Response one – Collin
The article I have chosen this week was about plastic in the ocean and how it is killing the sea life and animals. Reading this article was very depressing and made me a little sad. One of the first sentences of the first couple paragraphs talks about how baby turtles were spotted with plastic balloons in their gastrointestinal tract. The article also mentioned the number of animals and the number of different species that have consumed plastic. The amount of different types of plastics in the ocean nowadays is very saddening and needs to get removed but I know that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
I selected this article because it was in the same topic of the Plastic Oceans video in this weeks module. I also chose it because I would like to learn about the amount of plastic there is in the ocean and how much it affects the sea life.
This article taught me about the sheer amount and the different types of plastics in the ocean. It goes from DVD’s to plastic bags, even balloons. All the info that the article had gave me was stuff I did not know about and would love to learn more about. The one question I would like to know the answer to is, what percentage of sea life dies to plastic consumption?
Brasileiro, Adriana. (2020, November 23). “Choked, strangled and drowned. how balloons and plastic bags are killing marine animals.” Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-strangled-balloons-plastic-bags-marine.html.
Response 2 – Gwyneth
This article discusses the dangers of plastic pollution which not only affects marine organisms but humans as well. In 114 species of wild-caught and farmed fishes, scientists have found microplastics in all of them and we consume around half of these species. If we are consuming fish that is likely to contain microplastics, is this posing a threat to our health? We currently do not have a definitive answer but it appears to not have a direct impact on humans currently. However, plastic comes in various forms and many of them can cause cancer, birth defects, weight gain, or interfere with the development of brains in fetuses, yet the government considers it safe for humans. Scientists were able to conclude that the microplastics consumed by fish remained in the gut rather than in their muscle tissue which is reassuring given the dangers plastic poses to humans. On the downside, microplastics are harming aquatic creatures along with birds and turtles. Microplastics can block the digestive tract and cause a loss in appetite causing many of these animals to die with plastic filling their stomachs. Plastic is detrimental to the ocean’s ecosystem because it can take hundreds of years to break down but it will never fully decompose. Rather, plastic turns into microplastics that look similar to food for many organisms which are then affecting the fish population. With all of this plastic being dumped into our oceans, it can heavily impact our gyres in the oceans. This can result in trash being accumulated in certain parts of the ocean which can heavily impact the species in that given area. The distribution of plastic in our oceans relies on the Coriolis effect, surface currents, and wind patterns which affect all marine organisms, some worse than others.
I decided to pick this article because it discussed the impact plastic could possibly have on humans consumption-wise. I recently learned how the pig industry is feeding trash to their pigs as it is a cheap or free alternative that they thrive off of and this article was very similar which intrigued me. I also chose this article because I wanted to understand any potential harm fish could possibly have so I could prevent myself from having health issues in the long term. This article relates to the plastic oceans video and the seas of plastic video because they both discuss the harm plastic has on our oceans and this article discusses the impact it can have on humans and our oceans. Additionally, they all have the same theme of plastic and it relates to the Coriolis effect, surface currents, and wind patterns because they have a direct effect on where plastic is being distributed and which species are being harmed.
I think that plastic pollution deserves more attention than it is receiving because it not only affects marine life but it can potentially harm one of our food sources. Plastic has been an ongoing issue and I think that companies around the world should be required to produce biodegradable plastic to prevent further damage to the ocean’s ecosystem. I also think that there should be more funding for ocean cleanups because it can prevent further deaths due to plastic. More needs to be done on a bigger scale and I think this starts with manufacturers.
Royte, Elizabeth. “We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What about Us?” Magazine, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/plastic-planet-health-pollution-waste-microplastics.
Response 3 – Wanting
Summary:
The article I was looking for mainly introduced the impact on Antarctic krill caused by ocean acidification and a large amount of plastic pollution. Antarctic krill is a shrimp-like crustacean that plays a vital role in the polar ocean. Krill and its habitat are affected by climate change and various pollutants including plastics. A large amount of pollution has caused damage to the embryos of krill, leading to a crisis of survival of krill. Krill is the main food of many creatures in the Antarctic Circle, so human-caused marine pollution has affected the entire biosphere.
Topic Association:
This article is closely related to this week’s theme. This week we mainly learned that the ocean is currently undergoing rapid acidification, and a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions have caused the ocean to be unable to quickly adjust itself. The acidity of the ocean has risen, causing a large number of habitats to be destroyed, and crustaceans cannot survive normally. And the serious impact of a large amount of marine plastic garbage on living things. And this article introduces Antarctic krill, which is also affected by these problems.
Personal Reaction/Reflection:
I think the protection of the environment really needs to start from around. Because reading these news content seems to be very far away from us, but it actually happened around us. For example, plastic pollution, human beings, as the highest animal in the food chain, a large number of plastic particles accumulate in our bodies. In fact, the plastic waste that I produced has returned to my body. Therefore, for the sake of the earth’s environment, we should use less disposable items from now on. Recyclable straws are used to drink beverages, and cloth bags are used for shopping. Thereby reducing the use of plastic. In this way, fewer marine animals will be harmed.
Cite the source of your article:
Plastic pollution and ocean Acidification REDUCE Antarctic Krill DEVELOPMENT, BAS research. MercoPress. (n.d.). https://en.mercopress.com/2021/08/18/plastic-pollution-and-ocean-acidification-reduce-antarctic-krill-development-bas-research.
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