Plastics In Our Oceans

Plastics in our oceans and on our beaches – a crisis that many know about. Yet the actual scale is not common knowledge, and how horrible the pollution actually is is something many don’t know much about. From the Center of Biodiversity, “billions of pounds of plastic can be found… that makes up about 40% of the ocean’s surface. At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all fish in the sea by 2050.” Every year, thousands if not millions of marine mammals, birds, and fish die from plastic ingestion and ensnarement every year. 

Scientists estimate that “15-51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans” (CFB) and this number increases every year. Every piece of plastic is still in the ocean, as many break apart into carcinogenic and toxic microplastics which cause cancer and many other health issue for not just fish, but humans as well. Plastic pollution damages economies reliant on fishing and tourism, destroying livelihoods. Furthermore, a wide variety of products are reliant on resources found in the oceans which are in jeopardy from the disruption of ocean ecosystems. 

What can we do? Limiting our own usage of plastics will help slow the flow of plastics entering our oceans. Yet these efforts aren’t enough. We need legislation and government action to truly clean our oceans. Companies and governments need to redesign or rethink our usage of plastics and come up with a solution that won’t have such a lasting impact in the ocean. A University of California Berkeley article documents how recent developments in biodegradable plastics will disappear after compost in 2 weeks. We need more initiatives like this to truly help save our oceans, their natural beauty, and resources they contain.