Plastic the Ocean Killer

 This week, I watched 3 Ted Talks, which were videos that focused on our environmental impact on the oceans. My favorite one and the one I am going to talk about was about plastic in the ocean and how it negatively affects the environment. The main idea of this Ted Talk was that to solve our ocean plastic problem we need to make plastic an article of value.

 Plastic Problem

    One idea that I found interesting was that it’s cheaper to make new plastic than it is to recycle it. I thought it was interesting because most materials we make are cheaper to recycle than they are to make like metals and such.


 

(Tokmakov, Sergei)

    It made me wonder why plastic was cheaper to make than to recycle, so I looked up some more information about this idea. On the website MIT School of Engineering, I found more information about why plastic is cheaper to make new than it is to recycle. One piece of information I found was plastic is cheaper to make than to recycle because oil is cheap and it’s easier to extract a natural resource out of the ground than it is to recycle plastic. This information supported the information in the original video.

 

(Tokmakov, Sergei)

How can we fix the problem?

     All this made me think that to solve this problem we really need to make plastic an article of value so it prevents people from dumping plastic in the ocean. By doing that people would be intiested to pick up plastic along beaches and such because they can get money from recycling it. According to Andrew Forrest's Ted Talk, To fix this the produces need to raise the price of what it takes to make plastic. Then we can take the extra money from the plastic and put it towards a fund to recycle plastic. I agree that if we educate people more about or plastic problem we can more people on board with trying to fix our plastic problem. We can do this by telling them that Millions and trillions of sea life are dying from plastic. Also, that nano plastic can go through our skin and carry toxins to our brains. Plus this nan plastic the sea life eat then we eat them making us eat plastic. So our plastic epidemic also greatly affects the very food we eat.🌊🌲


Works Cited

"A Radical Plan to End Plastic Waste." TED, uploaded by Andrew Forrest, TED Conferences, Sept. 2019, www.ted.com/talks/andrew_forrest_a_radical_plan_to_end_plastic_waste#t-647036. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.

Sutton, Jennifer. "Why is it cheaper to make new plastic bottles than to recycle old ones?" MIT School of Engineering, MIT, 15 Dec. 2009, engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/why-is-it-cheaper-to-make-new-plastic-bottles-than-to-recycle-old-ones/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.

Tokmakov, Sergei, Esq. Dead Fish Beach Trash Plastic Ocean Pollution. 9 Mar. 2020. Pixabay, 9 Mar. 2020, pixabay.com/photos/dead-fish-beach-trash-plastic-4914411/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.

---. Pollution Trash Garbage Ocean Plastic Waste. 17 Feb. 2020. Pixabay, 17 Feb. 2020, pixabay.com/photos/pollution-trash-garbage-ocean-4855507/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2020.


Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 18, 2020 at 2:11 PM

    When i started reading you blog, I was suprided to find out that plastic is cheaper to make new rather than to recycle. Its a weird idea that re-using somthing is more expexive than to make it new. I really agreed and thought you solution was great and would be a good way of fixing this issue. Overall Great blog I enjoyed reading and learing about what is really happinig with plastic and how its effecting us. Only thig I would do next time is either make the text darker or bigger making it easyer to read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2021 at 2:53 PM

      Thanks, it is very weird that it is more expensive to recycle something then it is to make it new. It definitely is a big problem in the world currently.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousDecember 22, 2020 at 9:13 AM

    I like how your title really grabs the reader and also tells them what your going to talk about through your blog. I like your headings and how they are in a different color so they stand out more. I also like how you break up your righting with pictures. Why don't we make plastics cheaper to recycle instead of just making more? The only suggestion I have would be to indent your first paragraph just like the rest of them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 22, 2020 at 10:23 AM

    I agree that plastic is a huge problem in our environment. I really enjoyed reading your blog because it was very eye opening.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 22, 2020 at 1:14 PM

    I thought recycling would actually be cheaper so that's interesting. I also liked the pictures included which helped give me an idea of how bad it can get.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 22, 2020 at 2:22 PM

    Your blog was very easy to read and very informative. I agree that plastic is a huge problem in today's society and we need to do something about it - Jessie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ms. LaClairDecember 28, 2020 at 11:05 AM

    Good job organizing your blog, Tyler, and focusing on one particular issue. What would give the producers of plastic an incentive to increase the price of creating it so that it's cheaper to recycle? It seems like an economic problem in addition to an environmental one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownJanuary 11, 2021 at 2:28 PM

    i like the title it hooded me and i agree that we need to do something about the plastic issue

    ReplyDelete

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