Essay On Ocean Pollution

“Solution to pollution is dilution,” an old catch phrased used by advocates of ocean dumping around the 1970’s. At the time it seemed to be reasonable, given that the ocean is so enormous it was believed that trash and waste would have minute impact to the water’s quality. Because of this misconception, humans continue to dump millions of pounds of trash into the oceans. Before people did not know that there will be consequences for their lack of knowledge and the problem continues to grow because of lack of awareness. Fig. 1 Garbage dump located on the coast of Barrow Alaska. The most prominent and also dangerous ocean pollution is plastic waste. This planet has evolved into a plastic wrapped world. Plastic is cheap and easy because it can be used and just thrown away. In the

2 Artist Interpretation of plastic bags suspended in water resembling jellyfish. Many times these plastic fragments ultimately end up in some poor animal’s stomach because they mistake the pieces for food. Furthermore, “because plastic can resist biological degradation, it can fill the animal’s stomachs of so that they have a false sense of fullness causing malnutrition and eventually starvation” (Federal Actions to Address Plastic). At least one hundred thousand marine creatures die each year from plastic debris consumption (“Say 'NO'”). Plastic pollution not only impacts ecology but it also has effects on the economy. The Natural Resources Defense Council conducted a survey “of 95 California communities and found their total reported annual costs for preventing litter from becoming pollution is $428 million per year” (“Solutions to Plastic”). Plastic pollution also has an effect on tourism. Many beaches have been destroyed by rubbish scattering across the shores, such as Kamilo Beach in Hawaii. Locating on the southeast cost of the main island of Hawaii, Kamilo Beach accumulated garbage across the entire shore and earned the nick name “Plastic Beach” (“Ocean Plastics