Essay On Pollution in The Ocean: Plastic is Everywhere

Plastic is everywhere. Almost everything is made out of plastic. Toothbrushes, water bottles, trash cans, etc. Plastic has made packaging foods, drinks, and other resources such a shampoo bottles, brushes, and toothpaste easier. These products have ended up in the ocean causing harm to marine life.

 It has been argued that a plastic free environment will benefit the health and safety of animals and humans. Some households live a plastic-free live. Banning plastic means that many companies will most likely go out of business for not being to produce plastic packaged products. Although a ban on plastic will make packaging products more difficult has done more harm than good. Not only are animals affected but humans are too. In order to have a healthier environment for both humans and sea animals a plastic ban in the United States must happen.

Plastic has been a major factor contributing to pollution in the ocean. The plastic is putting ocean life in danger. “microplastic are being eaten by fish and other animals that are exposed” (Edinger SIRS, Our Planets Plastic Scourge). With a plastic ban there will be a cleaner and safer environment for fish to live in. They will no longer be able to eat plastic since it will become out of reach.

Plastic products can still be just as harmful to humans as they are to sea animals. Plastic leaves behind microplastic fibers that can be consumed by our bodies. “Plastic doesn’t biodegrade but instead breaks down into tiny particles…in the air, in drinking water, and food sources, and in placentas of unborn fetuses” (Edinger SIRS Our Planets Plastic Scourge). The same microplastics that linger in the ocean and in fish are now lingering in humans’ bodies as well. Plastic polluting the ocean are now starting to live in humans. With a plastic ban there will be a healthier environment for humans. We would no longer have to worry about microplastics negative impact to our bodies.

Companies that produce these products could go out of business and “The industries that make plastic bags would like to think we can recycle” (Eriksen SIRS, I thought I seen it all). But recycling still hasn’t helped to stop the harm that plastic has and still continues to cause. Plastic still ends up getting littered and ends up the ocean one way or another. Many sea turtles have choked on straws made out of plastic. Plastic will still continue to harm women’s placentas and babies developing brains during pregnancy. Ocean life will also continue to eat plastic.

No more plastic will ensure a healthier environment for not only sea animals but for humans as well. There will be less harm to pregnant women through microplastic fibers. As well as a cleaner ocean for sea animals to live in without being in reach of plastic that they could be harmed by for eating. Starting more anti plastic organizations and getting the attention of the president the United States can become a plastic free country and contribute to making the world a healthier place to live in for all living organisms.