Plastic Pollution
Throughout the 1950s, the world produced more than 2 million tons of plastic per year. By 2015, this annual production swelled to 419 million tons per year and exacerbated plastic waste and pollution in the environment. That's 210 times more over 75 years. About 100,000 marine animals are killed by ocean plastic ingestion or entanglement each year and approximately 1 million sea birds also die from plastic annually. Every single day, 13,000 to 15,000 pieces of plastic are dumped in – it’s unfathomable. Plastic is one of the most enduring materials created by man kind, it takes hundreds of years just to break down into microplastics. Plastic waster makes up 80% of all marine pollution. 17% of the species affected by plastic in the ocean are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. In 2019, a turtle hatchling, no bigger than the palm of a hand, was found dead with 104 pieces of plastic in its stomach. In Virginia, a sei whale developed a gastric ulcer after a DVD case she swallowed cut open her stomach. There have been many reported cases of land-based mammals, including elephants, hyenas, zebras, tigers, camels, and cattle, accidentally consuming plastic waste, resulting in several unnecessary deaths. Not only does it impact animals but also humans. Over three billion people around the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein. Considering that most fish species will ingest microplastics during their lifespan, plastic particles can easily travel across the food web, ultimately ending up in the human digestive system when we consume seafood. These harmful and toxic plastic particles do not remain there, and studies have shown that they can travel throughout the human body. Sylvia Earle, marine biologist, said: “It is the worst of times but it is the best of times because we still have a chance.” The safety and health of our environment has NOT been talked about nearly enough, which can cause these detrimental outcomes to happen without even knowing it existed.
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