Tag Archives: #Plastic Life #ocean #marine

No more plastic!!

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Our world is filled with plastic. Plastic can be found in almost every aspect of our daily lives. Plastic is used in so many everyday products that we purchase and use it. The use of single-use plastics can hurt the environment, while some can be reused. There has been a lot of attention focused on the situation, and several legislative initiatives have been undertaken, but it does not appear that progress is imminent. It is very concerning that we cannot see that it is too late until it is too late. 

There is a prediction in an article written by the UN that “plastic pollution in oceans and other bodies of water will more than double by 2030”. While Ocean Conservancy and Team Seas are among the organizations working to clean our oceans, they cannot solve the problem on their own. Governing bodies, as well as citizens, must work together to make the world a better place.

There is a growing amount of plastic being produced every day, and since this plastic will always find a way to enter the ocean, it will cause several problems to the environment. Not only are the plastic toxins harmful to the ocean, but they act as sponges that absorb other toxins before entering the water. Because these chemicals are ingested by animals in the ocean, they are hazardous to humans. Humans consume fish and mammals contaminated with these chemicals. Initially, if governments require businesses to cover waste management costs by 2040, they will face a $100 billion financial risk. In addition, it can lead to an increase in the amount of illegal waste disposed of domestically and internationally. It can cause many problems in our society and even more plastic to be exposed to our earth. There are many more factors involved than we initially think.

 According to the UN article, plastics are also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. “In 2015, plastics emitted 1.7 gigatonnes of CO2 and by 2050, they will produce 6.5 gigatonnes.” This means that plastics not only contribute to ozone depletion but also help accelerate global warming. That is a major concern for the environment as well. The article also mentions that “In water sources, this type of pollution can cause hormonal changes, developmental disorders, reproductive abnormalities, and even cancer.” It is a scary thing that something we require to survive can be polluted and our health is put in more danger. 

In this article, the everyday person is the intended audience. It aims to shed light on the plastic problem and encourage people to push for a more sustainable and plastic-free world. Clearly, the article aims to create a more plastic-free economy and to encourage people to oppose plastic industries and make the world a cleaner place. It is a biased article because it does focus on getting people aware of these terrible problems and that we need to do a better job at fixing them. We humans started the problem, now it is our job to help clean up the problem. Even though recycling may not be enough, it is certainly a start for a safer and better free earth.

Marine debris, including plastics, paper, wood, metal and other manufactured material is found on beaches worldwide and at all depths of the ocean.

sources used:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1103692

A Plastic Ocean Review

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For this blog, I watched and analyzed well reviewed documentary A Plastic Ocean produced by Jo Ruxton where it goes into details into different experiences with marine life and their interactions with plastics.

The documentary starts out with an analysis of blue whales, yet the most impactful part of this documentary starts right in the first five minutes, depicting the blue whales surrounding and obstructed by the copious amounts of plastic in their natural environments. This type of imagery is featured below, and was continuously presented throughout the field to remind the audience the true intentions and progress the agenda of the film as a whole.

As the documentary continues it depicts different divers stories and accounts that feature their interactions with marine life and the plastic debris that they interact with on a daily basis. The documentary depicts the estimated the 2 million tons of plastic, just from water bottles, that the United States puts into the landfills each year and only continues to detail the problems with population growth and lack of recycling responsibilities.

As the documentary progresses the film projects the lifespan of trash and plastic pollution, using animation to depict how debris, even if found in landlocked lakes or landfills can eventually find their way into streams, eventually landing in our oceans. The documentary continues to use lots of camera and video footage to show the sea floor, with hundred of plastic debris sitting and decaying down where sunlight never hits. Another feature in the film shows a team of marine scientist are interview for the research efforts toward different microplastics in the ocean, which is interesting because the documentary discusses all ranges of pollution and how that would effect the marine life, such as diet or endangerment. The documentary continues to follow the different scientist and first hand accounts that depict their relationship with the ocean, the plastic debris, and the marine life they interact with for their careers and studies. They follow divers, marine conservationist, dietitians, landfill employee’s, parents, and major plastic manufactures in order to understand and highlight that the plastic problem effects every individual in human nature.

Something I really liked about this film was all the underwater media that they presented throughout the film that gives the audience a very real and understandable idea of what is truly under the surface. A major critique on human nature is our inability to really understand what is not put directly in front of our eyes, and it is documentaries and films such as this one that allow people to become more open minded and concerned with the marine plastic pollution issue.

One quote from the documentary that was really impactful was “the plastic is coating our land like a disease” and if I had to pick an overall theme and understandable goal of the film, it would be their intentional language that constructs the audience to deeply understand the tumultuous issue that is the United States major issue with plastic pollution and lack of responsibility for treating marine plastic pollution

Although most industries of information or entertainment have some forms of bias, the only major bias I believe was in this film featured the aggressive progressive attitude towards cleaning the ocean in order to decrease the immense harm that plastic pollution puts onto innocent marine animals. I think the film, although overall heartbreaking to watch, does an excellent job at using different imagery as long as excellent information to grab the audiences attention to promote hope for action.