If you are still not convinced that this garbage patch situation is serious, you better believe it, because it's twice the size of United States.
About 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year. Let's just discuss one product. This product has been present in the lives of many girls, and ever since 1959, has been made the perfect model to-be, and has even lived through criticism of creating a bad self-image for girls. You've probably guessed it. Yes, it's Barbie. From the curly-banged, retro looking model in 1959, to the brow-lifted, collagen-filled lips fifty years later, the company has no doubt created many models of Barbie. All this contributes to the statistics of 100 million tonnes of plastic being produced every year. Although Barbie is obviously not the only culprit to the problem, this example just shows that one product alone produces such a vast amount of plastic. Think of all the other companies out there, all producing products with plastic. That's a lot of plastic.
Statistics show that 10 percent of the 100 million tonnes of plastic result in the ocean, which translates to 10 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean every year.
About 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year. Let's just discuss one product. This product has been present in the lives of many girls, and ever since 1959, has been made the perfect model to-be, and has even lived through criticism of creating a bad self-image for girls. You've probably guessed it. Yes, it's Barbie. From the curly-banged, retro looking model in 1959, to the brow-lifted, collagen-filled lips fifty years later, the company has no doubt created many models of Barbie. All this contributes to the statistics of 100 million tonnes of plastic being produced every year. Although Barbie is obviously not the only culprit to the problem, this example just shows that one product alone produces such a vast amount of plastic. Think of all the other companies out there, all producing products with plastic. That's a lot of plastic.
Statistics show that 10 percent of the 100 million tonnes of plastic result in the ocean, which translates to 10 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean every year.
As said before, the garbage that is dumped or swept into the ocean is a large problem, but the main problem is the photodegradation of plastic. What really happens is that plastic is photodegradable, which means that the plastic absorbs photons from sources like the sun and infrared radiation, which then enters the process of photodissociation, causing the plastic to break down into smaller particles. The reason why plastic is a bigger problem compared to other garbage is because most other flotsam (marine debris) are capable of biodegrading, but plastic photodegrades into smaller particles, and even breaks down into its polymers. The broken down plastic collects at the top of the water column, where it can be accessed by neustons (organisms that float on the surface of the water or live just below the surface), and mistaken for food. This causes plastic to be ingested into the digestive system of these organisms and cause them to die eventually.
Even though you may not see any visible flotsam in the water, you think, out of sight, out of mind, right? Not true. The photodegradation of the plastic causes it to photodisassociate and break down into particles maybe even too small to be visible by the naked human eye. As well, the United States alone produces about 27 million tonnes of nurdles (small, plastic pellets) every year. Nurdles can also be formed from plastic broken down into smaller pieces. Nurdles are also known as "mermaid tears," which sounds all good and dandy, but it's really not. This is especially harmful to the filter-feeders in the water, like: jellyfish, clams, and krill, because the plastic can act as a sponge that soaks up more toxic substances than normal, impairing their function to filter the water and filter the ocean water and even causing death.
It's really interesting how harmful and bad plastic seems here, especially when plastic was first made and used so much because of its long lasting lifetime and durability. These characteristics of plastic should make it less appealing for people to throw it away because it can usually be used again, like for plastic bags and containers. Also, new advancements in the technology of recycling that make it possible for plastic to be recycled.
ReplyDeleteExactly! We take the plastic products we buy very lightly, but in fact, the mass production of plastic products can be harmful to our planet if not treated properly. That is why it's important to advocate recycling. Whatever your profession is, or even if you're a student, you can make a difference by doing the right thing. Even designer Anya Hindmarch took a stand and launched her bag, with the phrase, "I am not a plastic bag" on it. This is to encourage people to use less plastic bags, and I think it's a great effort to get people into the movement. Especially for influential people, it's important to set a good example, it gets people talking!
ReplyDeleteI agree, but it is really hard to not use plastic bags in our generation. One solution would also be to create plastic bags that are less durable, then they will break down faster. Limiting plastic bags for only garbage use would decrease the amount of plastic pollution. I think we have made changes that are beneficial for our world. For example, Superstore charges about $0.05 for a plastic bag, which forces people to bring their own bags, since they don't want to spend money on plastic bags. There has also been an increase use of canvas bags as well. If this continues, I think we will slowly cut down on the use of plastic bags.
ReplyDeleteI would actually put the price on plastic bags to be even higher because five cents is really not that much. But yes, even my family has bags made out of cloth in both our cars for whenever we go out to buy groceries. Besides, they hold many more items too!
ReplyDeleteYeah my family does that a lot. Plastic bags usually break easily when you guys heavy things like watermelon or things that have a pointy edge. Costco also doesn't even provide bags at all. Even though people usually buy numerous items from Costco, they usually just end up putting it all in their car separately, so it shows that plastic bags aren't that important when buying groceries.
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