North Pacific Garbage Patch Reflection

287 Words2 Pages
The Great Pacific Garbage patch is one of the most atrocious disasters that all of humankind is responsible for. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the vortex where the garbage patch is located, has become a covetous horde of garbage that forages and lures debris in like a magnet. Thus, an empire of flotsam and jetsam is created and it will not stop accruing anytime soon. Plastic, the main substance engulfed within the vortex, is an integral part of our world. It provides us comfort when it’s in the form of a carpet or fleece, and convenience when we carry our groceries home. However, plastic also proves to be a fatal illusion for marine life. Various aquatic animals, including jellyfish, salps, and albatrosses, have lost their lives by misinterpreting this manmade substance for prey. As consumers of plastic, we are all guilty of contaminating the world’s largest water body and murdering thousands of marine animals. Due to the inaccuracy of news broadcasting, an overwhelming number of people are blithely ignorant of the damage we are causing and thus, do not contribute to the process of reducing our human fingerprints on the planet. We must take the extra time to clean up after ourselves and bring back the Pacific Ocean’s original state. Chief Seattle stated in his letter to the American government in the 1800’s, “This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” As children of the earth, we must care for our wounded
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