Finding Garbage

Finding Garbage

 



Figure 1: Crush from Finding Nemo 

What's up, dudes? My name's Crush and I've been riding waves along the East Australian Current with my buddies for 150 years now. It's always fun to hang loose and meet new fish friends, but we've been dealing with a totally not rad problem lately. Let me show you what Marine Pollution is, and how it has been harshing our mellow here in the deep blue sea.

 

What is Marine Pollution?

Marine pollution is basically when humans decide they don't want their garbage up on land anymore, so they dump it into the ocean. We know sometimes you drop your trash in here by accident so that's chill, but a lot of my buddies are starting to not feel too good from all of it. Let me show you just how bad this whole pollution thing really is.

 

Why Marine Pollution is Totally Not Cool

If there is one thing sea turtles love to do, it's eat. We always snack on jellyfish when we're cruising in the water, but pretty soon we're going to have to find something else to eat. The jellyfish have been getting real sick lately because of all the bogus plastic and chemicals around them, and it makes them all small and unhealthy (1). If this keeps happening, there won't be any tasty jellyfish left to eat, and my buddies will get sick too if we eat the bad ones.

 

If that wasn't bad enough, my home is also getting all screwed up. Just the other day, we were floating along in the Pacific and we found this super cool island. The only problem is, when we got closer we realized the whole island was made of garbage! This weird Garbage Patch (2) is basically a mountain of every shoe that doesn't fit you anymore, McDonald's bag you threw out, and toy you've broken, all thrown together in the water. This patch is real confusing, and we saw a bunch of other animals having the same problem. They all thought it was real too but it turned out to be totally gross, and we don't want it taking up so much space in our ocean home.

 

Figure 2: One of my bros got himself caught in a net

You might be thinking to yourself, "dude, just don't swim toward the giant island of trash," but when you're too busy going with the flow, you don't always notice all the bogus things in front of you. We know humans like to try and catch sea creatures like us in those big fishing nets of yours like you did with my buddy Nemo, but sometimes you leave them in the water and they get in our way (2). Just look what happened to my friend when he didn't see it coming- he's all trapped now and he can't keep having a righteous time with us because he can't get out. This kind of thing happens to a lot of us down here, and I don't want to be next!



 

Help Keep My Home Safe

What can you little dudes do to help keep my home safe and clean? Just remember to throw all your trash away where it belongs, and tell your friends to do the same. Turtles don't go around making your home into a mess, so you shouldn't do it to us either. Besides, if this keeps happening, you won't be able to go to the beach anymore, which is totally not cool. So hang loose, stay awesome, and remember to keep the ocean clean!

 

 

References



(1) Burns, Loree Griffin. (2007). Tracking trash: Flotsam, jetsam, and the science of ocean motion. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company.
(2) Roberts, C. (2012). The sorrow beneath the sea. Newsweek, 159(21), 26-31.
Figure 1: Crush from Finding Nemo [Illustration] (2016). Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=641&ei=ZHDsWoGJKcmP5wLD8rigCQ&q=crush+finding+nemo&oq=crush+&gs_l=img.1.0.35i39k1j0l9.1385.2099.0.4520.7.7.0.0.0.0.110.556.4j2.6.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.6.539.0...0.bx0i9eE0d6A#imgrc=kHsuyi7Dv08uPM:&spf=1525444714311
Figure 2: Sea turtle caught in a net. [Photograph] (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=641&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=48bpWsiyJsXx5gLlv6P4Ag&q=garbage+patch&oq=garbage+patch&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.2460013.2463314.0.2463788.14.9.0.5.5.0.133.993.0j8.9.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.13.1226.0..0i67k1.60.WUkFCyRaB2E#imgrc=wckX6XlPbf3DkM:&spf=1525272708516