Marine Pollution An Interactive Text by Kaylee Proffitt

Marine Plastic Pollution: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch In between the U.S. states California and Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, floats an approximately 621,000 square miles wide, or one million square kilometers wide, collection of trash. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is just one example of how serious the threat of plastic pollution is, especially to our marine ecosystems. And have you ever considered there was plastic in your seafood? I’m Kaylee, I did research on this, and now I’m going to talk to you about plastic pollution. Fish and people are both hurt by plastic pollution, and we are being consumed by, and literally consuming plastic. Firstly, plastic pollution is harmful to the marine environment. The GPGP is not the only patch of garbage, in fact there is at least one out floating in every ocean. This just shows how much plastic pollution in the ocean there is. Often times, fish get entangled in trash and get harmed or die. However, according to Global Issues, fish consume plastic as well. When microplastics are ingested, they release harmful chemicals that can impact their ability to reproduce. Larger fish tend to consume actually items. In one case described by the Norwegian Minister of Climate, a whale beached on the Norwegian coast was found with nothing but 30 plastic bags in its stomach. Also, in a transcript article posted on NPR, a swimmer who swam in the GPGP found that organisms, like fish or microscopic organisms, can be carried by large pieces of trash to new environments, which can harm the animal and the environment it comes across. Basically, some trash transports invasive species. My second point is that plastic pollution in the ocean harms people too, even if we aren’t affected as much as marine animals. Described by Global Issues, researchers found that in Indonesian and U.S. markets, 1 in 4 fish had traces of plastic in them. And recently, studies conducted to find out the impacts of plastic consumption in people, have shown that ingesting plastic can lead to health problems like cancer. It’s estimated that 11,000 Europeans consume plastic each year, so a lot of people could be experiences the effects of consuming plastic. As well as harming marine ecosystems and organisms, plastic pollution possibly hurts people too, if the former wasn’t enough to make you see the issue at hand. Considering how large the Pacific Garbage Patch is, and the general effects of marine pollution, we can assume that lots of ecosystems are affected by the trash. However, the thing is, big companies contribute massively to pollution. Global Issues states that countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Sweden are taking steps to reduce their environmental impact. If the general population tries hard enough, we can convince companies and other countries to reduce their plastic waste to save the earth. If you as an individual want to help, try to convert to an eco-friendlier lifestyle, such as avoiding single-use plastic, for an example. Scientists suggest that if we take these steps to a healthier environment, we can reduce marine pollution significantly by 2025, including garbage patches.

Beach Lesson: A Narrative I’m Maren, and I live by the sea. Every day I go outside and feel the salty ocean breeze that surfs the air and blows my hair in my face all annoying. I go walk by the beach and sand gets in between my toes, and every morning I look at the water with the rising sun painting the ocean with warm hues. Well, it’s not that great because there’s bottles everywhere and some ugly rocks at the end of the shore and hurricanes every year, but it’s nice to visit. Some weekends I go there for lunch with my mom, like this Saturday, where we eat in the grassy shade behind the rope fence that separates beach and city. I sit on the bench across the table from my mom and we enjoy convenience store subs, chips, and sodas. I watch the waves crash on the empty shore; the beach isn’t as full during lunch time. “Slow down,” my mom orders as I chomp down on my chips and sandwich. I’m eager to go down to the beach and show off my new one-piece I got from the mall this week, but Mom insists I must wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming, so that’s why we’re going paddle boarding after this. I chug my Coke, which takes a while to get down, but I eventually finish my whole meal. With a full stomach, I hobble over to the trash can and toss my wrappers and can towards it, but it bounces off overflowing trash in the can and falls on the ground, getting lifted away by the wind like a tumbleweed. My mom is still eating her sandwich slowly. “I’m going on the beach,” I tell her. “Fine. Don’t go in the water,” she permits with a mouth full. Without sparing a second I dash over to the gate and started a walk along the sand. On one side of the beach there is the docks with the paddle boards, and on the other side is those black rocks I was talking about. I decide to go explore there today. I carefully crawl atop the dark, rigid rocks to get to the other side of the shore. The waves advanced against the land and wash up against a weird light rock. Jumping off the boulders, I walk towards it to see what it is. But as I begin to come closer, it doesn’t seem like a rock at all. It looks like it has plastic on it, and it looks like a turtle. I fall back, catching myself, before reapproaching the animal. I’m in horror. It was a beached sea turtle that looks like it got caught up in some trash. The horrible sight blended in with the rest of the beach, bottles and bags, and who knows how many sea turtles our littered beach has killed. I start to feel sick after thinking about what happened earlier, when I missed that trash can. I leave the shore and go back to the table we were at earlier. My mom is gone, probably at the dock. I scan the beach, kept thinking about the turtle. Looking at it feels gross now. Going back over to the trash can, I spot my trash from earlier resting not too far from the bin. I pick it up and makes sure it goes in the bin, but I have to compact the nasty trash with my fist before mine can fit. Ok, now I won’t hurt any turtles. ~ Wrapped in a towel watching people leave the beach in the late afternoon, I start to get an idea of what I’m going to do about the trash on the beach, because someone needs to do something. After quickly stopping by home and throwing on some clothes, I grab a pair of rubber gloves and a large trash bag from the kitchen and head back to the shore. It feels embarrassing to be cleaning up after other people and someone might think I’m some delinquent serving time, but whatever. There’s junk from probably picnics: beers, chips, sodas. I pick up any litter I find on and around the beach and put it in the bag. I suppose I should recycle the waste; I’d heard about recycling in school. There’s some guy smoking a cigarette by the water, and I watch him closely as he tosses the finished butt to the sand and squashes it with his foot and just leaves it on the ground. I drop my bag and throw my gloves on top of it before I stomp over to the litterer. “Hey!” I get his attention just as he starts to turn back up the shore. He looks at me, confused, like he has no idea what he just did. “Pick that up, sir.” “What?” “That cigarette butt you just flicked on the ground,” I scold him. He doesn’t seem to take my warning seriously, “you know, a sea turtle could choke on your trash and die.” “If you’re so in love with the environment then you pick it up, I mean you’re already doing that,” He tries to argue. I just stand there with my arms crossed staring him down. Then without another word, an eyeroll, he picks up and pockets the butt before marching up the sand. Wow, I wonder what came over me that inspired me to do that. Just seeing someone so careless, even like I used to be, made me angry. Someone needs to educate these people. ~ I did my research, turns out littering is harmful for the environment too, like that litterer referenced. Some of the fish we eat even have plastic in them, which goes inside of us. It’s kind of like back in the olden days, I learned once, where folks ate their food off mercury dishes, and they didn’t realize that it was actually poisoning them. We litter, and we don’t even think about the impacts our trash can have on life. Sunday, I go to our small-town hall and talk to some people about our garbage issue. They refer me to some local activists who are teens like me, and with permission, we spend all morning installing signs that encourage picking up after yourself and others. The rest of the afternoon, we pick up more trash on the shore and even in some shallow parts of the water. While going to search for some junk in the water, I see something move in the water. It was another turtle caught up in some netting. Not again, I don’t know what to do, so I tell one of the older volunteers. We pull the turtle to shore and carefully remove the net. “She must be tired,” the volunteer comments. The turtle did seem weak, but we get the rope untangled and off the reptile. The guy nudges the turtle back to the shoreline, waves lightly crash on the being. We’re letting it take it’s time to go back to the water. It’s cute, and I’m glad we saved it. The beach is cleaner now. Our group is working on removing litter from our town. Trash can travel a long way to water. Just as long as no sea turtles are hurt as a result of human careless nature.

Fish Food Kaylee Proffitt

I swim in the ocean I hunt for food A small fish like me Not much is good I take in the warmth of the open sea Water pushing along my body My scales catching debris Plastic bags and bottles floating all around I greet my octopus neighbor She gives me a frown Don’t know how to be happy? I feel ya’ How can you be happy when there’s trash all around ya’? I grow restless from my attempt to cease my empty tummy Once again, I guess, I’m going to bed hungry I want to leave somewhere where the seaweed grows where the landscape is vibrant And that’s where I go After travelling I find a sunlit place with huge plankton It brings a smile to my face Even with my fatigue I chase down the plankton They do nothing to stop it It’s like I’m in heaven But my starve doesn’t stop And I’m weary still I’ll eat some more That’ll make my belly fill It hurts when it moves down my throat I don’t stop, but my body has had enough Just one more bite will make me satisfied The particles float, I go up, up, Up..

METACOGNITIVE PARAGRAPH The inspiration from this piece comes from reading about microplastics being consumed by fish and the effects it has on marine life. This piece using personification by being from the POV of a fish in a plastic-polluted environment. This makes us feel more connected with the fish’s humanized feelings and we sympathize with them. The imagery present glorifies the fish’s environment with plastic pollution. At this point in our existence, pollution tends to by normalized, because it’s pretty much everywhere. They seem to have found a perfect habitat, but even then, the vibrant landscape is still riddled with human trash. The foreshadowing hints at the effects of consuming nothing but plastic. At the end, the fish thinks they’ve found food, but they feel the same as they did when they were chasing plastic bottles around and becoming fatigued. Microplastics are just one example of human activity that has been detrimental to life on our planet. Microplastics especially are very hard to remove from the environment because of their miniscule size. Fish consume so much plastic which eventually ends up in seafood. The purpose of my poem is to inform people about what a common fish goes through nowadays due to our mistakes, and by putting this in the POV of the fish, the reader can feel empathy for the fish and make them want to help poor critters who are being affected by the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans. I got the idea for this poem after reading articles at Understanding Microplastics & How They Affect Our Marine Life – Manna Hydration and Plastic Pollution Will Kill All of Us! — Global Issues. Thank you for reading.

Short Story: Dominoes (Revised) My foot caught something in the water. School just ended for the summer, and I was out in the bay outside our town. I reached for my foot and pulled a net off. There was a small white fish tangled in the thread. It looked pretty stuck, and I’m not sure if it’s alive. I toss it back in the water and continue swimming.

My dad has been doing volunteer work on the bay since right before school ended. He has me help him pick up litter sometimes. He complains that this is making the fish population go down. I think he’s referring to the trash.

“I don’t understand,” I begin, “I like not having to worry about jellyfish and sharks getting into the bay and not letting me swim. Why do you care so much, dad?” I ask him. “Our environment is fragile, and all organisms rely on each other. One thing happens, and all of the sudden it’s a whole domino-effect,” I still do not get what he means.

One afternoon, I was volunteering with Dad and some of his mates. We all had to help pull a large fishing net out of the water; fish were getting caught in it, and it wasn’t easy to get unstuck. “Pull!” One man directed. Our group pulled, and immediately the net came out, sending us backwards. Like the small piece of net I found that one day, there were fish all caught up in it. They were all small fish though, no sharks or anything. I didn’t question my dad about this, as he wasn’t very good at answering my questions.

That same night I sat at our table playing with dominoes. I was making a pattern when I accidentally knocked one over, even though I wasn’t done, and my design was ruined. If I would’ve thrown my hand down quick enough, the dominoes wouldn’t all have fallen down. I thought about what my dad told me that one time and the net. How were the small fish affecting the bigger fish? I decided to try an ask him about it, and he told me about the food chain and stuff. Even though the big fish weren’t directly after by trash, such as fishing nets, it affected their food source. “We humans shouldn’t take only our interests at hand,” he added, “but what is good for the environment.” I think it makes sense to me now. We need to protect our environment, for whatever reason, and the best way is combating the source. I see people litter all of the time, so I don’t think there’s a way to fully halt that behavior, but we can clean up the bay so the fish population is stable. I’d rather a happy earth, even if it means spending my summer helping out with clean-up.