Plastic Pollution Toxic Legacy
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by: MarleneAffeld
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Word Count: 1041
By negligently discarding plastic items, especially plastic water bottles, fishing gear and plastic bags, people are unknowingly causing the deaths of millions of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles each and every year. We defile the face of the earth with plastic refuse creating waterway contamination.
Plastic, invented early in the century, has become a widely used material in a wide variety of convenient and creative applications. Plastic is used to fabricate, or package many of the items we buy or use. The problem comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used in wrapping or packaging. Plastic is readily available, feather light and readily discarded. Too readily discarded.
Plastics are utilized because they are easy and inexpensive to manufacture, tough and durable. Unfortunately these same useful qualities make plastic an overwhelming pollution problem. Inferior quality and low cost means plastic is readily discarded. Plastics require over 300 years to photo degrade. Its long life assures it survives in the environment for extended periods where it can do great harm. Because plastic does not easily decompose and requires high energy ultra-violet light to break down, the volume of plastic waste in the world's oceans is steadily growing. Plastic is now found in virtually all the oceans and rivers of the world, even the most unexploited and once pristine.
American oceanographer Charles Moore says the amount of plastic pollution in the world's oceans is so extensive it's beyond cleaning up. A floating toxic plastic refuse dump double the size of Texas swirls in the waters of the Pacific ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii. There his crew found that the water contained six parts of plastic for every part plankton, with a fivefold increase in the amount of plastic between 1997 and 2007.
Over 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide every year and the total is growing. That is an unconscionable amount of waste, so much that more than one million bags are used every minute and their impact on the planet is devastating. Plastic bags are only part of the crisis. America alone, yearly produces more than of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle pollution. Around the globe, our precious planet is defaced and poisoned with more than 100 million tons of plastic pollution annually.
According to the California Costal Commission, over 80 per cent of refuse within our rivers and coastal waterways, most of it being plastic, originates on land rather than coming from boats.
Plastic pollution impacts marine wildlife in deadly ways: entangling creatures and by being ingested. Turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution. All seven of the world's turtle species are already endangered or threatened for a multitude of reasons. Turtles become entangled in fishing nets, and many sea turtles have been found dead with plastic garbage bags in their stomachs. Studies indicate turtles mistake these floating semi-transparent bags for jellyfish and eat them. The turtles die an inhumane death from choking or from being unable to eat. A turtle carcass found off the coast Hawaii had more than 1000 pieces of plastic in its stomach including part a toy truck wheel, a broken comb and lank of nylon rope.
There is great environmental concern about the effect of plastic trash on all marine mammals. These elegant creatures are already under threat for a variety of other reasons. Seal and whale populations have been decimated by unregulated hunting. A recent study concluded that in excess of 100,000 marine mammals expire needlessly each year from the lethal effects of plastic pollution alone.
Worldwide over 100 bird species are known to ingest plastic. This includes more than 35 species located off the coast of South Africa. A recent study of blue petrel hatchlings at South Africa's remote Marion Island showed that 90 per cent of the baby chicks examined had plastic in their digestive systems, apparently fed to them accidentally by their parents. South Africa seabirds are the highest affected seabird population in the world. Plastics remain in the birds' digestive systems, stopping digestion and resulting in starvation.
Scientific studies are not conclusive about how much plastic birds and fish are consuming, however scientists agree that plastic in seafood is likely to be unhealthy for people. Plastic is compared with toxic materials such as mercury. Plastic acts like a thirsty sponge when in contact with poisons such as PCBs, concentrating them at levels that are millions of time more than in seawater.
The ingredients in plastic have been linked to cancer and reproductive abnormalities. Bisphenol A, found in plastic water and beverage bottles, has been shown to iniate cancer in lab rats, to unbalance hormone levels and is associated with diabetes and obesity.
Scientists have voiced concerns that these enormous swirls of floating debris will contribute to global warming by creating a dense shade canopy that makes it difficult for plankton to grow.
Let's look at a few ways where together we can make a difference. The crisis of plastic pollution demands urgent study and action. Business should be encouraged to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging and to recycle. Plastic wrapping and bags should be required to carry a warning label advising of the dangers of plastic pollution and shoppers should be encouraged to use earth friendly shopping bags of organic, natural materials or recycled plastic fibers. Please write and lobby our law makers. The situation only continues to escalate. We must take action now!
Support re-cycling programs and promote environmental awareness in your local community. Take a pro-active stance in asking governments to make changes and consumers to adjust their attitudes. Purchase items requiring less plastic wrapping and advise store management why we are doing so. We can speak with a loud voice when we speak with our dollars.
Choose to drink tap or carbon filtered water from a glass-lined reusable container. If you do purchase plastic bottles, dispose of the container properly. Please recycle.
With the increase in environmental awareness, it has become painfully obvious that there is more that we can do to create a sustainable society. If every one of us would take a few tiny steps, make a few different choices and consciously consider our impact on the planet, there may be a way to restore the world to its original beauty and resources.
About the Author
Marlene Affeld's passion for the environment and all things natural inspire her to write informative and insightful articles to assist others in living a Green Lifestyle. For more Green Living info from Marlene visit Nandu Green at http://nandugreen.com/index.php/Green-Lifestyle/Sustainability.html
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