastic Pollution Today, www.oceanicsociety.org/blog/1720/7-ways-to-reduce-ocean-plastic-pollution-today.
California-Great Basin, Bureau of Reclamation. “Central California Area Office.” Water Facts – Worldwide Water Supply | ARWEC| CCAO | Area Offices | California-Great Basin | Bureau of Reclamation, www.usbr.gov/mp/arwec/water-facts-ww-water-sup.html.
“Facts . About Plastic . Help – Plastic Oceans Foundation.” Plastic Oceans International, 20 Oct. 2020, plasticoceans.org/the-facts/.
LeBlanc, Rick. “How Long Will It Take That Bag of Trash to Decompose in a Landfill?” The Balance Small Business, www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033.
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Why Should We Care about the Ocean?” NOAA’s National Ocean Service, 24 May 2017, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/why-care-about-ocean.html.