The Beach Research Paper

The beach, we all love it. It’s a great way to spend your leisure time and relax. Just visualize the wind flowing through your hair while you stroll along the cool, damp sand, not to mention, the beautiful ocean horizon…You like this vision so much that you decide to go to the beach for yourself. While strolling along the shore, you stumble upon a storm drain that feeds into the ocean. There’s a stream flowing out of the storm drain and it’s filled with trash. A lot of trash that’s surging into the water and won’t stop.

Trash polluting our beaches is a common occurrence. The trash compiles up in a few ways: garbage either gets caught into storm drains or it is just left on the beach by travelers. This waste eventually finds its way into the

“In 1900 there was zero pounds of plastic for every one pound of zooplankton in the pacific”. (Segall) A century later, with the development of technologies and manufacturing increasing throughout the world, more plastic would be produced. With more plastic being made, people started to litter. This trash would be everywhere, eventually finding its home in the ocean. “In 2000, there were six pounds of plastic for every one pound of zooplankton”. (Segall) With the years passing by so quickly, the population started to multiply, too. Old habits continued to go on, without warning of the effects that would prevail. As a consequence, the plastic started compiling within the waters to a point where the garbage is unattainable to clean up. “Now, there are 60 pounds of plastic for every one pound of zooplankton.” (Segall) Due to the amount of plastic entering our oceans rapidly increasing annually, marine wildlife will be more susceptible to the waste. This waste is harmful, for plastic is not biodegradable. The majority of plastics can’t breakdown naturally, so they just wear down into smaller pieces. Since the waste doesn’t breakdown, plastic accumulates in the ocean currents. The plastic poses a threat to marine wildlife because the animals can ingest the plastic. Animals can become ill and succumb from the consumption of