Largest Landfill in the World
Soon going to the will no longer be a vacation option unless you do not plan to swim. There will probably be a huge amount of plastic and trash in the water. This is due to the Pacific trash vortex. All of the plastic that has accumulated over the years had either eended up in a landfill or in the ocean. It is however, more likely that the trash has ended up in the ocean. Trash that people just toss in the water ends up in the ocean. Americans fail to realize that bodies of water connect to larger bodies of water which eventually leads to that onee fun special vacation spot.
A trash vortex is a big lanfill of garbage and plastic that ends up in the water. It is also known as a garbage patch. Sometimes the vortex is hard to see because the materials sink down to the bottom of the ocean floor. There has been much more garbage placed in the ocean than most people realize. Until you actually research this understanding how much trash ends up in the ocean is not possible. “Because of its durability and our increased use in recent decades, scientists estimate that plastic makes up 60 to 80 percent of marine debris worldwide. ( “Trashing the Ocean. “) This essay will further summarize what the pacific trash vortex is, describe the impacts the trash vortex has on the environment, talk about some of the biggest controvesies around this issue, and give my point of views on the issue. A trash vortex is a large area of garbage in the ocean. This area of garbage in the ocean takes up a large amount of space in the ocean. “ It is roughly the size of Texas, containing approximately 3. 5 million tons of trash. “ (“Trashing the Ocean”). This area is so very large that it can not be hidden.
Sometimes the materials just float, but then there are several types of materials that sink into the water and are not very visible by humans. “The expedition easily spotted some types of plastic. But a larger problem may lurk below the surface. ”(“Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Documented-A First 5). Most of the trash that has been found in the ocean are things such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, old household materials, etc. There is more than just one trash vortex around the world. “The Pacific Vortex isn’t the only one.
The Atlantic and Indian ocean, which have different current patterns, have plastic gyres of their own”(Walsh, Bryan 1). About ten percent of all the plastic produced in the world ends up in the ocean. “ Perhaps ten percent of the two hundred and sixty million tons of plastic produced worldwide each year end up in the sea-much of it in the swirling currents of the North Pacific Gyre and other ocean vortices. ( “Giant Ocean- Trash Vortex Documented-A first 2) Plastic can not be broken down so if there is nothing done about it over a period of time the ocean will just accumulate more plastic. Most of our waste today is comprised of plastic. Plastic, which is made from petroleum, is a material that the Earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists. “ (“Trashing the Ocean. “) If there is more plastic accumulated there will be more animals in the ocean that die. No one knows exactly when trash started becoming a problem in the ocean or why it became a problem. The trash vortex has been known to kill several animals in the ocean. The trash gets into the ocean a few ways.
One of the ways that the trash gets into the ocean is by people throwing trash on land and the rain washing it into things such as sewers. There are several different sizes of garbage that have been thrown in the ocean. “A single one litre drinks bottle could break down into enough small fragments to put one on every mile of beach in the entire world. These smaller particles are joined by the small pellets of plastic which are the form in which many new plastics are marketed and which can be lost at sea by the drum load or even a whole container load. (“The Trash Vortex”). Not all of the things that are thrown in the ocean are large. “While large pieces are common, the garbage patch is not an island of plastic, the team found on their 19-day expedition in August. Much of the debris is in the form of countless thumbnail-size scraps. ”( “Giant Ocean- Trash Vortex Documented-A first”1) Sewers and rivers all lead to the ocean. All the garbage that ends up in the sewers eventually end up into the ocean. Another way that garbage ends up in the ocean is by us directly throwing things into the water.
The trash vortex has a very unknown impact on the community. There is an unknown impact on the community because not many people know that all this trash exists in the ocean. Some of the people that know the trash vortex exist do what they can to help stop the issue. The trash vortex has a very negative impact on its environment. All the garbage in the ocean has killed several marine animals. Birds are dying because they are mistaking the trash in the ocean for food and an animal can not digest plastic materials. So this leads to the death of several marine animals such as birds and turtles.
It has become such an issue to the point where there may not be many marine animals if there is more plastic put into the ocean “In the ocean, plastic waste accumulates in swirling seas of debris, where plastic to sea life ratios are 6:1; where birds and mammals are dying of starvation and dehydration with bellies full of plastics; where fish are ingesting toxins at such a rate that soon they will no longer be safe to eat. “ (“Garbage Patch. “) There has also been an issue with the plastic because of an essiential organic compound called zooplankton.
They have been finding more trash in the ocean than zooplankton and that is not good because zooplankton is essential to the ecosystem. Zooplankton are little tiny organisms that are important because they feed the animals in the water. Algae is a type of zooplankton. The trash in the water has also been known to absorb organic pollutants which are there for a reason. When they are gone it will be hard to acquire more. People will not realize the full effects that this issue has until it becomes a very severe problem and leads to the death of many marine animals.
It can also become a severe problem by effecting the way we have a great time at the beach or on a river trip. The trash vortex in the Pacific ocean is a big issue mainly because it is starting to be a lot more trash than is needed. Trash in the ocean can not be broken down and it does not decompose. “The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers, their durability and stability, also makes them a problem in marine environments. ”(“The Trash Vortex”). That means that the animals that eat the trash will eventually die.
That also means that the number of marine animals will decrease tremendously. That also means that the trash will begin to pile up worse than it is now. That can also affect our water supply because the water we drink on a daily has to come from somewhere. Our water has to be kept clean or it could become a problem to the environment around us and the ecosystem. I believe that this issue does not have to stay an issue. The trash vortex can be handled over a period of time if we all work together to take care of the water.
If we clean up and recycle more the garbage patch will not be as big as it is now. The things we can do from our location are make sure that others recycle more and to make sure that we do not become apart of the issue by throwing things in bodies if water. There are a few organizations that try to help by going to some of these areas and cleaning up the land around them. It is not easy to clean up once the plastic has drifted to the bottom of the ocean floor. The issue has not become a huge problem yet, but people have not begun to look at the long terms affects to the environment.
If the issue does not stop I feel that it will most certainly become a problem. It will have a negative effect on the marine animals. It is very possible that if the problem does not get any better that we could possibly be looking at some future endangered species. In conclusion, there are so many unknown things floating in the ocean you will be amazed at what people find floating in the ocean “shoes, toys, bags, pacifiers, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles too numerous to count are only part of what can be found in this accidental dump floating midway between Hawaii and San Francisco. (“Trashing the Ocean. ”). The Pacific trash vortex is still an unknown mystery. There are still things that scientist can not figure out about this garbage patch they are actually still trying to figure out all the details. “Researchers are keen to learn how the massive influx of plastic pieces in recent decades affects area animals from larger creatures such as fish and birds- which swallow toxic plastic- to tiny organisms such as bacteria and plankton.
This plastic may also be hosting invasive bacteria or other species researchers say”( “Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Documented- A First 3). Trash vortex have been slowly killing birds and other types of animals. This is something that needs to be stopped as soon as possible if we want to help save our animals and our land. Everyone can help in the process whether it is realized or not. The land is something that should not be taken for granted. If we want future generations to have a land then it is our job to protect the land.
Work Cited “Garbage Patch. ” Think Beyond Plastic. “Giant Ocean- Trash Vortex Documented -A First. ” National Geographic News. 28 Oct 2010 “Planet100: The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained. ” Online Posting. Youtube, 7 June 2010. Silverman, Jacob. “Why is the worlds biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean? ” How stuff works. “The trash vortex. ” Greenpeace International. “Trashing the Ocean. ” Ocean Portal. 2010 Walsh,Bryan. “Expedition Sets Sail to the Great Plastic Vortex. ” Time Science. 01 Aug 2009 .
