The rise of pollution within our seas
With an ever more so growing human population, it’s likely noticeable to see more and more trash accumulate within time. The question we all ask is where does all this trash go? What is being done with it? Since the human population is always at an increase, organizations that are usually dealt with regulating garbage as well as respected governments across the world have no idea to succumb to a problem that is ruining our ecosystem.
We can see that within the new century that plastics and other different types of garbage are being handled. Of course, the main idea is to keep it at a garbage dump or to usually bury it underground, however there is so much garbage that it accumulated way more than expected. What’s the other alternate solution to throw out garbage? Different alternatives to dealing with plastics and waste is that we either bury it or take it out into space, however both of these methods would be highly expensive and timid to do so. The idea is to toss them out literally in the middle of the ocean, thinking that nothing will happen, no harm will be done and everyone can go about their daily lives without worrying.
This problem of plastic being in the ocean is becoming a major problem very quickly. It’s destroying wildlife, their habitat and the ecosystem as a whole. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, this problem is deemed to be “One of the most serious emerging threats to marine biodiversity”. The plastics that seep into the ocean tend to be eaten by the wildlife triggering a chain of events to happen. Either other fish eat the fish that ate the plastic, or we eat the wildlife that contained the plastic as well. This is highly beneficial for both us and the wildlife.
The chemicals contained within these plastics prove and have been shown to cause serious harm when consumed. Not only that, it takes a toll on the environment as well too. Because of these chemicals in the plastic, the ocean is littered and filled with all different types of plastic, including a major one, silicon. As mentioned within the last paragraph, once eaten, it’ll cause a chain within the ecosystem, possibly wiping out life within that particular region.
Seepage of nuclear waste is also another problem that’s being dealt with as we speak right now. Usually, if radioactive waste is released accidentally or even on purpose into an ecosystem, it can prove to be detrimental. Any exposure can lead to serious illnesses, cancer, mutations, etc. Radiation just doesn’t need to be from the waste, but it can be from the gas and liquids too. You’d usually see this from the gasses emitting from factories due to the concentration of what is burning. This can make a more widespread disaster onto the environment.
There are different types of management for the size and radioactivity of each waste. Some are usually disposed by land burials, engineered disposal vaults, etc. Most of the high level radioactive waste are usually kept under watch at nuclear power reactor sites. This isn’t only affecting life on land, but even in the sea as well.
Contamination can spread even faster in the ocean, causing plant and fish species to suffer. It can ruin the habitats, especially the coral reefs as well. This can cause a lot of wipeouts of fish species to drastically be on the rise in the future years to come. If that does become a major problem as to what it is right now, the ecosystem would collapse in time where all life in that area would either mutate or would die due to the chemical exposure. If the waste isn’t dealt with properly, the contamination won’t be able to be contained in a matter of time. This once again chains a cycle within the marine ecosystem that can wipe out a whole species or even life that was once around that area.
The quality of our ocean is becoming significantly worse every decade. This is why we see dead animals wash up on shore, including whales, fish and even birds that may have eaten other fish that have been contaminated or swallowed something harmful. The one problem as well is that at this point, with all the pollution in our water, it’ll take trillions of dollars to clean up. The problem has gotten so bad that people are literally just leaving this major problem unattended and would soon grow into a nightmare.
There is a major stretch of plastic, nuclear and municipal waste from a span from Japan to Hawaii, where all this buildup occurs. There is also a part within the Pacific Ocean that is so bad that it literally can form its own continent of garbage. All this waste will soon make way deeper into the ocean where it’ll be even harder to clean, harder to trace, and way more money now to deal with than earlier. People knows what it going on and they truly know where our waste is ending up, but no one isn’t doing anything to help as a community or anything. We are treating our planet as if it’s our own, when in reality we share it with the millions upon millions of creatures living here. We need to do our part as a civilization to help a cause that’ll soon make a huge indentation in our life.