Ocean pollution is bad because it is killing fish. Even though not everyone has the time or money to get metal or paper straws, or cut up plastic straws so animals don’t choke, it’s worth the time even if you don’t have the money. People can spare some time so that habitats, animals and humans aren’t harmed by eating fish. The fish are mistaking plastic for food and then when someone else eats those fish they could be harmed by the waste inside of their food.
Where Does It All Go
We always just throw away our plastic straws or plastic rings that we get when we have cans of soda, but we never think about the consequences. We don’t have to litter for those things to go into the ocean and harm sea life and habitats. What most of us don’t think about when we throw away our trash is that it goes to a big landfill that isn’t made to breakdown waste, only to store it. So, if it rains very hard some of the waste could drift into the ocean and fish would think of it as food and eat it and could either die or get poisoned. In fact, “Where garbage ends up varies widely between regions, states and even cities. The landfill is the most popular destination for solid waste, by a wide margin. Some cities, like San Francisco and Seattle, are able to recycle more than they send to landfills, but the majority of the U.S. sends their trash to the dump.” (Live Science)
How Could We Be Affected
When people say that we could be harmed by ocean pollution it is a surprise to most people because we aren’t the ones in the water, so why would we be affected? Well,when we litter or throw our plastic straws away without shredding them up or throwing away other trash fish will think that it is food and when we eat fish we will basically be eating whatever went into that fish’s system which could be plastic rings, plastic straws and even diapers because those when they go into the ocean they don’t decompose from 400 to 600 years! “More than 5 Trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the oceans (150 million tons) and up to 8 Million tons of plastic enter our oceans every year.” (Ocean Waste Plastics)
How can We Help
There are many ways to help to stop ocean pollution. It won’t happen in the next year or two but we could still try to help. All you could do to help is recycle or shred your plastic before throwing it away so it doesn’t get stuck in turtles and fish and other sea life. How I am trying to help is i don’t use plastic rings anymore and I stopped using plastic straws and when i go to starbucks i don’t throw away my plastic lids or cups because I reuse them. And sure some people don’t have time to cut up plastic straws after using them but just think about how much your helping the environment and animals and even other people. (Big Think)
Counter Argument
I know that not everyone is going to stop using plastic straws or take the time to cut them up so they don’t get stuck in turtles and fish and not everyone is going to stop using plastic rings or buy paper or metal straws. But imagine having no trash in our oceans, no oil polluting the water. Not a lot of people can imagine that because no one has the time or money to take action. But, if you do take the time you might not think that you doing something small could make even the slightest difference but everyone can make a difference. (Washington Post)
Conclusion
Before deciding that you doing something small like recycling or cutting up plastic straws or stop using plastic rings just remember that anything can make a difference. Because what if everyone thought like that and no one did anything about it, nothing would ever happen. And if other people inspire their friends and family we could slowly stop ocean pollution and i know it won’t take a year or two or maybe even three but if we work hard it could someday happen.
Biography
Mia is in middle school and likes to speak spanish in school with her friends. She also likes to play guitar in her free time.