In our world of consumerism we generate a lot of garbage, we
have littered our ecosystems with plastic and now we are seeing the affects.
The oceans are filled with trash and a large amount of this trash has formed
the Pacific garbage patch. This garbage hell covers the same amount of area as
the state of Texas. Scientists are constantly studying this area trying to
figure out what role this “plasticsphere” is playing in our ecosystem. Discoveries made last year show that 1000
different microbes live on the plastic garbage
floating in the ocean. The majority of the microbes found were members of the
genus Vibro which is known to cause disease
in humans and animals. The astonishing part is that scientists have no idea how
those microbes got there or if we’re affecting the oceans ecology. The researchers
also found that the most harmful bacteria like to live on plastic compared to neutral
bacteria. Scientists now want to see what happens when fish ingest these
microbes. A few things could happen in this case, the fish could become sick
and die, or the bacteria would thrive off of the nutrients inside of the fishes
gut. Both cases seem rather scary, unfortunately there seems to be no happy
ending to this garbage story. Work like this is helping us prepare for the
future disaster of out ecosystems. We
are creating a breeding ground for some of the worst biological weapons, but we
are not fighting against man, we are fighting against nature, which should
frighten you much much more.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9fcgmwBfqzXmX7_DZA1dPiQDwtAM6BRhAzEqClZLgijxAuos75Q556LyWXOsboIhZjK8c1ec2QLoTt-kbbl3Zq6wW3HkHJtdrSqOzoilwlO4QbTWsampEKvn5SSkr8zN8kD9yGA5JDE2/s1600/3428530550_5d68278345.jpg
Article---- http://www.livescience.com/43650-ocean-plastic-houses-microbes.html
This is horrible how much plastic gets swept away into oceans and what makes it worse is that the entire environment is suffering due to our own negligence. What's even worse is that the microbes that stick to the debris make everything worse by getting already sick animals to become even more sick. I'm sad that this thing happens in the world that we live in. If only we could help stop all of this in its tracks to save the environment for the next generations.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is horrific to think of how badly humans are abusing the planet by abusing its resources that result in a great level of pollution. It also seems unbelievable to think that humans have dumped enough trash in the ocean that would equal the size of Texas. Your pictures paint a clear picture of how bad this issue really is. I believe that if we can't find new materials to use other than plastic, we might resort to making recycling a law. There was actually a few other people in class that posted about this issue, which is interesting because we are all drawn to this topic of pollution.
ReplyDeleteHi, I am a PhD student in Dr. Northup's lab. This is a great example demonstrating the negative effects humans have on the environment. The impact humans have had on the environment, such as the burning of fossil fuels, are real issues that are going to have to be addressed if we are to avoid potentially catostrophic ecological consequences. With respect to global warming, some scientists believe that it is too late to make changes in our use of fossil fuels and that negative consequences are inevitable.
ReplyDeleteHow effective was the argument? Do you think it would convince the reader to use less plastic?
ReplyDelete