Written by Rohit G | Updated: September 4, 2020 09:53:02 pm
Plastics on Marine life in Earth’s oceans by 2050.
Plastic is found everywhere, especially in the form of Bags and Covers. Such bags consistently make the top-ten list of plastic waste items collected during the annual Coastal Clean-up Day led by the non-profit environmental group Ocean Conservancy. This implies that the mass production of P-Bags may end up being one of humanity’s biggest regrets.
Besides, Plastic made Water bottles, food wrappers, bottle caps, and straws, these wastes are creating an ocean “wave” that, researchers believe, will result in the mass of ocean plastics becoming greater than the mass of marine life in Earth’s oceans by 2050.
The World Economic Forum in its Annual Report in 2016, stated that worldwide use has risen 20-fold in the past 50 years. At this rate, it is predicted to double again in the next 20 years. It is estimated that by the year 2050, we will use three times as much as we used in 2014. In addition to this, we all are very well aware that plastic can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. If things continue to be like this, it is highly possible that the Earth and all of its life, including humans, will be drowning in plastic in the future.
Research on Plastic Pollution
Besides water bodies such as oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers, the P-Waste is affecting life, ecosystems, and us. It has been documented that more than 180 species of animals have been believed to ingest the toxic debris, according to the British Antarctic Survey, including birds, fish, turtles, and marine mammals such as whales. Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna and Environment Agency Austria found Microplastics, particles of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters in stool samples from all of their human test subjects.
A research team from Germany is warning us about the adverse and harmful impact of Microplastics in soils, sediments, and freshwater could have a long-term negative effect on such ecosystems. According to the results based on their research, They came to the conclusion that terrestrial pollution is much higher than marine pollution – estimated at four to 23 times higher, depending on the environment. It is a known fact that when these toxic particles break down, they gain new physical and chemical properties, increasing the risk that they will have a toxic effect on organisms.
The larger the number of potentially affected species and ecological functions, the more likely it is that toxic effects will occur and will have a massively adverse effect on all living organisms.
Impact on all living organisms
Therefore we must take a stand and ensure that the usage of Polythene bags, bottles, Polythenein any form, or size is brought to nil for the betterment of the planet and the million organisms inhabiting it. We must all in our small ways contribute towards the eradication of plastic which will have an enriching impact on all living organisms.
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