Plastic Bags or Jelly Fish? The Effects of Plastic Waste on Sea Turtles
by Abigail Brown, Chance Eggert, and Ryan Wagner
The ever growing use and irresponsible disposal of plastics has led to significant impacts on both the current status and future of many different organisms, but sea turtles in particular are directly impacted on a variety of levels. Human overconsumption and waste of plastics can degrade essential breeding grounds for sea turtles, and the presence of these plastics in the water can lead to their consumption by sea turtles, which frequently results in their strangulation. These harmful outcomes of plastic use and consumption impact humans at well, yet the policies behind these issues are so complex. This misuse of plastics can be derived from our own convoluted perception of what the world around us actually is and how it react to our actions, stemming from the ideas of resourcism and umwelt. Plastics that make their way into the oceans present themselves at every level for sea turtles.
Since it’s creation, plastic has been the single most useful and destructive things on our planet. Not only does it allow us as humans to make our lives easier, but it has also made us forget the impact of plastics on ourselves and other living beings just like us. When a piece of plastic is thrown out by someone most people forget any connection to that material or think that it will end up in a land-fill with all the other things we throw out. This is where we have been mislead, because on a yearly basis, over 8 million metric tons of plastic ends up in our oceans (Ocean Conservancy).
Key Words:
Table of Contents
1. The World Around Us: Levels of Plastic Effects
2. Societal Components to the Problem: From People to Policy — Environmental Impacts
3. Why Do Plastics End Up in Our Oceans?
4. How Can Humans Mitigate Our Plastic Waste?
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