Great pacific garbage – Public Health
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Complete the tour and then share an overview of your experience – was anything unexpected, were there topics that surprised you, which one(s) was of most interest to you? Create a single slide of your own to include with your post. Use mine as your model – one image, no explanation and a link where people can learn more about the topic.
Sample Answer
Great Pacific Garbage – Public Health
The topic that surprised me most and was of most interest to me was the one related to the levels of plastic pollution in the ocean. Several studies that have been conducted by scientists, including geotagging plastics in the ocean, have therefore highlighted that plastics are able to move across the oceans around the world and cause significant harm to different ecosystems. For instance, in different studies, scientists have therefore found out that plastics that might have been disposed of in Japan can be found in the US Oceans, while plastics that were disposed of in the US can also be found in Japan oceans. The extent to which plastics can travel across the oceans, therefore, indicates the significant problem that the non-biodegradable nature of plastics poses to the ocean ecosystems (Haward, 2018).
The challenge of plastic pollution has therefore led scientists to highlight that if no steps are taken to control plastic pollution, at least 30% of the oceans will be made up of plastics by the year 2050. Scientist’s estimate that at least 14 million tons of plastics pollute the ocean annually, making plastics the most significant proportion of marine debris that is found on surface water and deep-sea sediments. Marine species are negatively affected when they eat or are entangled by plastics, which causes death or severe injury. Plastic pollution is also a significant threat to the quality and safety of coastal tourism and significantly contributes to climate change and human health. In contemporary times there is a significant need for countries to adopt legally binding measures to address the challenge of plastic pollution in the ocean.
References
- Haward M. (2018). Plastic pollution of the world’s seas and oceans as a contemporary challenge in ocean governance. Nature communications, 9(1), 667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03104-3.
- Thushari, G., & Senevirathna, J. (2020). Plastic pollution in the marine environment. Heliyon, 6(8), e04709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04709v
