Introduction
Plastics contribute towards numerous different types of pollution, such as soil, air and water pollution. This is due to the production, transportation and commercialisation of plastic.
How Plastic Contributes To Air Pollution
An article published in the Journal of Nature Climate Change found the global life-cycle GHG emissions of plastics were 1.7 Gt of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) in 2015. This is expected to grow to 6.5 GtCO2e by 2050.
Air pollution has a significant impact on the acceleration of climate change, as it contributes towards the greenhouse effect.
The knock-on effect of global warming has numerous impacts such as:
- Increasing the severity of Tropical Storms
- Increasing drought
- Increasing flooding
- Increasing the occurrence of diseases, as they thrive in warmer environments
These of course have serious repercussions on humans too such as:
- Crop Failure, reducing food supplies
- Increasing the number of casualties and economic damage to areas that are susceptible to natural disasters
- Flooding also causes huge amounts of economic damage and increases incidences of injury and death
- Destruction of ecosystems, that humans benefit from when it comes to food supplies and the joys of nature tourism
How Plastic Contributes To Soil Pollution
The spread of microplastics can harm soil fertility, due to the harm that is caused to certain species, such as worms. A study found that microplastics in the soil can reduce a worm’s fertility by up to 50%.
Worms play an important role in nutrient cycling by breaking down decaying organic matter and releasing nutrients back into the soil. The nutrient cycle keeps soil fertility enabling the growth of plants and crops. Worms also play a role in aerating the soil due to the extensive burrowing activity, which helps improve drainage and reduce flooding.
How Plastic Contributes To Water Pollution
Increasing Vulnerability Of Marine Life To Prey
A study has found that the ingestion of Nano plastics changes the behaviour of fish species, causing brain damage. They found that the higher the concentration of nano plastics eaten by the fish, the slower they ate and the less they explored their surroundings.
This researcher concluded that this shows evidence of the impact plastic has on their brain.
This is likely to cause a wider impact on the food chains of marine life, therefore disrupting the natural balance.
Biomagnification
Biomagnification is the process of increasing the concentration of a substance.
This occurs when smaller fish consume microplastics, those smaller fish get eaten by larger fish, and those fish get eaten by even larger fish.
Eventually, the concentration of toxic chemicals increases up the food chain and eventually, the larger fish typically get eaten by humans, resulting in us consuming the accumulation of toxic chemicals.
This is why fish like salmon and tuna aren’t recommended to be consumed by humans in larger quantities because of the potential build-up of mercury that has accumulated from the marine food chain.
What has this got to do with plastic in oceans?
Well, Plastics are filled with chemicals that have known to be ENdocrine Disruptor Chemicals (EDCs). These have numerous impacts on our health and can negatively impact our fertility, metabolism and our development to name a few.
Check out this article to find out how Microplastics and EDCs impact our health!
Ocean Dead Zones
Ocean Dead Zones are hypoxic (low oxygen) areas in our oceans. This occurs for a variety of reasons. We are specifically going to discuss how plastic production/pollution is contributing towards them.
Sea Of Plastic Pollution
In some parts of the oceans, plastic pollution stretches for miles covering up huge areas of the sea and lakes. This can negatively impact marine life, as it reduces the concentration of oxygen in our oceans and lakes. Making it more difficult for fish to breathe and swim due to the dark blanket of plastic hanging over them.
This can result in the reduction in marine life, due to the lack of oxygen, consequently reducing food supplies and contributing to ocean dead zones.
Not to forget any injury caused by plastics that harm marine life through the ingestion of plastics and when animals are caught in them. This has resulted in marine animals being strangled or internally damaged unintentionally.
Introduction of invasive species
The components of plastic and its highly durable and lasting life span.
When plastic enters the oceans, it can travel across all trophic regions of the planet.
Species like the Arthropoda, Annelida, and Mollusca, use these plastic rafts to colonise and are transported from region to region. These can alter the structure of other marine communities, through competition with native species, and the introduction of pathogens, such as the zoonotic protozoan parasites and the indirect changes in habitat conditions.
Eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process whereby a body of water receives an excess of nutrients, such as Nitrogen and phosphorous. At normal levels, this would form a layer of blue-green algae or cyanobacteria.
This algae/bacteria is healthy as it is a food and energy source for marine life.
Eutrophication has become more common in our environment, as a result of the increase in factories and the release of pollutants from factories, as the pollutants released from these factories are absorbed by the oceans and therefore causing eutrophication to occur.
Plastic contributes to Eutrophication as a result of how it is manufactured and the transport involved in transporting and manufacturing plastic goods. However, plastic isn’t the only good that is contributing towards eutrophication.
However, when eutrophication occurs the bloom of algae becomes excessive and becomes a thick blanket over the ocean. This reduces the oxygen levels in the ocean/body of water resulting in a reduction in the marine population, eventually contributing towards ocean dead zones.
A particularly interesting case study I the influx of Sargassum in Quintana Roo in Mexico which has led to significant environmental damage and economic damage to the local tourist industry, due to the excessive growth of a seaweed called Sargassum.
Destruction of our Coral Reefs
Coral Reefs are made from a component called Calcium Carbonate, which is alkaline, meaning it is sensitive to acid.
When emissions are produced by factories and cars they rise into the atmosphere and get absorbed into clouds. The nutrients from the emissions, such as Nitrogen and phosphorous combine with rainwater to form acid rain.
The rain is therefore more acidic than normal rainwater. This can alter the chemistry of the sea in two ways:
- Surface run – When the rain lands on land, seeps through the soil and trickles down into the oceans
- Acid Rain lands directly into the sea.
Over time this weakens the structure of coral reefs triggering a stress response, turning corals white and eventually killing them.
This has been seen in 2005 when the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. As well as in Western Australia, mass bleaching events were documented in 1998, 2011-2013 and 2016, with many smaller bleaching events around those times.
This impacts ecosystems in a variety of different ways.
Coral Bleaching
Impact on Ecosystems
The bleaching of coral turns coral reefs from an area with a lot of diversity in colour into a bleach-white area.
This has grave repercussions for around 25 per cent of all marine life, including over 4,000 species of fish, as they are dependent on coral reefs at some point in their life cycle. This makes them significantly more vulnerable to predation and can seriously impact the food chain
Destruction of Habitats
As Coral reefs are largely made out of calcium carbonate and are an alkaline-based chemical compound. The increase in the acidity of the water weakens its structure of it. This has made it more vulnerable to breaking apart and eroding. As the coral reefs break apart this leaves a lot of vulnerable marine life without a habitat. This forces them to migrate, once again leaving them vulnerable to predation.
Conclusion
There is always much more than meets the eye when with environmental issues. Especially one of the larger environmental concerns, such as plastic pollution.
Plastic Pollution negatively impacts us socially, economically and environmentally. This has been seen in places like Mexico where the tourism industry has been negatively affected by the influx of Sargassum due to Eutrophication.
Coral bleaching can also impact nature tourism, as they’ll be fewer coral reefs to explore in the future. Ultimately resulting in less money, fewer jobs, and a damaged environment.
Plastic pollution can also have a huge impact on our food supplies with the:
- The Biomagnification of toxic chemicals
- Ingestion of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, altering fish brain chemistry
- Numerous ocean dead zones.
Affecting us socially, economically and environmentally.
The impact soil pollution can have on crop yields, the poorer soil quality. This can result in a smaller crop yield for self or food supplies.
Environmentalism is so much more than just the environment.
It’s everything we as a human race have depended on for centuries to get us to this stage of development.
Investment into saving our planet now will be thanked by future generations to come.
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