The issue of marine debris isn’t going away, instead it is getting worse by the year. It’s estimated that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Not only is the plastic ruining natural beauty but it’s affecting around 700 different species that reside in the ocean. It’s also estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastic enter our oceans every year, and scientists have already proved that plastic is found within 60% of sea birds, and within 100% of sea turtles. Plastic in our oceans is so beyond destructive to our ecosystem and we humans need to stop it. We can all help in solving this issue by volunteering to organizations who dedicate themselves to cleaning up plastic in the oceans and on our beaches. But regardless of how many people volunteer to help clean up the ocean, plastic ocean pollution will still be an issue because there’s just too much. Because of ocean currents there are many garbage patches that are naturally formed in several locations across the world, the biggest being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California. It’s so big that it measures more than 1.6 million square kilometers, so to say that it’s an easy clean-up is the biggest understatement of the century. The best way for us to keep our oceans clean is to just flat out reduce drastically the amount of plastic that we use. There are other eco-friendly materials that can serve as a substitute to meet our needs; we need to stop relying on plastic!
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Erik's Blog 