Saturday, 16 November 2013

Week 7: Great Pacific Garbage Patch

     The Earth’s surface is covered in seventy five percent with water. Everything that lives on earth need water as well as oxygen to stay alive. Unfortunately, human activities damage our environment. Water is not as clean as it used to be years ago. There are places where fish dies because of water contamination.

Water pollution is dangerous not only for animals living in water but anyone who drinks it. Water pollution affects entire biological food chain. If an animal drinks contaminated water, it becomes contaminated. When we eat meat that comes from those animals, we transfer those contaminants to our body. Water pollutions are caused by direct incorporation of hazardous pollutants like plastic and oil into the water system.
Why is plastic bad for environment?


Some products made from plastic are more harmful for the environment than others. Plastic bags are one of those products that are very harmful for the environment. It happens that plastic bags are more likely not to be recycled than plastic bottles. Plastic bags are also deadly for animals living in water. They are produced from not renewable resources.  Plastic can take up to 1000 years to decompose in the ground, and about 450 years in water, releasing poisonous chemical substances.
  
Industrial waste often gets into water through blowing wind or urban canals.  About eighty percent of waste in the ocean comes from land. The sources of these pollutants are yet again the large industries and factories that dispose off their waste in lakes and ponds. It is said that this waste is collected in the "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch", also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex  located in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N  42°N.




I think that people should take responsibility for the actions they take. Humans cause environmental pollution. It is in our interest to be eco friendly. Perhaps there are things we can do to minimize pollution. Do you have any ideas how we could minimize industrial pollutions?

We are responsible for the environment we live in, as we are the ones who change it so rapidly. This harm will come back eventually in water we drink and food we eat.  

What can we do to stop this from happening? 

13 comments:

  1. I think it's a little too late for those questions. But we may be anle to slow this process.
    We are terrible to whole environement. We kill other species, we destroy. We see movies with aliens, who want's to kill us all. Aren't we that kind of an aliens?
    One thing is to find a way, better solution to current industrial stuff, like bags etc. Another thing is to convince companies, to use those enviromental friendly things. And then convince customers to pay more, to save our planet. People don't care. Kf they can buy something cheaper, they will :(

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  2. Plastic bags are only an example. The problem is much more complex. Solution to the issue of not reusable plastic bags is actually very simple. Use the bags that can be use many times. This is what we do in my house.

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  3. Changing the way how people cope with dispose of rubbish is highly diffucult. Throwing them out in places like ocean or forest is much easier and chepaer than for example segregation. There are continously being encancted new resolutions about management of garbage but it's impossible to enforce all of them. Maybe something will change when serious problems will come, like insufficiency of drinking water or some ecological dieseaster which affects human directly

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  4. Change habits, change habits, change habits.
    We are used to being comfortable and society dependent on plastic. If each of us realized that the garbage does not disappear but are stored. Lack of awareness in humans is the cause of bad habits.
    Probably problem of plastic bags would solved by itself.
    what you need to do? You need to start thinking about tomorrow today.
    We don't want to these beautiful landscapes would be flood in the future by wave of garbage.

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  5. Unfortunately the oceans and our Baltic Sea are very dirty. I think it’s hard to change people’s habits as they are used to throw trash into the woods and water and let others worry about the trash. Like others have mentioned we have to work with large companies to make eco-friendly changes.
    I think it’s an on time topic as the current Warsaw Climate Change Conference is on its way. Will it change anything asides from the massive costs associated with it, we will see…

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  6. I just hate people who like it was nothing throw they garbage to the sea or beach... I really hapy that film like "happy feet" that show some of that problem, mayby children will think about throw away thing like plastic bags to teh sea because little sweet pinguin might die because of that :<
    We must change thinking of people but it's really difficult.. people theses days are too lazy to take empty! bottle and go with it to thash can... Me and my friends always take our garbage from the beach.
    I don't know why people didn't think like they will come back there, and wanna have clean space... but mayby they think garbage will magicly desapear?

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  7. I also think that we have to change our habits. Maybe one person doesn't have the power to save our nature, but it would be possible if every people acted accordingly, it would create some kind of scale affect. Small steps first!

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  8. I agree that people should take more responsibility for the environment. We should take care of it. This is our surrounding, our health, our life.

    I think the socity should be more conscious. "Being green" should be something normal. We ought to teach children to cake care of the environment, so those actions become more popular among crowds.

    One ideal came to my mind : that there should be an award for taking care and the punishment for not taking care. But I am not so sure..It shouldn't be a sad duty. People have to want to do it. Otherwise it's hopeless.

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  9. Sad movies at the end of the day, sad but true. I wonder if there is still time to do something? Is not too late to change habit? Not use plastic bags appear to be in the moment of little importance. Of course you need to do. This is a very serious global problem. I am very glad that we finally been noticed and we are trying to clean up our mess. Water pollution is it really contamination around the world.
    Delving into the subject watched a few other movies. Every other was getting worse and worse...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePvTuATnjw

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  10. This is actually very good topic for discussion. Dalvia said that it might be too late. I do not agree with you on this. Later is better than never. I agree with you yoshi that changing way that people cope is difficult but difficult is not impossible. There are many countries that are segregating waste with succes. Offcors it might be impossible to get 100% of waste to be recycled. But if we can reach this 80% that would be a great success. I truly believe that this might happen one day. Maybe the solution will come with development of our already advanced technology. Przemek you said that we have to change our habits and that our society dependents on plastic. Perhaps we should to build up "awareness" of other people and if they would know how bad their habits are for our environment they would change them. I think that every government should feel responsible for the waste generated in their countries. There is many things we could do. For example project that build people's awareness could be launched starting from primary and secondary schools. TV advert could also be effective. And of course more restricted law, which would stop some of those bad behaviours.

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  11. I encountered this problem when I was traveling in Hawaii and California. I heard stories about huge "artificial islands" of trash, plastic bottles and other items floating above chemicals. The size of those "islands" is enormous right now. Thinking how humanity did it in just a dozen of decades is astonishing. It makes me wonder what will happen in the future, with increasing production and increasing earth population. I think this is a VERY major issue that should be thought about.

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  12. Air pollution is one of the most important problems of the world.
    Should segregate garbage and try to consume as little energy. Use of renewable energy sources. The use of catalysts in automobiles reduces the amount of harmful exhaust emissions.

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  13. We knew that habitat for change among human kind is requisite, even necessary but it's difficult operation and may bring little effects. All this movies show how people relate to nature and also forgetting that we are a part of it and injuring nature we injure himself.
    There is many new ways for disposal a garbage, for example: to Space (but through this kind of action we make another scrap-heap?) or concreting garbage's under the ground. Good idea is invet some of ecological replacement for example bag (as it shows one of these movies). Of course, "ecological fabric" I don't mean wood or something like this, because for me cutting trees for "ecological paper bags" is this same how building another non ecological factory for coal. For me we should use some nature textile fabric and using one bag many times. Of course now we talking about plastic bags but it is much more toxic garbage's in our World.
    Nowadays, we rather don't change older humans habits much but we should try start educating younger generation which in the near future could change much more.

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