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The Worlds Plastic Pollution Crisis Explained - Coggle Diagram
The Worlds Plastic Pollution Crisis Explained
Introduction
Plastic pollution is ubiquitous
Disposable plastic products overwhelm the world
inefficient or nonexistent garbage collection systems
prompted UN to negotiate a global treaty
How did this happen?
Plastics products made from fossil fuels accelerated after WWII
Plastic makes our life convenient
revolutionized medicine with life saving devices
made space travel possible
lightened cars and jets
saved lives with helmets, incubators, and equipment for clean drinking water
How Plastics move around the world
Most plastic trash goes from land to oceans
through major rivers: as conveyor belts
most trash remains in coastal waters
some are transported through ocean currents around the world
eg. Plastic trash on Henderson Island (uninhabited atoll) are from all over the world via South Pacific gyre (circular ocean current)
Microplastics
Plastic waste broken down by sunlight, wind, and wave action into small particles
can be found every corner of the globe
microfibers
broken down from microplastics
can be found even in municipal drinking water systems
Harm to Wildlife
examples
millions of animals are killed per year because of Plastic pollution
700 species (endangered ones included) are affected
nearly every seabird species eat plastics
types of harms
entanglement
animals strangled by abandoned fishing gear/discarded six-pack rings
starvation
microplastics are fond in >100 aquatic species
often are expelled
block digestive tracts or pierce organs-> death
stomach packed with plastics-->case starvation