CMC'S NEWS' REVIEW (VII), by Marina Dorca

CMC'S NEWS' REVIEW (VII), by Marina Dorca

News' title: Plastics at sea create raft of problems.

Date of publication: January the 7^th, 2015.

Source of information: Student Society for Science:

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/plastics-sea-create-raft-problems

Scientific field: environmental biology.

Extract:

A piece of plastic scooped from the North Atlantic Ocean. It shows the tell-tale bite marks of a fish.

Recent studies have estimated that seas contain about 5,25 trillion pieces of plastic.

Scientists found this results worrying, as plastic can cause lots of problems in marine ecosystems. First of all, fishes and other species can ingest plastic by mistake. Previous studies showed that plastics can soak up toxic chemicals which are released when ingested, triggering health problems. Besides, they can get entangled in plastic bags.

Scientists ask companies to set up systems to recycle plastics. They also would like to see governments pay fishermen to bring back lost nets and buoys that they find floating in the ocean.

Turtle trapped in a plastic bag.

Critical appraisal: Taking care of the environment

This article reveals the enormous problematic related to the plastic thrown in oceans and seas. The studies results have surprised me enormously, because I didn't expect seas to contain so much plastic, triggering awful consequences for sea life.

In first place, I'd like to say that I don't agree with the companies that throw away its waste. They get rid of them by leaving them in fields or directly throwing them to sea. Although it's obviously easier, they should recycle its waste if they want to save the environment. I really think governments should force this enterprises to have its own recycling plan, and fine the ones that don't do so. Moreover, they should write firm laws about this matters in order to control the situation.

Secondly, I think that we should take more care of our planet. Maybe we don't realise, but the earth we live in is all we have and we should value it more and be thankful with it. Despite the fact that we are not going to live forever, I believe that we should leave our world as pure as we can because future generations don't deserve to live in such a contaminated world. Although we are used to say that our actions won't make a difference, if we all do something we can go far.

Besides, there's the sea ecosystems issue. If we carry on like this, plastic could cause a decrease in sea life. This may even suppose the extinction of some species. As we don't want so, we have to join forces in order to reduce the amount of plastic in our seas. It's the sum of little actions that will help enormously our oceans and its live.

Luckily, amid this reality there are many individuals and groups aware of the environmental issue which are cooperating to improve this reality. Coastal clean-ups is one of the numerous initiatives that are being held in cities like San Francisco. I think we should all get involved in this kind of campaigns or promote them in our cities in case there isn't any being done.

Who has never been heartbroken with the photo of a poor turtle trapped in a plastic bag? So, if you are sensible enough to feel sorry for this animal, then you should surely be able to do something with this situation. Everyone can put his two cents.

Glossary:

Buoy A floating device anchored to the bottom of a body of water. A buoy may mark channels, warn of dangers or carry instruments to measure the environment.

Debris Scattered fragments, typically of trash or of something that has been destroyed. Space debris includes the wreckage of defunct satellites and spacecraft.

Embrittle To make brittle.

Filter feeder A water-dwelling animal that collects its nutrients or prey by filtering them out of the water. Some of the best known examples are bivalves, such as clams and mussels. But some whales use long plates of baleen to essentially do the same thing. They suck in water and then use their filtering structures to catch and retain edible materials that had been in the water.

Gyre (as in the ocean) A ring-like system of ocean currents that rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Many of the biggest, most persistent gyres have become collection sites for floating long-lived trash, especially plastic.

Ingest To eat or deliberately bring nutrients into the body by mouth for digestion in the gut.