By michael - July, 1st 2014

It is no doubt that plastic pollution is definitely one of the most serious threat to our ocean. They are a disease to some of the creatures in the water below. It is estimated that plastic could constitute at about 90% of all trash found on the ocean’s surface, imagine a significant 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile is occupying the water. Compare to other types of garbage, plastic does not go through a biodegrading process; instead, it photo-degrades with sunlight, they break down into pieces, however they do not disappear. This is where problem starts to occur; when these small plastic pieces are ingested by different marine life it could cause serious damage on their diet.
The truth is, we kind of like treat the ocean as some extension of our garbage can. There are tons of waste/litter in the ocean which mostly originates on land, and most of them are plastic. Not only they pollutes our oceans, they also destroy our waterways and put so much impact on our environment and our economy. Scientists have set out to investigate the long-term effect of toxic pollutants that are absorbed and ingested by marine lives, including their threat on human health.

Andrés Cózar, researcher from the University of Cadiz, explains: “Ocean currents carry plastic objects which split into smaller and smaller fragments due to solar radiation. Those little pieces of plastic, known as microplastics, can last hundreds of years and were detected in 88% of the ocean surface sampled during the Malaspina Expedition 2010”.
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According to the study authors, the results obtained by the Malaspina Expedition show that the problem of plastic waste pollution has a global character. The major residues found are polyethylene and polypropylene, polymers used in the manufacture of everyday products like bags, food and beverage containers, kitchen utensils and toys, among others.
Cózar adds: “These microplastics have an influence on the behavior and the food chain of marine organisms. On one hand, the tiny plastic fragments often accumulate contaminants that, if swallowed, can be passed …

Whether or not garbage affects the marine world, it is so wrong of us to treat it like a recycle bin, where we put our all our trash. We have no right to violate its natural order to begin with. Let us help them be preserve instead and start to manage our waste properly without aggravating other species.

Don’t forget to read the rest of the article at: Naturalblaze.com

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