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QINGYING LIU
OceanPlasticPollutionAnnotatedBibliography.docxOcean Plastic Pollution 1
Ocean Plastic Pollution
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Annotated Bibliography
Bouwmeester H, Hollman PC, Peters RJ. 2015. Potential health impact of environmentally released micro-and nanoplastics in the human food production chain: experiences from nanotoxicology. Environmental science & technology. 49(15): 8932-8947.
This article presents the impact of ocean plastic pollution on human beings. The authors present that ocean plastic pollution has found its way up the human food chain and this has adverse consequences on human health. As noted in the article, the plastic toxins find their way to the human body through drinking contaminated water and fish consumption. Plastics contaminates water and this water is the same water piped into people’s houses for consumption. As well, consumption of fish which has been exposed to plastic toxins is a source of plastic toxins in a human’s body. The article documents the dangers of plastic toxins to human health including birth defects, problems with the immune system, cancer, reproductive problems, gastrointestinal defects, heart disease, liver problems, and childhood developmental issues. This article supports Shamseer Mamba’s argument his article in Marine Insight that plastics, through consumption of marine food, find their way to the human body and this cause devastating health problems including cancers.
Derraik JG. 2002. The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review. Marine pollution bulletin. 44(9): 842-852.
This article presents the threat that plastic debris in the oceans poses to marine life. The author reviewed the literature published on the deleterious consequences of plastics on the marine environment to offer comprehensive documentation on the topic. The author presents various threats presented by ingestion of plastics by marine life-forms including lowering the level of steroid hormones, gastric enzyme secretion blockage, lowered feeding stimulus, reproductive failures internal injuries, reduced food uptake, and intestinal tract blockage thereby diminishing their survival. Ways of mitigating ocean plastic pollution are discussed in this article including education to raise awareness among individuals and communities to change their plastic consumption and disposal behaviors. The information presented in this article is important in evaluating Shamseer Mamba’s article in Marine Insight as it offers scientific evidence to support Shamseer’s arguments on the adverse consequences of ocean plastic population on the marine environment. As well, the recommendations presented in this article are sources of information for recommending actions to handle this problem.
Gregory MR. 2009. Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings—entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 364(1526): 2013-2025.
This article presents the environmental consequences of plastics on the aquatic environment. The environmental implications documented include loss of aesthetic value, entanglement, ingestion, suffocation, and overall debilitation. The article presents that the plastics not only floats the oceans but also deposited in ocean shores and beaches making the visual affront unsightly. The marine species are affected by entanglement. Ingestion and entanglement of plastics cause various problems among the marine species including wounds, blockage of the digestive tract, suffocation, debilitation and starvation and these lead to death. Other problems include a reduction in reproductive capacity and quality of life, impairment of feeding capacity, and damaging the compounds of sea water. As well, plastics are carriers of non-indigenous invasive species and thus leading to invasion of non-indigenous species into marine colonies. This article supports Shamseer Mamba’s arguments his article in Marine Insight that plastics threaten the marine life and environment including affecting the health of the marine life-forms and introducing non-indigenous species to the marine ecosystem.
Gregory MR, Andrady AL. (2003). Plastics in the marine environment (379-390). In Plastics and the Environment. John Wiley & Sons
This section of the book presents the sources of plastics in the oceans. The section presents that land-based sources are the major contributors of ocean plastic pollution. The land-based sources include industrial plastic waste, domestic plastic waste and confectionary and convenient food wrappings discarded by the recreational visitors. The authors note that the plastics from land find their way to the oceans through natural watercourses, sewerage outfalls, and stormwater drainage outlets. The authors also present marine-based sources of ocean plastic pollution. The marine-based sources include fishing activities, aquaculture facilities, recreational and military navigation, oil and gas platforms, and lawful and unlawful dumping. This section supports Shamseer Mamba’s point in his article in Marine Insight that as much as a majority of plastic waste in oceans come from land, ocean activities including shipping activities and oil and gas platforms contribute as well.
Haward M. 2018. Plastic pollution of the world’s seas and oceans as a contemporary challenge in ocean governance. Nature communications. 9(1): 667.
This article presents the challenges for the current ocean governance in handling marine plastic pollution. The author notes that the complexity of marine plastic pollution makes it challenging to address it. The sources of marine plastic pollution are diverse and this presents a problem since it becomes challenging to address all the sources. The author notes that various international bodies have out in place interventions have been put in place to address the problem. However, the effectiveness of ocean governance in addressing the problem is constrained by the lack of string monitoring, control, and surveillance systems. As well, the author presents that addressing the problem requires a more integrated and broad-based approach. Most importantly, the article documents of lack of community initiatives directed towards lessening the plastics entering the oceans as much of the focus have been on international agreements. This article supports Shamseer Mamba’s documentation of the current practices to address ocean plastic pollution and adds on other measures that can be pursued to handle this problem.
Jambeck JR, Geyer R, Wilcox C, Siegler TR, Perryman M, Andrady A, Law KL. 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. 347(6223): 768-771.
This primary scientific article by Jambeck et al. presents the amount of plastics entering the marine environment from land. The article presents that land-based sources contribute to 80 percent of the plastics in the oceans. This indicates that land-based sources are the primary driver of ocean plastic pollution. The authors of this article document the production of plastic waste in 2010 in 192 coastal countries. In 2010, these nations generated plastic waste amounting to 275 million metric tons and 4.6 to 12.8 million metric tons of plastics entered the oceans. The article offers that with the increase in population and unimproved infrastructure for plastic waste management, the cumulative plastic waste quantity available to enter the oceans from land is estimated to upsurge by a high degree by 2025. This article supports Shamseer Mambra’ argument on Marine Insight that major portion of the plastics in oceans are from land-based sources. Shamseer Mamba presents that approximately 12.7 million metric tonnes of plastics are swept away into oceans from land each year.
Laville S, Taylor M. 2017 Jun 28. A million bottles a minute: world’s plastic binge ‘as dangerous as climate change’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-as-dangerous-as-climate-change
This newspaper article presents the growing danger of plastics. The author of the article presents that the annual consumption of plastics outstrips recycling efforts and this jeopardizes oceans. The author highlights that in every minute, a million plastics are consumed globally and give the current trend the number would increase to 20 percent by 2021 and this creates an environmental crisis as serious a climate change. Most plastics end up in oceans and this has created a serious crisis. The article documents the dangers including threatening the marine life-forms. As well, the article presents that toxic compounds in plastics have found its way into the human food chain raising the concern for human health given the increasing microplastics found in commercial fish and other edible marine organisms. The article concludes by noting that we are slowly losing oceans and oceanic life-forms to plastics and human health is in danger and thus heightening the seriousness of the issue. This article adds to Shamseer Mamba’s article in Marine Insight which documents the consequences of ocean plastic pollution and thus raising awareness on the seriousness of the issue.
Mambra S. 2019 Feb 09. How is Plastic Totally Ruining the Oceans in the Worst Way Possible. Marine Insight. https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/how-is-plastic-ruining-the-ocean/
This article by Shamseer Mambra on Marine Insight documents the consequences of plastic on the marine ecosystem. The article presents how the plastics end up in the oceans and their devastating impacts. According to the author, human callousness is the reason why there are millions of tonnes of plastic waste in the oceans. The plastics in the ocean comes from both land and ships and offshore oil and gas platforms. Some of the adverse consequences of plastics on oceans presented in this article include polluting the oceanic waters, threatening the natural environment of marine life, digestive problems in fish and sea turtles leading to their death, threatening the life of birds depending on oceanic life-forms for food, threatening the health of human beings, and invasion of non-indigenous species. The author gives a glimpse of the efforts undertaken to reduce plastic pollution in oceans. This article informs the public of the injustices they are doing to the oceans through increased consumption of plastics and informs the policymakers on the need to formulate policies to save the oceans and marine life.
Sigler M. 2014. The effects of plastic pollution on aquatic wildlife: current situations and future solutions. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution. 225(11): 2184
This article presents the consequences of marine plastic pollution on aquatic wildlife and recommends solutions. The author recognizes that plastics are preferred due to their durability and inexpensiveness but they are very harmful to aquatic wildlife. The article documents that plastics in the oceans cause entanglement, carry invasive species, and cause death from ingestion. As Sigler notes, the sea turtles are greatly affected by entanglement which results in physical injury, diseases, suffocation, and even death. The plastics carry invasive species and consequently introduction of non-indigenous species in the marine ecosystem and thus disrupting the marine ecosystem. As well, ingestion of plastics by aquatic organisms cause various health problems and death. The article presents the potential of cutting-edge technologies to reduce plastics that end up in oceans and clean the oceans. The information presented ion this article supports Shamseer Mamba’s argument in his article in Marine Insight that ocean plastic pollution is harmful to the marine ecosystem.
Wilcox C, Van Sebille E, Hardesty BD. 2015. The threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112(38): 11899-11904.
Wilcox, Van Sebille, and Hardesty present the dangers that ocean plastic pollution presents to seabirds. The article documents ways in which the plastics affect the seabirds including entanglement and ingestion. Ingestion has several effects on seabirds including blocking physical gut and damaging organs due to leaching toxins. In this article, the growing millions of tonnes of plastics ending up in oceans are presenting a serious concern on the wellbeing of the seabirds. Ingestion of the plastics by the seabirds results in the obstruction of the gut and consequently death. Plastic ingestion results in a reduction in gut volume reading to diminished body condition and thus reducing the juvenile seabird survival. Entanglement leads to suffocation of the seabirds and eventual death. This article supports Shamseer Mamba’s argument his article in Marine Insight that plastic waste threatens the physical health and life of birds through entanglement and ingestion of plastics by the birds.
