Response to the "Even If We Stopped Polluting Today, Ocean Garbage Patches Would Linger For Hundreds Of Years" Article

          I just finished reading the article "Even If We Stopped Polluting Today, Ocean Garbage Patches Would Linger For Hundreds Of Years" by Beth Buczynki and was absolutely amazed by what I came across. The article talks about the cycle of plastic and how it ends up in the ocean. An attached video in the article explained how researchers tossed surface drifter boards into the ocean. The boards were specially designed to act like plastics. This allowed them to estimate the amount of time plastic remains in the ocean and demonstrated the way they move around and travel all around the world.

  I was truly amazed to hear the cycle of plastic and the way they land in the oceans, how the sun breaks its particles down over time, and how plankton and birds eat this plastic that may even contain toxins. As they eat the toxins, they add toxins into the food chain. It was discussed that getting the plastics out of the ocean is impossible because of how small and diverse it could be. In order to get rid of this issue, we need to go to its source. Companies that manufacture plastics internationally should make them in a way that it could break down and disintegrate over time, so that even if they do end up in our oceans, they won't cause problems like they do today.
          There is more plastic in the ocean than marine life. This is impossible to comprehend. After reading this, I am not sure if the fish I purchase is fish or fresh plastic from our oceans. What interested my attention the most was how our ocean water circulates through eddies, sending our pollution to other countries and vice versa. I feel that people are just waiting for the last minute to actually do something about our world's trash crisis. In order to not forever live in a world of rubbish, we must contribute from all around in order to decrease the use of plastic and littering to not only our oceans, but also to the rest of our environment. As I get deeper into this issue, I get more concerned and terrified. It is crazy how much trash we accumulate, yet we have no idea what we are leading our world into.