The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Essay Example

“Crackle, crunch, swoosh” Those are the sounds of all the plastic bottles, cans, and microplastics in the ocean. Did you know that there is a spot in the ocean where there is SO much trash that it all accumulates to one spot? It is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. All of the trash that gets littered by the ocean will go and collect there, it is NOT a good thing. Some of the things that happen in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are every year more and more trash especially plastic enters the ocean and accumulates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is a BIG task to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is harming animals and wildlife.

Each year more and more trash, especially plastic, enters the ocean and accumulates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch In “The Growing Garbage” it states,“While many different types of trash enter the ocean, plastics make up the majority of marine debris.” Plastic is a very common substance that most restaurants or stores use. It is pretty cheap, but durable. If people litter it, it will break down into smaller and smaller pieces. This can not be good for many reasons like, sea creatures can mistake it for food, it distributes along the ocean, or just accumulates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Also, this plastic is very hard to remove from the ocean. It is very small and fine, and a little see through. All in all, it is a very harmful material. The passage “Marine Debris” explains, “About 80% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia.” Each year people are more and more careless and littering everywhere, like beaches, parks, or restaurants. Anywhere the trash goes it ends up somewhere. Let's say you are at the beach, you have just finished eating a bag of chips and a soda, there is no trashcan nearby, and you are lazy like a Koala and don’t feel like walking to throw away your trash. So, you just drop it on the beach. It ends up in the ocean, and it makes its way to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where all the other growing piles of garbage are located.

It is a BIG task to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In “Patching Up the Patch” it elucidates, “Because the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from any country's coastline, no nation will take responsibility or provide the funding to clean it up. Charles Moore, the man who discovered the vortex, says cleaning up the garbage patch would “bankrupt any country” that tried it.” Clearly, it is such a big job it is too hard to do and will take time. If we just tried to eliminate how much plastic and trash we use we maybe could try to help this situation. It is although very expensive to help clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In “Patching Up the Patch” it defines, “Cleaning up marine debris is not as easy as it sounds. Many microplastics are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans make this job far too time-consuming to consider.” This situation will take time to solve and figure out. In order to help save small sea creatures we need to come up with a solution to help the wildlife, but still remove trash from the ocean. The question still remains how to help this deathly situation in our ocean.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is harming animals and wildlife. In “The Growing Garbage” it says,“Loggerhead sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellies, their favorite food. Albatrosses mistake plastic resin pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organs.” This makes clear that sea creatures can have a hard time defining the difference between plastic and food. If we do not throw in trash, plastic, and unwanted substances this problem will be solved. It will help the animals’ habitat. In “The Growing Garbage” it says, “Seals and other marine mammals are especially at risk. They can get entangled in abandoned plastic fishing nets, which are being discarded more often because of their low-cost.” This demonstrates that we need to help out and make sure less fishing nets get thrown carelessly into the ocean. This can make a huge impact on wildlife. These beautiful creatures can die in these fishing nets. It will decrease their numbers and affect the whole ecosystem. We do not want that to happen. If we help out a difference will be made. 

In conclusion, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the world’s growing problems. This is the patch where multiple pounds, even tons of garbage collects in the ocean. Occurring problems that follow with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is every year more and more trash especially plastic enters the ocean and accumulates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is a BIG task to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is harming animals and wildlife. Without a doubt, it is an increasing challenge that needs a lot of attention and work.