Plastic and Microplastic Pollution. Consequences and Proactive Steps

Term Paper , 2021 , 8 Pages

Environmental Sciences

Plastic pollution is viewed as one of the worst threats to both humanity and the environment known today. This essay summarizes multiple research studies to determine whether this is true while also analyzing interviews with some of the most active environmentalists in North America. The dangers that plastic and microplastics pose to the land, oceans, and air are addressed. Also discussed is the common misconception that recycling can reverse the already detrimental effects that pollution has had thus far. While simply re-using plastic items cannot combat the massive amount of synthetic material that has piled up in landfills and oceans, an increase in awareness along with global changes in plastic production may be able to cause real change.

A Call for Action Against Plastic Pollution

Introduction

Humans are the undefeated champions of the unnatural. This planet that mankind was born into is naturally generous, providing its inhabitants with streams for drinking, trees for shelter and crops for harvest. However, there came a time where the rapid growth of the human population and the speed of its intellectual progression overcame what nature could provide, and humans began to develop countless new and modern needs. With these needs came the invention of hundreds of thousands of new man-made creations. These nearly endless inventions led to one of the most revolutionary and widely used materials of them all: plastic. From containing bacteria ridden trash, to storing food for months ahead, to enabling water to be portable and in-hand at all times, plastic is everywhere and has become a prime example of human dominance over the planet. In a disturbing and astounding feat, people have created so much artificial material that, as of December 2020, it actually outweighs the weight if all organic life on Earth. For every living person’s bodyweight, an equal or larger amount of man-made mass is created each week (Elhacham et al). If that statistic brings on a serious sense of unease, it’s not uncalled for. The effects of this tremendous amount of plastic material, found in every part of the world where human civilization exists, may end up changing life on Earth in unfathomable ways. Unable to turn a blind eye to such a huge global disturbance, researchers all over the world have examined the possible outcomes of plastic pollution on animals and ecosystems alike. Most have conceded that the possibilities are predominantly bleak. In April 2021, an academic journal specializing in environment politics, Artic & North, posted an article that dubbed plastic pollution as the most serious environment problem in the world (Zaikov and Sobolev). Despite this, plastic is still being pumped out at a rate of around 380 million tons per year.

Unfortunately, this number is expected to rise ever-higher in the wake of recent events. The entrance of the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the environmental world as billions of humans use and discard plastic gloves, masks, disinfectant sprays and other protective equipment more than ever before. Though potentially combative to the disease, these items are ending up in unwelcome places throughout nature and are overflowing in society’s landfills. Microplastics, the small fragments created when plastic breaks down, are expected to have “detrimental effects” on everyone around the globe, from ocean fauna to inland animals to the very public that caused the problem (Bansal & Sharma). One arguable upside of this increase of this pollution pandemic is that it has encouraged environmentalists to find a solution with new fervor, and in turn possible solutions have been created that could prevent future harm. Worldwide improvements in recycling procedures and redesign of plastic items are necessary to combat their damaging effects on the Earth’s ecosystem.

How Did We Get Here?

The reason that plastic is now such a powerful threat is that it has been used massively over a very long period of time. Plastic production has existed for over a century, starting in 1869 when people first learned to invented synthetic polymers, which are artificial materials made of carbon, silicates, or fossil fuels. By 1907 a man named Leo Baekeland created the first entirely inorganic plastic, which was made with no natural materials but was more flexible, pliable and long lasing. Useful as it was, this new material was unable to decompose back into the Earth, and instead began to pile up as it was discarded. The benefits were generally thought to outweigh the costs, however, and production continued. By World War II, food had become scarce for the masses living in poverty, and plastic become more necessary than ever to preserve what little fresh food there was. The thought of reducing plastic production seemed widely unplausible to even the most dedicated environmentalists until the 1960’s, when post-war life had returned to normal. Scientists then took the oceans and began to observe the effects of plastic, leading to an increased awareness of pollution problems (Science History Institute). It was the very plastic industry itself that proposed recycling as a solution in the 1980’s, establishing the first official system to combat plastic pollution. By this time, however, there was such an accumulation and plastic items were still so commonly used that these recycling attempts were but a drop in the bucket. Due to many flaws in the waste management industry, recycling has been ultimately unsuccessful in stopping the harmful effects of plastic.

Swimming in Synthetics

The plastic problem is no secret to the public. The persistence of it ending up in our oceans particularly has become a topic of common knowledge. The internet has opened the eyes of thousands who have witnessed the circulating pictures of sea turtles stabbed with straws and plastic bags being pulled from the stomachs of great white sharks. Though awareness has increased with technology, the state of the ocean in regards to plastic pollution is still extremely poor. There are many examples that are rather simple; of course, sea creatures are going to be negatively affected when they swallow or get impaled by man-made objects. Of the countless instances like this, one specific effect of plastic in the sea stands out for many as the most shocking and undeniably frightening of them all. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a mass of debris nearly the size of the state of Texas that floats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is the single largest accumulation of plastic waste in the world. The largest landfill in the world, Apex Regional in Las Vegas, Nevada, is 2,200 acres long. Incredibly, the Pacific Garbage patch is almost a hundred times that length in comparison. Hundreds of millions of pieces of plastic trash bob through the Pacific waters, brought and bound together by currents from all over the world. With the garbage patch taking up so much space, it is almost inconceivable that marine life can avoid it. A study posted by Susan E. Gibbs in the academic journal Marine Biodiversity describes a colleague’s trip out to the garbage “island”, where he reported seeing four species of whales with calves in tow swimming dangerously near the swamp of synthetic garbage. Whales are one of the biggest protestors of climate change, absorbing around 33 tons of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Their endangerment could mean more carbon and dramatically less fresh air in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to the endangerment of all. As Zaikov and Sobolev stated in a study last April, the overbearing presence of plastic in the oceans is considered one of the most dangerous global threats to date.

While the ocean tends to get the most attention, terrestrial or land-based environments are suffering just as greatly. Beaches are often covered in discarded plastic. The tide of the ocean deposits its waste onto the land, with large sea nets, old pieces of furniture and an array of other items becoming mixed into the sand. Adding to that is the trash left behind from vacationing beach-goers who are remembered by their empty cups, straws, and water bottles. What should be a serene stroll through a beautiful coast side becomes more like a tour through the local landfill as plastic piles up along the seashores. An extensive beach clean-up implemented by non-profit organization Surfrider Foundation in the year 2020 recovered eighty-thousand pounds of plastic trash from the coasts of the United States, taking hundreds of volunteers and nearly a thousand separate cleanups to collect it all (Targeted News Service). Making matters worse, much of this plastic is broken down by the elements into microscopic pieces called microplastics. These pieces are so small that they may not be seen with the eye, and become completely intermingled with the surrounding soil and sand. Mixed with the salty waters of the sea, microplastics seep deep into the ground, contaminating growing plants and the animals that rely on them for food. Whether cluttering the shorelines in large pieces or poisoning wildlife as tiny fragments, plastic is wreaking havoc on terrestrial environments.

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• College: University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC)
• Course: English 102
• Publication Year: 2021
• Pages: 8
• Catalog Number: V1149108
• ISBN (eBook): 9783346542434
• Language: English
• Tags: research, essay, plastic, microplastics, polluton, environment