Geography Week 5

Plastic Ocean

(Earth First 2012, 'Gyres')

 

Most people are familiar with terms such as the Stone Age or the Bronze Age however the term for the current age we live in is lesser known yet arguably has a much more significant impact on humans and Earth, the Plastic Age (Connecticut Plastics 2012, ¶1). Although the plastic that we know today has been around since the mid to late 1800’s, it was not until the early 20^thcentury that Pandora’s plastic box was fully opened (Connecticut Plastics 2012, ¶3). Plastic became popular for its versatility and convenience with almost every food product bought containing packaging made from petroleum plastic ‘a material designed to last forever…for products that we then throw away’ (5 Gyres Institute 2012). Consequently, approximately 50% of plastic waste such as carrier bags and bottle tops end up in our oceans polluting the water and killing marine life (5 Gyres Institute 2012). In fact, there is so much waste that the Earth’s natural currents have created gyres which are ‘massive, slow rotating whirlpools in which plastic trash can accumulate’ (5 Gyres Institute 2012). The largest of the world’s gyres is the North Pacific the size of which,‘is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States’ (Eriksen cited in La Canna 2008, ¶8). The main problem with the ever-growing ‘plastic soup’ is that the plastics break up into smaller pieces which ‘enter the food chain and end up in the stomachs of birds and other animals’ (La Canna 2008, ¶16). Millions of seabirds, turtles and other marine species ‘die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris’ (SEE Turtles 2012, ¶1). So what can be done to eradicate this monumental issue? Cleaning up beaches albeit helpful and necessary cannot possibly reduce the plastic waste clogging up the oceans; however a ban on plastic bags and the cessation of plastic water bottle usage would be a good start.

References

5 Gyres Institute 2012, What Is The Problem?, http://5gyres.org/what_is_the_problem, [Accessed 1 November 2012]

Connecticut Plastics 2012, The Men Who Invented Plastic, http://www.connecticutplastics.com/resources/connecticut-plastics-learning-center/the-men-who-invented-plastic/, [Accessed 1 November 2012]

La Canna, X 2008, ‘Floating Rubbish Dump In Pacific Ocean “Bigger Than US”’,Courier Mail, 3 February, http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world-old/floating-dump-bigger-than-us/story-e6freopf-1111115471319, [Accessed 1 November 2012]

SEE Turtles 2012, Ocean Plastic, http://www.seeturtles.org/1128/ocean-plastic.html, [Accessed 1 November 2012]

Images

Earth First 2012, ‘Gyres’,http://www.earthfirst.net.au/ban-the-plastic-bag.html, [Accessed 1 November 2012]

Hunter, J 2010, ‘Albatross Chicks Fed Plastic Ocean Pollution By Parents’, photograph, http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2010/01/05/albatross-chicks-fed-plastic-ocean-pollution-by-parents/, [Accessed 1 November 2012]