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Criticseye.docxCritic’s Eye 3
Critic’s Eye- (Marine pollution)
by [Name of Student]
Course
Professor
[Name of Institution]
November 30, 2018.
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Critic’s Eye
Marine Pollution
Introduction
Plastic is a substance, which if not recycled, can affect the environment in a lot of harsh ways because it does not find a way to go anywhere. It becomes a part of garbage and eventually becomes a part of oceans and seas where it affects all the species who reside there. It affects their lives and disturbs them. It happens because plastic is not collected from garbage and streets and it is not sent to factories for the procedure of recycling. It enters into streams, lakes, etch and eventually gets its way to enter into oceans.
About 40% of the surface of oceans of the world is plastic and it has become a global crises. Plastic is a common part of our lives. We eat food in it, our drinks come in plastic usually, our new cloths also has it, and many household products are also made up of plastic. When we throw them away, it becomes a part of garbage trucks and ends up becoming a part of world oceans. Marine life is being affected from these things because they have been replacing them. Plastic is everywhere we go. Grocery stores, our restaurants, our toiletries, toys, furniture, clothes, etc. are full of substance made up of plastic. Because of this high usage of it, marine pollution is increasing and as a result our own foods are getting affected from it (contributers, 2018).
Theory of Externalities
Theory of externalities states that in urban life, many disturbances take place because many agents provide harm to the environment like smokers, traffic, pollution of all kinds, etc. people who responsible for the damage that environment gets because of these things are never even aware of what they have done (Kanemoto, 1980). Same is the case with marine externalities. In this world, every single minute, a truck full of plastic load is dumbed in the ocean to get rid of it. What people do not understand is that factories can easily recycle it and ocean life can be saved from such destructions that it provides to them. Similarly, it has been estimated that by the year 2050, in the oceans, plastic will outweigh the number of fishes.
The way marine wildlife suffers because of plastic is unimaginable. Many of the fishes die because they eat little plastic substances like bottle caps, etc. and cannot digest them. Millions of them are not able to get out of plastic bags, nets, and fishing gears which are left in water by humans. Even in the least depth of oceans, small particles of plastic are also found. Polyethylene and polyesters which comes when washing machine water is thrown in oceans. They also affect the life there in many severe ways. What people never understand is that when they throw plastic in water, they think that it has gone away but it never goes anywhere. It reaches at creatures who live there and affect them in unimaginable ways (Taylor-Smith, 2018).
Purpose statement
Discussion
Environmental degradation is being done because of this careless attitude of humans towards plastic and the issues which arise because of it. Government and responsible authorities must look at this issue with open eyes and must make public policies to reduce the harmful effects of plastic on marine life
Negative externalities of plastic consumption.
This section looks at how third parties are affected by inefficient recycling of plastic bags and how this is not reflected in the market price.
Plastic recycling- Law and Economics: Recycling has both a legal and economic perspective. Legally, there are specific prerequisites at national and international level. Economically, it is a form of market failure. The economic aspect of recycling doesn’t show much importance of the process that is why there are no or very few policies about it. However, legally, it is a matter of life and death of many marine species that is why it is a highly important issue (Taylor-Smith, 2018).
· The government must work to reduce externalities caused by plastic by making different rules about usage and recycling of plastic.
· People must be given necessary awareness about usage of plastic in real life.
· At beaches, there must be a system about where the people should throw their plastic bottles and other substances so water should be saved for their attacks.
· There should be a taxation on the usage of plastic bag for daily life purposes and in this way people will stop using them or will try to make use of different alternative ways.
· Public places must offer free drinkable water so people will not have to buy water bottles when they are out (External Costs of Pollution from Plastic, n.d.).
Limitations and challenges in implementing the proposed strategies
In societies, no policy can be implemented until and unless there are two things. From the level of authorities, strict rules and regulations must be imposed on people and then they will stop doing what they are not supposed to do. So when it comes to usage of plastic in daily life, strict rules and regulations must be there and then people will take care of it. 2nd thing is that logical awareness must also be spread among people and this will affect their minds and they will try to use plastic in less amount.
We, the common people can take initiatives and start reducing all kinds of pollution from our environment by doing whatever we can do. At the end, here I want to share a case or an example where Professor Christopher Uhl from Pennsylvania University took an initiative and contributed in reducing environmental pollution.
Professor Christopher Uhl taught Environmental Science at the Pennsylvania University in 1982. She was greatly inspired by ecological studies and always wanted to bring some change in the ecosystem. She was overwhelmed as she read about the destructions that the humans were providing to the ecosystem because of pollution, wasting of water and coal, over population, and many other similar factors. It has deeply affected her mind and she was enthusiast to do something for the world. She took a very little step and considered the University of Pennsylvania as a small ecosystem where food, water, coal, and other resources were in plenty and where all these resources were being wasted by people. She knew that this was going to result into huge destruction of this ecosystem so she called for help and with the help of students she started working on her project to bring some awareness about the issue.
In the beginning, she and her team members faced many objections and obstacles. The university administration was not ready to help them as they thought that they were already doing all kinds of important stuff to keep the environment of the university healthy and safe. They did not understand the point of the project and this is how they were left alone. But still the students were very much motivated.
They started from the basic step and surveyed all the corners of the university where trash was found. They checked all kinds of trash and found that huge amount of food was being consumed by people and they did not know how destructive it is to the ecosystem of the university. Next, they checked the consumption of water and electricity and made reports. The students went from room to room to know how much water and electricity was being consumed on daily basis. They took surveys and filled questionnaire.
It was a social change movement and it bought heavenly results for the whole environment of the university. It encouraged the whole university to take small steps and they got a new path to work on through this project of awareness. It made the students as well as the teachers aware of their own possession of powers which can save the whole ecosystem of the world from great destructions. After that, the whole population of the university including the administration became highly aware about such invisible environmental issues and they recognized the importance of sustainable practice within the university.
Conclusion
Humans need to understand that marine animals are highly sensitive and their careless attitudes are killing millions of them on daily basis. Plastic must be made to be used in ow amounts and system of recycling of plastic must be made a common practice in order to keep environment safe from the pollution that it creates.
Human values are very important when it comes to sustainability. Whatever happens in our environment and in our surroundings, depends upon what humans of that environment think and decide about it. Sustainability depends upon human functions and decisions about social atmospheres. Climate change, pollution, etc. also happen as a result of human functions in the society. Environment and surroundings of any area can only become highly sustainable if the decision makers makes policies about housing, infrastructure, roads, streets, water drainage system, etc. with a wise and open minded approach. Traffic policies, market management, etc. is also important to make any place sustainable and pollution-free. In such areas, the dwellers can live stress free and depression free lives because a lot of noise, pollution, crowd, bad infrastructure can affect the lives of people in many ways. However, a green and blue are can only spread positivity in the surroundings. All of this depends upon the human values. The decision makers and the dwellers of regions must hold positive and hopeful values in their hearts and minds and then thy can become able to create and keep sustainable environment. Modern developments are no doubt very important but people must hold certain values which promote conservation environment and nature for the betterment of whole lives of people. Human values must dictate that modern development must not replace or compromise on the natural perks of environment.
References contributers, 3. (2018, June 28). grocery stores, our restaurants, our toiletries, toys, furniture, clothes . Retrieved from https://www.triplepundit.com/2018/06/plastic-problem-plastics-marine-life-beyond/ External Costs of Pollution from Plastic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/external-costs-of-pollution-from-plastic Kanemoto, Y. (1980). Theories of urban externalities. University of Tokyo. Taylor-Smith, K. (2018, May 16). How Plastic Pollution is Affecting the Ocean Wildlife. Retrieved from https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=729
