Preventing Plastic Pollution is a Worldwide Effort

 

Plastic Pollution in the ocean is a massive hazard for marine life. There is approximately 8 million tons of plastics are dumped into the ocean every year, and this plastic can be consumed by animals and/or accidently get marine life caught in the debris.  Plastic in the ocean has become such an issue that entire nations, companies, and even consumers themselves are taking action to prevent worsening of the issue.

 

The web source is a video by the California Academy of Sciences. “Healthy Oceans: Preventing Plastic Pollution” explains how plastics enter the ocean and what patterns the pollution takes. The video then gives examples of actions both companies have taken to prevent plastic pollutions, as well as actions the viewer can take to help combat the pollution.

The purpose of the article is to educate viewers about plastic pollution and encourage them to take action. Evidence of this is how the video brings in experts to discuss how animals are negatively affected by the plastic as well as how companies have also caused pollution. The video also feature teen actors who give examples of actions that can reduce plastic use, such as using a refillable bottle and volunteering to clean up beaches.

The audience of this video seems to be young teens, as the main speakers in the beginning are youth. The language is simple to understand, and pictures are used in the video to help the viewer understand the concepts that are being talked about. The video also makes use of analogies to aid the viewer’s understanding, such as comparing the rate of ocean dumping per year as “That’s like dumping one garbage truck full of plastic in the ocean every minute.”

The stance of the video is anti-plastic pollution. Evidence of this is the discussion of how plastics negatively affect marine life and how to reduce plastic use in daily life.

 

In the article “Chinese scientists hope to fight ocean pollution by making plastic that breaks down when exposed to seawater“, Alice Shen reports how chinese scientists are developing a biodegradable version of plastic in order to combat pollution.The article provides relevant images of plastic waste, as well as a political cartoon of polar bears on plastic and a video about how severe the situation on plastic pollution is in South Asia and Oceania.

The purpose of the article is to inform the reader about the existence of this special plastic and how it works. Evidence of this is shown when the article explains what makes it biodegradable, as Shen reports “The team adds water-soluble and hydrolysable compounds to biodegradable polyester.” The article also explains how this aids in preventing pollution as the plastic then breaks down into “acids, water, and oxygen.”

The intended audience for this article is for english-speaking people with ties to China. The biggest evidence for this is the name of the newspaper, “The South China Post,” as well as the focus on how plastics affect China and Oceania. The article also goes into detail on how the plastic has already been approved to produce in 4 factories.

The article is mainly positive of the plastic, but with some doubts. Despite explains the benefits these biodegradable plastics would provide, the article addresses some issues the project is facing, such as how it could be difficult to mass produce and may be expensive.

 

Erica Cirino’s article “The Environment’s New Clothes: Biodegradable Textiles Grown from Live Organisms,” offers a look into a developing method of clothing creation to help combat the waste in the fashion industry through the use of live organisms. The article makes use of images of the biodegradable fabric and its creation in a laboratory so the reader can see the product.

The purpose of the article is to help the reader understand how the fashion industry creates waste, and how the use of live organisms can create biodegradable clothing that can be thrown out without the possibility of environmental damage. Cirino explains processes in which dyes are obtained from seeds and getting a material similar to leather is made through mats of bacteria.

The audience of this article appear to be those in the fashion industry and the environmentally conscious. Evidence of this is through the process that the biodegradable fabric is used to make clothes and other items, as well as the benefits the products have in preventing landfill waste and plastic use, as the “textiles could be reused before being sent to a composting facility to biodegrade.”

The article supports the use of the material, as it lists the benefits it would have, as well talking about some of the accolades the users of the material have received. However it also talks about some of the issues in creating the products as well, such as chemical use, and how the designers try to work around that issue through the use of “indigenous preserving techniques—such as tanning with smoke instead of chemicals.”

 

The scholarly source is “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution: Policy Initiatives to Address Wayward Waste” by John H. Tibbetts. In this peer-reviewed article, Tibbets explains the major sources of plastic pollution and how different countries and organizations are attempting to solve this issue. Provided in the article is a chart that lists which countries produce the highest amount of plastic waste per year.

The purpose of the article is to inform the reader about where plastic pollution comes from, and what’s being done to eliminate the issue. Tibbetts uses the growth of megacities as a major source of plastic pollution, as “nearly a third of the urban population in developing countries lives in slums or informal settlements that lack city services, including solid-waste disposal.” Tibbetts also mentions examples of policies countries have put in place to curb pollution, such as the extended producer policy, which requires brand owners to “pay the costs of tracking, managing, and recycling or disposing of packaging after their products have been used.”

The audience Tibbetts is attempting to reach out to would be those who are interested in environmentalism. Evidence would be the name of the journal the article is published in, “Environmental Health Perspectives.”

The stance of this peer-reviewed article is anti-plastic waste. Evidence of this would be when Tibbetts describes the benefits of anti-pollution policies. He informs the reader that because of a decision to ban landfills in some European countries, “90–100% of plastics are recycled or used for energy production in these countries.” He also describes how the extended producer policy helps European countries with managing plastic waste, as out of  25.2 million metric tons of plastic in 2012, “26% was recycled, 36% was recovered for fuel, and 38% went to landfills.”

 

All of these sources go into how much of an issue plastic pollution in the ocean is, and what’s being done to stop it. Both Cirino’s and Shen’s articles go into how scientists are attempting to curb waste in the private sector, as companies and entrepreneurs team up with scientists to try to make products that are much less damaging to the environment. However they differ in their methods, as Cirino explains how fashion designers are using live organisms to create their products, while Shen writes about how scientists are using chemicals to try and change the plastic to biodegrade in the ocean. Tibbetts’ article and the California Academy of Sciences’ video on plastic pollution both explain what can be done to prevent dumping and reduce the amount of waste in the ocean. Tibbetts however informs the reader what’s being done on a global scale, while the California Academy of Sciences gives how advice on how young people can help with preventing plastic waste in their local area. Tibbetts also goes into more detail about the exact sources of plastic pollution around the world, while the California Academy of Sciences gives general information to make it easier for young viewers to understand.

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Shen, Alice. “How Chinese Scientists Hope to Use the Sea to Fight Plastic Pollution.” South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post, 7 Sept. 2018, www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2163302/chinese-scientists-hope-fight-ocean-pollution-making-plastic.

 

“Healthy Oceans:Preventing Plastic Pollution” Youtube, California Academy of Sciences,  31 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgzEcR_Xc-s.

 

Cirino, Erica. “The Environment’s New Clothes: Biodegradable Textiles Grown from Live Organisms.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 14 Sept. 2018, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-environments-new-clothes-biodegradable-textiles-grown-from-live-organisms/.

 

Tibbetts, John H. “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution: Policy Initiatives to Address Wayward Waste.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 123, no. 4, 2015, pp. A90–3.