Are you a lover of sea food? Are you a person who loves to eat food with extra pinch of salt? Are you a person who drinks beer? Are you a person who cooks your food with tap water?
Then get ready to know what you might not have heard of.
You are consuming plastic in the form of micro plastics which are invisible and have high health risks. Though the health risks from ingesting micro plastic are still under research, we get to witness lots and lots of marine animals dying because of mistaking plastic for their food and prey. It is said that “Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year out of which at least 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, and make up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments” (IUCN – The International Union for Conservation of Nature).
So how are these plastics end up in oceans and how it has an effect on marine life, humans, climatic change? Here is the answer. Plastics in ocean have direct and indirect effect on humans, marine animals and the environment. Plastics are made from petroleum, which are cheap and strong. Being a product of petroleum, plastics when incinerated emit carbon dioxide, accounting to the emission of carbon. Emission of carbon increases global warming and brings about climatic change. Many marine animals consume plastic debris on sea shore and sea and die out of starvation, entanglement, inability to swim and suffocation. Ocean plastic pollution also affects the food chain by disrupting the ability of marine animals to reproduce. Humans when consuming the sea food, which has consumed plastics, face health issues indirectly. “Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans and not one square mile of Surface Ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution” (Center for Biological Diversity)
What should we do to reduce the ocean plastic pollution?
Here are several steps which could lower the ocean plastic pollution.
First and foremost thing, one should do to reduce the plastic pollution at ocean is to remove the plastics from the banks of ocean. One can involve in sea clean up and remove the plastic from the ocean shore.
Next step in order to stop the plastic coming to ocean we should stop using one time plastics like covers, straws, packing sheets.
Thirdly, we should recycle and reuse the plastics so that the wastes out of plastics are reduced to minimal. Fourthly one should be aware of the presence of plastics in products they use and start looking for other alternatives.
When we turn cautious of the use of plastics we are actually bringing about a positive change.
Image Courtesy: Indiatimes.com
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