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Justin Venable

Professor Cortez

UWRT 1101

October 31, 2017

Ocean Pollution

Ocean pollution is a worldwide problem, that continues to become worse as each year

passes. According to Laura Parker of the National Geographic, eight million tons of plastic from

coastal countries alone ended up in the ocean in the year 2010. (Parker, Laura) This is a number

that has grown in recent years. Over the course of this paper I will look into the causes of ocean

pollution, the effects of ocean pollution, and potential remedies to ocean pollution.

When I began researching information on ocean pollution so that I could write this paper,

I knew that ocean pollution was a worldwide issue. From years of visiting various beaches I have

seen first-hand the amount of trash and debris that goes into the ocean, and is already in the

ocean. The deeper I got into my research, the more that I realized that ocean pollution is a

problem that is well beyond anything that can be fixed completely. All we, as humans, can do at

this point is remedy the situation to the best of our abilities. One interesting thing that I came to

realize during my research is that ocean pollution is not a topic that gets brought up often in

mainstream media cycles. I wonder why such an important issue is not brought up to the public

more often, especially since millions of people visit oceans each year.

Sewage, littering, land runoff, and oil spills are a few of the many causes of ocean

pollution. It would be nearly impossible to go into every cause of ocean pollution, but almost all

causes of ocean pollution are due to human mishaps or error. Large oil spills due to offshore

drilling, such as the Gulf oil spill of 2010 where an estimated 206 million gallons of oil were
spilled into the ocean water (Moss, Laura), can pollute an area of the ocean for years. They may

even cause irreparable damage. Oil spills from offshore drilling are not the only way that oil

enters the ocean. 36% of oil enters the ocean from land runoff. (INFORGRAPHIC) This means

that over a third of the oil polluting oceans is due to improper handling of oil on land by many

people. Littering on the other hand seems rather innocent if one person is throwing one piece of

trash into the ocean. It adds up though. More than 12 million tons of trash end up in the ocean

each year. (Preventing Ocean Pollution.)

Effects of ocean pollution are innumerable as well. Ocean pollution effects include

decreased oxygen levels in the water, animal deaths, decrease the capacity of carbon that the

ocean can absorb, and large garbage patches in the middle of the ocean

- Decreased oxygen levels

o As objects in the ocean decompose over time they absorb oxygen out of the

water. This hurts animals and causes survival rates of ocean organisms to

decrease. (Causes and Effects of Ocean Pollution. )

- Animal deaths

o Due to the trash in the ocean many animals eat some thinking it Is food. Trash

clogs the stomachs and throats of marine life when eaten. (Preventing Ocean

Pollution.)

- Garbage Patches

o Large Patches of trash on the ocean surface.

o "Yet as I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a

pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of
plastic. Account from boat captain on the Pacific Garbage patch. (Great

Pacific Garbage Patch.)

The best way to go about cleaning up the pollution in the oceans is to stop putting stuff in

them. Recycling more would help a good bit.


Works Cited

Parker, Laura. Eight Million Tons of Plastic Dumped in Ocean Every Year. National

Geographic, National Geographic Society, 25 Aug. 2017,

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150212-ocean-debris-plastic-garbage-patches-

science/.

Moss, Laura. The 13 largest oil spills in history. MNN - Mother Nature Network, Mother

Nature Network, 31 May 2017, www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/the-

13-largest-oil-spills-in-history.

INFOGRAPHIC: How Ocean Pollution Affects Humans. Planet Experts, 27 June 2016,

www.planetexperts.com/infographic-ocean-pollution-affects-humans/.

Preventing Ocean Pollution. Greenpeace USA, www.greenpeace.org/usa/oceans/preventing-

pollution/

Causes and Effects of Ocean Pollution. Conserve Energy Future, 20 Jan. 2017,

www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-and-effects-of-ocean-pollution.php.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch. National Geographic Society, 9 Oct. 2012,

www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.

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