Ericka McGhee 4/22/26 - Ocean Pollution (outside reading)

 Recently, I read an article about the plastic pollution that enters the ocean. This article was posted on oceanconservancy.org. This article talks about the amount of plastic that enters the ocean every day. Millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. While this is a problem in itself, a bigger problem lies underneath it. Plastic pollution can kill marine life and animals. These marine animals, like sea turtles, birds, and mammals, will eat or become entangled in this plastic, which causes them to struggle to live. They are either trapped or unable to get it out of their intestines because they become clogged. A lot of this plastic comes from land, including food packages, water bottles, and plastic rings from soda bottles. The plastics enter the ocean because of poor waste management and the overuse of these plastics. These single-use plastics end up in a landfill, and most of the time it sends up in the ocean. This problem is only getting worse; these tons of plastic that enter the ocean every year could increase dramatically if action is not taken to fix this. Although removing plastic from the ocean helps, it isn't a temporary fix. The article says the real solution is to stop plastic from entering the ocean first; this is just one of the ways to fix this problem. We can also help by reducing the amount of plastic we use, especially single-use plastics. We must also improve recycling and waste systems in order for these plastics to stay out of the ocean. Another major fix would be to create laws and policies to limit pollution. This would reduce the amount of plastic used, which would not only help the ocean but also the entire planet. This change needs to happen quickly before there is nothing else we can do. 

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