“Trash: The Silent Killer” By Hannah H.

-
Between California and Hawaii, there is a swirling vortex of trash that is threatening the underwater ecosystem. This mass of garbage grows every day, and researchers now say it is twice the size of Texas and will continue to increase exponentially. Many people have never heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Two questions that I have is how did we let this happen? And what can we do to fix it?

Video link: https://youtu.be/0EyaTqezSzs 

There are five offshore plastic accumulation sights in the world. The largest one is right by the U.S. in the North Pacific Ocean. The trash starts off in rivers and eventually makes its way to the ocean where the currents pull it into the gyres. Once there, it will break down into smaller microplastics making it less likely for the disintegrated trash ever to leave. Each year it is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 millions tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year. Most of the trash is less dense than water meaning it will float. Right now the GPGP covers 1.6 million square kilometers or approximately 600,000 square miles of ocean. That is three times the size of France as shown below.




In 2017, the Ocean Cleanup sampled and released that there are about 1.8 trillion pieces of trash total weighing about 80,000 metric tons. That is the equivalent to 500 jumbo jets. These new findings shocked everyone, including Dr. Julia Reisser Chief Scientist, "We used to think most of the debris consists of small fragments, but this new analysis shines a new light on the scope of the debris.” Fishing nets account for around 46 percent of the total mass of the GPGP.

There are many impacts not only on sea life but humans as well. Many times small fragments of plastic are confused as food, causing malnutrition and sometimes death. One study shows that 84 percent of the samples taken contained abundant amounts of toxins. The larger objects often entangle sea life which also leads to death.

A sea turtle entangled in a ghost net

Humans are affected by GPGP by a process called bioaccumulation. Small feeder animals eat the plastic, and chemicals get in their system. This contamination continues through the food chain to the predators. These harmful chemicals could now be present in humans.



The economy is also greatly impacted. The United Nations reported that the cleanup of beaches among other things caused by plastics in the marine ecosystems had grossed 13 billion dollars. This number will only continue to grow as years go on. We as humans should strive to improve the cleanliness of our oceans and earth as a whole.

Many are now asking: What's next? The Ocean Cleanup team has been working on a plan for a year now and plans to unveil the next step on May 11.  This improved system will use a structure of sea anchors to get even the deepest garbage. Over five years, the group hopes to eliminate half of the trash by using full fleets rather than just a few large ships. There are still many obstacles in the way, but hopefully, humans realize the effect that comes with littering and pollution. The future of the underwater ecosystem is in our hands. 


Works Cited

Ocean Cleanup. “Pacific Cleanup Set to Start in 2018.” The Ocean Cleanup, 
www.theoceancleanup.com/updates/pacific-cleanup-set-to-start-in-2018/.

Ocean Cleanup. “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The Ocean Cleanup, 
www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Explainer.” YouTube, 22 Mar. 2018, youtu.be/0EyaTqezSzs.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 16, 2018 at 8:02 AM

    Good one, Hannah! We talked about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the rising levels of micro-plastics in the world's oceans a lot this year in AP Environmental Science, so I was very intrigued and inspired by your impressive collection of so many different facts about all of the many facets of the issue and the statistics and the way you tied it all together, such as how you blended the environmental and economic impacts/costs. You did a really nice job of presenting this from a more scientific, non-Dooms-Day perspective, which is also a difficult/rare thing to accomplish when deeply discussing this subject.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
 On September 11, 2001, Al-Queada extremists hijacked and rammed two passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers. Shortly afterward, another plane was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. The Taliban then sheltered and protected those responsible. This attack on America lead to the war against terrorism. (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) On May 2, 2011, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S forces, Bin Laden was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and his death meant a huge victory for the United States. The war raged on though, as many more terrorist groups would remain a threat to the security of the U.S. Troops were placed in middle-eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, with the war not seeming to slow down even with the aid of armed forces. The conflict caused a huge loss of life for both sides, with hundreds of Americans being killed in mine traps, ambush attacks, and suicide bombings.  (“I. The Taliban’s War Against Women.”) Rec...
Read more

¨New Holy War: Politics and Religion’s Greatest Conflict¨ by Bryant

-
Image
In December 2017 United States President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the U.S. would move its embassy to the city. The move is praised by most Jews but despised by most Muslims. The area has been the center of religious conflict for centuries. Muslims and Jews are the latest to clash over the Jewish state known as Israel. In the 20th century Jews living in Europe sought refuge from persecution by establishing Israel. Muslims who had been living in the region for centuries saw this sudden intrusion as an act of war, and in 1967 a war broke out that left part of Israel to be known as Palestine and under Muslim authority. Now it seems the ticking time bomb planted by history is going off as the West formally recognizes Israel as Jewish and Jerusalem as the capital. Pakistanis protest the U.S. moving the embassy to Jerusalem on Monday May 24 According to The Guardian on May 14, “Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza on...
Read more

“Gun Violence and the effects on Children” by Hailie P.

-
Image
“Every day in America, 17 young people are murdered with a gun,” states Maggie Thompson , who is the executive director of Generation Progress. Gun violence is an epidemic, and sadly children and young adults are increasingly being affected. These effects are destroying their mental health and possibly the future to our world. Without children there is no future, so why are we not helping to take care of them. Although they can’t represent themselves children worldwide are becoming more and more affected by gun violence everyday. It even goes as far as gun violence passing car crashes as the leading killer in young adults. The effects of these devastating crimes is not only affecting children physically but it is also destroying their fragile mental health. Since their brain is not fully developed it is way more fragile and such a scary event as gun violence can stick with them forever. The Family Development Center located at Cornell University suggest that the kids witnessing o...
Read more