Causes of Oceans Pollution
Over 70 percent of our planet is covered by water, and 97 percent of all water on earth is in our oceans which is the home to both plants and animals. According to the National Ocean Service, eighty percent of ocean pollution comes from the land. Oceans are being polluted as we speak, and unfortunately there are six primary sources of ocean pollution. The primary sources of the ocean pollution include sewage, litter, toxic chemicals, land runoff, oil spills, and ocean mining and all pose an incredible threat to marine life.
According to Stephanie Wear, the Nature Conservancy’s lead scientist for coral reef conservation, untreated sewage pollution poses a significant threat to reefs and the marine life and people reefs service. Wear asserts that old or poorly maintained infrastructure in many developed nations causes untreated wastewater to leak or overflow into waterways during heavy rains. Additionally, in areas of the world with undeveloped infrastructure most wastewater is untreated. The United Nations Environmental Program estimates that 85 percent of wastewater dumped in the Caribbean Ocean is untreated.
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According to Madison Park, in her article, “How much are we trashing our oceans?” nearly every piece of plastic exists on Earth, regardless of whether it has been recycled, reduced to microscopic bits or discarded in the ocean. Marine littering occurs when the wind blows items that are on land into the ocean. This can include natural elements such as dirt, sand or dust as well as garbage produced by humans. Since plastic cannot decompose, it stays intact in the ocean. Ocean litter impacts animal life in that animals can become caught in the plastic or even eat it which kills them over a period of