Jenna Lovely

English Composition II

Deborah Strehle

10 July 2020

Ocean Pollution

It is a beautiful day in the North Atlantic Ocean just off the shores of Florida. Two

friends and their families are floating outside the boat in the 90-degree sun. One friend is on the

boat eating a sandwich they had just made when a gust of wind takes the plastic grocery bag off

the boat and into the ocean. He does not think anything of it since it’s just a plastic bag, but he

doesn’t know how much damage he just did. Ocean pollution is one of the worlds most

blanketed and unsung tragedies in the world. There are three important reasons why we should

stop polluting the oceans. Firstly, even just a single piece of garbage can have a chain reaction to

the health of sea animals. Secondly, it makes the appearance of a beautiful beach trashy and

dirty. Lastly, sewage, toxic chemicals, and the fertilizers from farmers are all detrimental to the

overall health of the ocean. Solving ocean pollution is a very complicated and sophisticated

subject. There isn’t just one way to solve ocean pollution, but there are two solutions that could

fix this problem or reduce it. The first solution is to make tighter laws that prohibit the way we

get rid of our waste. The second possible solution is to make our trash all biodegradable and to

stop mass-producing everything in plastic. Ocean pollution is an issue that we have been facing

for decades and has so much impact on the entire world. There are many things that we all need

to consider like what is causing this pollution and what are solutions that we can find to help

prevent these types of pollution in the future.

 Ocean pollution has been developing over time and continues to be a major issue.

Howard explains how prior to 1972 humans threw all kinds of trash into the oceans without

realizing the damage that they were causing. They did not just through trash they also dumped

tons of sewage sludge and even radioactive waste. Nobody realized that these choices would

have a drastic effect on the future of our oceans. People believed that because the oceans are so

immense the trash and chemicals would not have any effect on the ocean. Pollution comes in

many different forms and they are all exceedingly difficult to remove. Scientists have realized

how important it is to make sure that we are keeping our oceans clean so that the environment

and animals are safe. Finally, others are starting to listen to what the scientists say so that they

can join in the efforts to stop pollution. Today there are many groups of people of all ages and

races who believe in keeping our environment healthy and stopping pollution. While these

groups do all they can, it will take many more people to join in this fight because there are still

people out there who do not understand the devastating effects that polluting our oceans can

cause and in some cases they may not even believe it is true at all.

Some argue that there isn’t enough credible information that shows that ocean pollution

is destroying our beaches and sea creatures. With our oceans covering 71 percent of the Earth, it

is still one of the most fragile ecosystems. Having even a single degree rise or decline of water

temperature can have serious effects on all the water’s habitats, especially the coral reefs. Even a

single piece of trash can have a chain reaction to the health of the sea animals because they

eventually eat the plastic and trash. Animals that eat their normal prey and then in turn take in

the trash their prey has eaten are impacted. Finally, the plastic can never fully degrade which

means more and more sea creatures eat the plastic. According to Plastic Debris in the Open

Ocean “As the size of the plastic fragments decline, they can be ingested by a wider range of
organisms. Plastic ingestion has been documented from small fish to large mammals” (pnas.org).

This quote is a perfect example of the chain reaction that happens when one animal ingests ocean

pollution. With one single fish-eating plastic it harms all the predators that then eat that prey.

When animals eat plastic and trash many end up dying a slow painful death because of not being

able to digest the pollution. Sometimes these animals even die of suffocation. Sometimes sea

animals also become entangled in plastic fishing gear. One day when there is no more ocean life

it’ll be because of humans. People have become so lazy and careless about what we do with our

trash. Single use plastics are plastics that the worlds food and beverages come in. These

containers when not recycled or disposed of properly often times make it into the ocean. Many

think that China is the largest source of this pollution because they have the largest population

and they also use the most plastic. This leads to death and destruction of our beautiful sea

creatures all around all around the world. Many times, this lack of concern also causes our

beaches to be littered with trash that beach goers fail to clean up.

There is way too much plastic being produced in our world today. It is bad enough that

people cannot take the time to dispose of their waste properly, but even worse that often the trash

is made of plastic. Plastic pollution obviously hurts the appearance of both beaches and oceans,

but it is also very harmful to all the animals who live in the ocean. According to

onegreenplanet.org “Plastic pollution affects at least 700 marine species, while some estimates

suggest that at least 100 million marine mammals are killed each year from plastic pollution”

(Corrine Henn). This quote backs up this argument that plastic kills many sea animals each year.

It is not just a few species that mistake plastic for food, it’s a significant amount of species that

make this fatal mistake. Plastic is becoming an exceptionally large issue all around the world.

The amount of plastic that is being produced in the world per year is over 300 million tons. Also,
half of that plastic is made for single use purposes which means they are all being thrown out

after just one use. The fact that tons of plastic is being produced is causing huge issues because

such a large percent of it makes its way into our beautiful oceans.

Scientists have proven that not only is plastic harmful to the ocean and its inhabitants, it

is also known to cause human health issues as well as global climate change. You would think

that this would be enough for the world to stand up and take note. However, because plastics

have become so essential to packaging and shipping and because it is durable and lightweight

selfishly the world continues to majorly utilize plastics. Climate change in and of itself is a

completely different tangent that you could investigate. Climate change is equally disturbing for

the balance of our ecosystems. Plastics give off greenhouse gas emissions that cause the climate

to change. Increasing ocean temperatures can take away many of the breeding grounds that our

marine animals and fish use to reproduce. This is yet another devastating effect that the pollution

of plastic has on our precious ocean creatures.

With what was previously said there are many reasons why ocean pollution is bad. One

of the solutions that could fix all of this is to make tighter laws that prohibit the way and the

amount of waste that we get rid of. Some of the laws that should be examined include the water

quality standards, total maximum daily loads, and the national pollutant discharge elimination

system. The national pollutant discharge elimination system was put into place in 1987 by the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the pollutants that are discharged into our

nation's waters. Water Quality Standards was created by the EPA for any states that want to

participate in it. These states are required to have stricter numbers when it comes to the amount

of trash that ends up in oceans and rivers. I think that states should be required to participate in

this to clean up our waterways and oceans. The total maximum daily load limits the amount of
plastic allowed in watersheds nationwide. All three of these solutions could be helpful if they

were monitored more closely and maybe even more stringent on the requirements that the states

must do to remain in compliance. Thankfully, the government did make these three laws even if

it was in very recent years like the national pollutant discharge elimination system. More

attention needs to continue to be devoted to these issues to solve the problem.

While these three examples of tighter laws to prohibit the amount of trash and the way we

discard our trash could help tremendously and make some serious impacts when it comes to

getting cleaner oceans there are also other things we can do. It is predicted that the ratio of

plastic to fish in the ocean is 1:3. This shows how important it is for us to do everything in our

power to stop polluting our oceans because it is harming so many magnificent sea creatures. Not

only does pollution affect sea creatures but it can also affect birds. Millions of birds per year are

killed by plastic pollution each year. It is so sad to hear about the fact that so many animals are

being killed because we cannot stop the effects of pollution.

There are many different way indicators that can be used to monitor pollution status. The

national government performs many ocean pollution indicator efforts in order to protect

regulatory oversight in coastal areas. This is especially important for governments to know what

regulations they need to put into place. There needs to be a clear chain of who is responsible for

the monitoring and support from the government for penalties and fines that encourage

companies to stop the pollution.

Some people might say that when it comes to trash floating up onto the shores, it’s

always been like this and it's not hurting anything so why make an effort to make a change. One

would argue however, our earth has made some magnificent creations, including the one thing all

our bodies of land have in common, our beaches. These beautiful beaches line every corner of
every coastline. With ocean pollution comes the fact that the appearance of a beautiful beach

becomes trashy and dirty. Some examples of this are when the ocean's currents cause trash and

plastic to float to beaches. The birds that live near the beaches end up eating some of this trash. If

there is pollution and trash on our beaches fewer people will go to the beaches which means

instead of trying to keep them clean the beaches will get dirtier. According to plastic-

pollution.org “New studies find plastic pollution is so pervasive on many beaches that it’s

affecting their reproduction. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds ingest plastic every year. Plastic

ingestion reduces the storage volume of the stomach, causing starvation. Marine mammals ingest

and get tangled up in, plastic” (Claire Le Guern). This shows how devastating plastic washing up

on beaches around the world can be.

All of this research indicates that we need to make a change because if this proceeds to

go on it will kill off many animals, including birds, seabirds, turtles and many, many more. With

some animals not being able to reproduce it can be devasting for many more plants and animals

in addition to that species. There have been many studies on islands located in the Jakarta Bay

and also around islands in the Java Sea, they have found that the debris on the coasts had grown

very rapidly between 1985 and 1995. These studies stated that Jakarta had become a huge

contributor to the pollution that was happening. On many of the islands, it was found that the

amount of trash on the coastlines ranged very drastically some islands had little to no pollution

while others had a very large amount. Out of all the items which were found a large percent of

these items we polystyrene blocks, different types of footwear, and a major one was plastic bags.

This shows how 80 percent of the trash that everyone was throwing out was all plastic materials,

especially plastic bags. Plastic bags are known to be the killer of many on land and off land

animals.
 The second possible solution to help with ocean pollution is to make our trash all

biodegradable and stop mass-producing everything in plastic. Humans play the biggest role in

trying to find different ways that we can ship our products without using nearly as much plastic.

One of the main reasons we need to consider finding a more efficient solution is because the

plastic we ship our products in are making their way back to us in the food that we eat. The ways

we could help reduce our use in plastic is to find alternative. One option is using paper bags or

reusable cloth bags instead of plastic at the grocery store. Another option is to stop using plastic

straws and either switch to metal, paper, or not even use them at all. We are producing such a

large amount of plastic that are mostly made for single-use purposes. Although, it takes several

hundred years for those same plastics to be broken down. This shows how much plastic we make

just for half of it to be thrown out after being used. It is crazy to think that millions of tons of

plastics are thrown out after being brought home.

A major thing that would help slow down the spread of ocean pollution would be for

everyone to just do their part. There are many simple ways to do your part including beach

cleanups. These cleanups help the environment in such a major way that not only will make you

feel great but also you can individuals who passionate about the same things as you and also

want to do their part in protecting our environment. Another great way to help in your own home

would be recycling. Yet another is to reduce your carbon footprint. Ride a bike, use public

transportation, check to make sure that you turned all the lights off, and only turning up your

heat when totally necessary are just a few examples of ways that you can do this. There has been

a major loss of coral all around the world and it is because our oceans are becoming more acidic

due to the increase of carbon dioxide. These are just a few of the easy little ways for people to

help clean the ocean. Many people think that in order to clean the ocean it has to be some big
movement but really if everyone could just help and do their part it could make a huge

difference.

If everything that has been said before isn’t enough, the last type of ocean pollution is all

of the sewage, toxic chemicals, and the fertilizers from farmers that are all detrimental to the

overall health of the ocean. The first example of this is how deadly some of the chemicals that

the big companies dump into the water are to the environment. Other examples are the many

nutrients in the water from farmers and the oil spills from commercial oil rigs. There are many

different ways that oils can enter the sea. This is not only from big oil rig disasters. Another big

way oil enters the ocean is through leaks during oil extractions and illegal tank cleanings and

even discharges into the river that make their way into the sea. On top of this the pollution that

farmers release into the ocean is very concerning. There are different types of algal blooms and

some of these can harm both humans and marine life. A hypoxic or dead zone in the water occur

when there is too many nutrients entering the ocean, this can happen naturally but it also some

human actions cause this too. The supply of oxygen can be depleted which limits the amount

available to all marine life, this occurs when large amounts of algae enters the water and sinks.

The algae decompose in the water, the process of decomposition is what causes the depletion of

the oxygen available. All marine life that lives in the areas that this is occurring at either leave

the area if possible but if they are not able to leave, they will die. This has caused the death of

many different types of creatures. Habitats that would usually be great homes for these animals

become empty and unlivable for these creatures. This shows how the fertilizers necessary for

farmers to grow successful crops cause an extensive amount of damage when it leaks into

streams and flows to lakes and oceans.

 These issues occur all over the world and one of the worst algal blooms is in the northern

part of America. This algal bloom is caused by too many nutrients leaking into the lake, from

farmers' fertilizers. According to Ocean Pollution “One of the biggest sources is called nonpoint

source pollution, which occurs because of runoff. Nonpoint source pollution includes many small

sources, like septic tanks, cars, trucks, and boats, plus larger sources, such as farms, livestock

ranches, and timber harvest areas. Pollution that comes from a single source, like an oil or

chemical spill, is known as point source pollution (noaa.gov). The first point this quote makes is

about the nonpoint source which is the most occurring, this is what causes the algal blooms. The

point source pollution does not happen nearly as much as the non-point but when it does it has

devastating effects.

Many people believe that since we have been polluting the oceans for so long, they

believe that it is okay for us to continue this way. They believe that stopping this pollution would

take more energy than it is worth. Some believe that it is just easier to go on living how we are

than to try to make a change. Also, many big oil companies and companies that use plastic are

against the creation of new laws preventing pollution because they may cost their company

money. The biggest advantage of ocean dumping for these companies is the cost and the

convenience of it. There are little to no fees involved for a company to go and release their waste

into the ocean if they do not get caught. Since oceans are so hard to regulate, they are just able to

go dump whatever kind of chemicals or trash into the ocean if nobody finds out about it. Some

companies are dumping chemicals that are not harmful in and of themselves, but when mixed

with other chemicals in the oceans if can become toxic to sea life. Some say that the ocean even

receives some benefits when trash is thrown in the ocean. Judith Wilson states that “There are

some items of trash that actually improve the marine environment. Artificial reefs provide a
habitat for thousands of marine invertebrates and fish. Large items of trash, including old tires,

decommissioned ships, and car bodies, have all been strategically placed to create artificial reefs.

In the right location, trash can enhance rather than damage marine ecosystems.” (Sciencing).

Ocean pollution is one of the worlds most blanketed and unsung tragedies in the world.

There are three major pollutants to our oceans and sea creatures. Firstly, even just a single piece

of garbage can have a chain reaction to the health of sea animals. Secondly, it makes the

appearance of a beautiful beach trashy and dirty. Lastly, all the sewage, toxic chemicals, and the

fertilizers from farmers are all detrimental to the overall health of the ocean. If governments

around the world would seriously consider making tighter laws that prohibit the way, we get rid

of waste this could tremendously change the outcome. In addition, if all the trash in the world

was biodegradable and we stopped mass-producing everything in plastic the outcomes could also

improve. Everyone can also make a difference by using cloth grocery bags and reusable straws.

So, the next time someone is on that boat and that plastic bag flies out, jump in, and get it. That

one action can save many lives!

 Works Cited

Brown, Tanya. “Indicators of Marine Pollution in the North Pacific Ocean.” Archives of

Environmental Contamination & Toxicology. Aug. 2017. https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/e

ds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=b663e215-8bc4-48fd-afd8-6260ea1e73d4%40sdc-v-

sessmgr02. 2 July 2020.

Echevarría, Fidel, et al. “Plastic Debris in the Open Ocean.” PNAS, National Academy of

Sciences, 15 July 2014, www.pnas.org/content/111/28/10239.full. 2 July 2020.

Henn, Corrine. “These 5 Marine Animals Are Dying Because of Our Plastic Trash ... Here's How

We Can Help.” One Green Planet, One Green Planet, 22 Apr. 2019,

www.onegreenplanet.org/animal sandnature/marine-animals-are-dying-because-of-our-

plastic-trash/. 2 July 2020.

Le Guern, Claire. “When The Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide.” Plastic Pollution, Nov.

2019, plastic-pollution.org/. 10 July 2020.

“Ocean Pollution.” Ocean Pollution | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts-education-resources/ocean-

pollution. 2 July 2020.

Willson, Judith. “Advantages & Disadvantages of Ocean Dumping.” Sciencing, 2 Mar. 2019,

sciencing.com/advantages-disadvantages-ocean-dumping-8166298.html. 11 July 2020.