Oceans face an increasing number of plastics. Some are washed into them by gutters and natural waterways like rivers. This makes up 80% of the plastic trash in the oceans, and the other 20% of plastic trash are fishing rods, nets, and other fishing utilities that are too old to use, causing serious plastic pollution. From a long term perspective, plastics do more harm than good for humans since it takes a long time to degrade. Even if the plastic trash has been processed and landfilled underground, the plastics would release toxic substances into the soil. Many scientists who already have the awareness of plastic problems, are working on studying the impacts of plastic pollution on humans. But still the majority of global citizens are unaware of the negative consequences of using too much plastics. People need to stop thinking of plastics as disposable just for their own convenience. Instead, they should think that plastics are a thing to hold onto and reuse. Honestly, it is in the best interest of humans to pay attention to plastic problems from now on.
During the past few years, more and more environmental health organizations and scientists are turning attention toward the plastic problem and studying how this plastic problem impacts the human world. They recognize that plastics do not easily degrade. Even plastics break down, only into smaller pieces. Scientists are trying hard to find out how many tiny bits of plastic are in the ocean. Recently, a group of scientists led by Andrés Cózar, oceanographer at the Universidad de Cádiz in Puerto Real, Spain, studies how many tiny bits of plastic are floating in the ocean. They drop a net made of fine mesh and drag it alongside with their boat at 141 locations to collect very small bits of debris. They estimate the amount of plastic to be around millions of tons, but the results come as a complete surprise: the real statistics are only just 7000 to 35000 tons floating at sea, which is far less than what they had expected. Those specialists propose that maybe the plastics are way too small to catch or maybe they sink deep down the ocean. But there is something that seems more possible than the others: something eats them. Matthew Cole, a biologist at the University of Exeter in England, leads his research team to collect zooplankton from the English Channel. Zooplankton are brought to the lab and put polystyrene beads in the tanks. After 24 hours, the experts examine the zooplankton under a microscope and find that 13 out of the 15 zooplankton species eat it. Cole further mentions that “Plastics might pass up the food chain until it gets into food that ends up on our own dinner plates.” While eating plastic is raising a concern that plastic would pass up through the food chain, what scientists are most worried about is that the plastic may have harmful substances to animals and even us humans. Tiny critters like zooplankton eating the plastic may get the poison into other animals when the bigger animals consume them. Plastic can blend in with other chemicals that are harmful to animals, like pesticide DDT or PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyl). These will harm the animals deeply. It is even worse if humans eat those toxic animals from the ocean.
While scientists are investigating the impacts of plastic trash floating on the ocean, still most citizens, men or female, adults or kids, or consumers or producers, are unaware of the plastic problem, a problem mostly hidden from view. Compared to other forms of environmental pollution, the plastic problem is less noticeable. When factories release toxic gasses into the air or chemicals into water, people can easily smell or see the pollution right away. But for plastics, people think plastic doesn’t do as much harm to them since they don’t see the negative consequences instantly. A report about the Public Opinion Surrounding Plastic Consumption shows that only 16% of the public wanted the congress to take care of the plastic pollution. In addition, most of the citizens view plastic as a “disposable convenience” in their lives. When citizens go to McDonalds buying a mango smoothie or iced tea, they always serve them with plastic cups and straws. Most of the time consumers view the plastic straws as a convenience when they don’t have straws. After use, they can just put plastic straws in the wastebasket. Consumers don’t consider if these plastics would harm them in the near future. According to a survey about how the public thinks about the use of plastics, only 38% of the people strongly agree that the United States needs to reduce the reliance on plastic. This result infers that the public sees the plastics only for their own convenience, something they can throw away after single use. Furthermore, the companies, the producers of the plastics, are ramping up plastic production to make their own money. They put profit as their first priority while ignoring the damage caused by the plastics toward future human generations. From the article The Plastic-Production Problem, the plastic producers would like to increase 40% of what they are currently procuring over the next decade. Even more, Formosa Plastics Crop is seeking to build a massive plastic plant by transforming agricultural and wetland habitats on the banks of the Mississippi River just for their own economical benefits.
It is time for global citizens to raise their awareness of plastic pollution, take it seriously, and try to figure out ways of preventing or slowing down plastic pollution. The global citizens, especially the government, plastic companies, and consumers, should work together with the scientists and environmental organizations to fix the problem of plastic pollution. But how to raise global citizens’ awareness toward plastic pollution? First, global citizens, or consumers, should receive comprehensive education about plastic problems from schools, TVs, or advertising posts, especially for students in elementary school, to change their attitudes and ideas about using plastic items. Schools should provide information about what plastic items, the use of plastic items in terms of how, when, and what, and its negative impacts on the environment that endangers human’s life and future generations. An article published on World Bank Blogs suggests that “Education is important for changing human behavior. Primary education for children can instill good environmental habits and behaviors and ultimately impart change to parents and communities.” Next, global citizens could participate in a beach or river cleanup to have the most straight-forward and shocking experience to boost awareness about plastic pollution. Just like the old saying “ seeing is believing”, only when people see the current situation of plastic problems on the ocean by themselves could they be greatly aware of the serious plastic pollution. Oceanic Society addresses issues about solutions to ocean plastic pollution, saying “ Participating in a cleanup of your local beach or water way could give you the most direct and rewarding ways to fight ocean plastic pollution.” Also, to make the plastic company aware of the plastic problem, the government could set up plastic-related policy or legislation for producing plastic production or the government could restrict plastic-related companies about the use of plastic production. By doing so, the number of plastic production or plastic trash would be decreased and waste management would be improved. Most importantly, plastic producers should be responsible for the waste they have generated, causing them to promote their awareness of the plastic pollution they have contributed. For example, American Beverage has designed plastic bottles that are 100% recyclable. Once those collected bottles are getting back, they would reuse those bottles and make new ones. Similarly, since 2020 Starbucks has eliminated single-use plastic straws and offer customers recyclable strawless lids or alternative-materials straws like paper or compostable plastic.
Plastic pollution, especially for oceans, is a very devastating problem. Plastic has been all over in humans’ life in dumps, homes, parks, and oceans, and the number of used plastic items are still keeping pile up. More than 700 species either eat plastic or get tangled up in it, such as turtle mistakes eating straws as food, causing them choking, indigestion, and other health problems. The book Plastic Soup claims that the oceans would have more plastic trash than fish by weight if we continue at the current pace of making plastic trash on earth. Really, each one of the global citizens should open their eyes and see closely the negative effects brought from using the plastic items. What action can people take to keep trash out of the ocean? People could start their actions by reducing, reusing, and recycling the plastic items. When going out to a restaurant, remember to bring your own non-plastic folk, spoon, chopstick or reusable plastic bowl. When ordering caramel frappuccino from Starbucks, use paper-made straw rather than single-use plastic straw to drink. Let’s start today to fight plastic pollution.
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