How to rid our oceans of plastic?
In the past decades, with the development of technology, we have a better understanding of the environment. However, are there many advantages or disadvantages brought about by rapid development? We do get a more convenient and comfortable life because of technological progress, but at the same time, global warming also affects the environment of our planet. The fact is that although not all of these advanced technologies are bad, they do require costly social adjustments.
“Natural resource managers need proactive, flexible adaptation strategies that consider historical and future outlooks to minimize costs over the long term. Many organizations are beginning to explore these approaches, but implementation is not yet prevalent or systematic across the nation.”(Weiskop, et al. 2020) However, technological advances like solar panels, wind turbines, and nuclear enery, are not yet readibly available to everyone.
These are only technological advances on land, our aquatic ecosystems also suffer from noice pollution, trash pollution, and chemical pollution. I think that we should conduct more reseach on the effects of our presents on the aquatic environments and find a way to minimize pollution. Marine ecosystems are sensitive to change. Weiskop and et al. discuss how, “Marine organisms have also demonstrated range shifts, in somecases at faster rates than observed in terrestrial systems and at pacewith climate velocities.” The change is species ecosystems are having a dramatic effect on them, some more deranged than others. “Arctic marine environments are experiencing changes to sea ice cover, increasing temperatures, and ocean acidification, resulting in range shifts for marinefish, arthropods, and marinemammals.” (Weiskop et al. 2020) The change is species ecosystems are having a dramatic effect on them, some more deranged than others. “Arctic marine environments are experiencing changes to sea ice cover, increasing temperatures, and ocean acidification, resulting in range shifts for marinefish, arthropods, and marinemammals.” (Weiskop et al. 2020) The melting of sea ice is affecting how polar bears hunt and how seals protect their young. The beaching of coral reefs is causing tropical fish displacement, and many species are struggling to fine a save sanctuary. Some temperate marine eco-systems are‘tropicalizing’, with herbivorous tropicalfish expanding poleward, causing decreases in macroalgal plant communities (Weiskop et al. 2020). How can we prevent these changes and minimine the spread of pollution in our oceans?
It has been estimated, probably conservatively, that each year, at least 100,000 marine animals and 1,000,000 sea birds are killed by plastic waste, either through entanglement or ingestion (Rhodes, C.J. 2019). We need to find a way to reduce these numbers and remove plastic from the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup Project is a non-governmental environmental engineering organization based in the Netherlands that strives to develop technologies that help remove plastics present in the ocean.Their goal is to “employ barriers placed in ocean gyres to collect marine debris, as the barrier is pushed by wind and current, and it is intended to emplace 60 such units in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 2021 to remove 50% of the debris there over a 5-year period (Rhodes, C.J. 2019).” This method can indeed help reduce marine pollution, but the cost is high, and it takes years of research to contribute to this change. "After several years of various tests, the prototype system encountered various operational problems and was eventually towed to Hawaii for maintenance and design improvements; however, it was pointed out that within 2 months of operation of the equipment, approximately 2,000 kilograms of plastic were recovered. (Rhodes, CJ 2019)." Although it did not last long, it did collect a lot of plastic.
Researching ways to reduce our presents on this planet is important because our carbon footprint has left an almost irreversible impact on the environments surrounding us. If we do not try to limit the amount of trash we emit, we will start to loose our beautiful world wonders faster than previously thought. It takes time and resources to create tools to help reduce the amount of plastic in our ocean. This form of technology is progress in the making. With time the kinks will be worked out and our oceans will be rid of plastic. Platic is only one form of pollution however, and scietist need to find ways to clean and prevent oil spills, chemical waste dumping, and micropastic emissions. Also the largest pollution to date is noise pollution. This is one of the hardest pollutions to reduce in our oceans. How can we made boats that are sighlet and do not radiate any form of noise? Noiseless aquatic vehicles with be a thing of the future, hopefully before we loose our majestic marine beasts.
Citation
Rhodes, C. J. (2019). Solving the plastic problem: From cradle to grave, to reincarnation. Science Progress, 218–248.
Weiskop, S. R., Rubenstein, M. A., Crozier, L. G., Gaichas, S., & Griffis, R. L. (2020). Climate change effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, and natural resource management in the United States. Science of The Total Environment, 733, 2–18.
