Microplastics
It's just the average day. You go out to the grocery store to restock your fridge, coming back with your arms filled with bags. Deciding there is no more use for them, you throw them out the garbage disposal. Little do you know that they may form to be the most deadly plastics on Earth.
Microplastics are these, tiny, tiny bits of plastic of no specific composition. They're pretty much any piece of synthetic material less than 5 mm long. While your first thought may be That's way too small to be significant!, microplastics have impacted our land more than we can imagine.
There are two types of microplastics- primary and secondary. Primary microplastics are pieces of plastic that are manufactured small. Beads and fibers from synthetic clothing are some examples of primary microplastics. Secondary microplastics are formed when bigger plastics, like bags or bottles, disintegrate to minute particles. Plastics take billions of years to degrade, so imagine how long we've been polluting the environment for these big plastics to wear down!
So your second question is most likely, Okay, so microplastics are bad, but they can't be that bad, can they? I mean, they don't seem to affect our lives so... And yet again, you stand corrected. Microplastics, more than any place in this world, affect marine life. Think of the garbage dumped into the sea. Of course, a large percentage of this trash is bound to consist of microplastics. The rest is probably going to stay in the sea long enough to turn into microplastics. Now imagine the beginning of the marine food chain. This includes the tiniest of fish, right? So they're swimming along trying to find things to eat, as well as not getting eaten themselves. Just as they gobble upon what they think is some food, a slightly bigger fish comes and eats them for dinner. But here's the catch- that thing the little fish ate wasn't food; it was a microplastic. A plastic so minute that the fish didn't even notice. Now, the bigger fish has a microplastic in it too, not because it ate a piece, but because it ate a fish that ate a piece. Now this fish will eat many more of little fish, all potentially with microplastics within them, until an even bigger fish comes to eat it. This fish will eat even more fish, containing even more microplastics! It can be observed that the percentage of microplastics increases as the food chain goes higher.
Let's assume this happens until we reach a fairly large fish, like tuna. The tuna, oblivious to the toxins within it, has probably consumed a healthy amount of fish in its lifetime. Now, what's a living being that eats tuna?
Oh that's right!
HUMANS!
I guess it could be claimed that the fish would be gutted before it is consumed, but think of it this way: What would happen if you ate one microplastic every day? At first, nothing apparent will show. But in the long run, it is bound to create toxins and poison you. The same would happen with the fish. While we may be able to take the actual plastics out, there is no way we can completely get rid of the side effects it causes.
This doesn't only harm us, but sea birds too. Numerous seagulls die from microplastic poisoning, their stomachs bulging with the harmful waste.
If we want to rid our world of this dangerous material, we need to raise awareness.
Our world's fate is up to us.
Let's not give up on our shot.
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/21282786668
Microplastics are these, tiny, tiny bits of plastic of no specific composition. They're pretty much any piece of synthetic material less than 5 mm long. While your first thought may be That's way too small to be significant!, microplastics have impacted our land more than we can imagine.
There are two types of microplastics- primary and secondary. Primary microplastics are pieces of plastic that are manufactured small. Beads and fibers from synthetic clothing are some examples of primary microplastics. Secondary microplastics are formed when bigger plastics, like bags or bottles, disintegrate to minute particles. Plastics take billions of years to degrade, so imagine how long we've been polluting the environment for these big plastics to wear down!
So your second question is most likely, Okay, so microplastics are bad, but they can't be that bad, can they? I mean, they don't seem to affect our lives so... And yet again, you stand corrected. Microplastics, more than any place in this world, affect marine life. Think of the garbage dumped into the sea. Of course, a large percentage of this trash is bound to consist of microplastics. The rest is probably going to stay in the sea long enough to turn into microplastics. Now imagine the beginning of the marine food chain. This includes the tiniest of fish, right? So they're swimming along trying to find things to eat, as well as not getting eaten themselves. Just as they gobble upon what they think is some food, a slightly bigger fish comes and eats them for dinner. But here's the catch- that thing the little fish ate wasn't food; it was a microplastic. A plastic so minute that the fish didn't even notice. Now, the bigger fish has a microplastic in it too, not because it ate a piece, but because it ate a fish that ate a piece. Now this fish will eat many more of little fish, all potentially with microplastics within them, until an even bigger fish comes to eat it. This fish will eat even more fish, containing even more microplastics! It can be observed that the percentage of microplastics increases as the food chain goes higher.
Let's assume this happens until we reach a fairly large fish, like tuna. The tuna, oblivious to the toxins within it, has probably consumed a healthy amount of fish in its lifetime. Now, what's a living being that eats tuna?
Oh that's right!
HUMANS!
I guess it could be claimed that the fish would be gutted before it is consumed, but think of it this way: What would happen if you ate one microplastic every day? At first, nothing apparent will show. But in the long run, it is bound to create toxins and poison you. The same would happen with the fish. While we may be able to take the actual plastics out, there is no way we can completely get rid of the side effects it causes.
This doesn't only harm us, but sea birds too. Numerous seagulls die from microplastic poisoning, their stomachs bulging with the harmful waste.
If we want to rid our world of this dangerous material, we need to raise awareness.
Our world's fate is up to us.
Let's not give up on our shot.
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/21282786668
wait, garbage disposals as in the weird monster cutter-uppers in american sinks? those things? cause those terrify me, also who the heck throws anything in there, especially plastic bags??? you're gonna get your fingers chopped off smh
ReplyDeleteDid ya catch the Hamilton reference? *I'm not giving away my shot! I'm not giving away my shot!*
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