Ocean Pollution

 

Have we not learned our lesson? This is a question for all of people living on Earth. Never before in the history of the world has one species caused so much damage to the Earth. It is really a sad thing to realize this, but do we care? I don’t think so. We knew all the problems all along, yet we chose to turn our backs on these problems. We try to hide waste underground and underneath the ocean, but clearly we are just turning a blind eye to it. Nobody cares about the ocean because everybody uses it, yet none of us own it. This is the tragedy of the commons. However, we will be responsible for our own action and learn the consequences of being unsustainable.

The ocean covers 71% of Earth. It is home to various types of marine organisms, which 70% of our human race depend on for protein. We gain so much, but we care so little for the ocean. We have been putting plastic, radioactive waste, industrial waste, and agricultural waste into the it, which will eventually come back to haunt us. The amount of toxins in the ocean accumulates up the food chain, and we humans are no doubt one of the apex predators. This means we are eating the toxins that accumulate in the fish. These toxins are fat-soluble, so we can’t get rid of them. Only females can remove toxins through their milk, but this only means that our children will be filled with toxins before they grow up. Are we willing to sacrifice future generation’s lives for our satisfaction?

Eutrophication in New Orleans

The next problem is eutrophication. The fertilizers collected in the ocean from run-offs causes large bacterial bloom. These bacteria can reproduce faster than algae, which means it will compete with algae for sunlight and resources. As bacteria increases, algae will decrease. This means less food for fishes and more diseases for them. We get infected by consuming sick fish. Hell, maybe we won’t even have fish to eat anymore. We will be losing our resources one by one as we deplete the food chain. A chain will break, if one of the links is weak. When the chain does break, then it can’t be used anymore.

We need to start by realizing the consequences of our actions and learn from our mistakes. We have to act and not just talk about it. We are responsible for this problem but have no solutions. We were able to make up this mess, then we must have a way to clean it up. I would like to be known as the species that saves the planet, not the specie that brought chaos to such a beautiful planet.