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Jack Brockman

Patrick Swanson

Emerging Technology

4 October 2017

Saving the Sea Turtles: How Garbage is hurting our Sea Life

Sea turtles are in trouble. Littering harms the sea turtles, and no one cares. Garbage

washes into our water ways from the land. These high levels of waste in the ocean are being

eaten by or trapping our sea turtle population. Plastic garbage is not only harming sea turtles, but

also the animals sea turtles eat as food, causing the food chain to become polluted with

chemicals.

Litter washes into the ocean and kills over 100 million marine animals every year. Trash

runs out into our oceans from streets and high ways among other places. This debris also goes

into streams and rivers through storm drains. Plastic bags and bottles both contribute to the

debris. Eighty percent of the trash that ends up in the ocean comes from the land.

This trash in the ocean ultimately ends up in the turtles stomachs or they get caught in it.

Recently in May of 2017, the U.S. coast guard rescued four sea turtles caught in floating trash.

The Pacific logger head sea turtles along with 300 other sea creatures are endangered because

they eat or get stuck in plastic. Ultimately, turtles are in trouble from the amount of plastic in the

water.

Not only are turtles harmed by plastic, but the animals turtles eat are also harmed. It

degrades into invisible tiny floating beads the size and shape of small plankton. And it's in this

way that the plastic really enters the ecosystem, by literally entering the bodies of sea life.

Certain marine animalsparticularly jellyfisheat plankton, and many marine birds and sea
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turtles in turn eat jellyfish, environmentalist Graham Land said. So because the jelly fish are

hurt, so are the sea turtles. This really causes an issue because of the chemicals in plastic.

Scientists are discovering that sea turtles are highly contaminated with industrial chemicals and

pesticides. This is another issue that is killing off our sea turtle population.

Littering harms the sea turtle, and no one cares. Trash is being washed into our oceans.

Turtles are eating it and becoming trapped in it, which is killing them. They are also being

harmed by the chemicals it adds into the ocean food chain. In order to stop this we need to stop

littering. Trash belongs in the garbage or recycling bins, not in our oceans.
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Works Cited

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pag. Global Issues in Context. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.

"Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris Sea Turtle Conservancy." Sea Turtle

Conservancy. Sea Turtle Conservacy, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2017.

Israel, Brett. "Long-lasting Chemicals May Harm Sea Turtles." Scientific American. N.p., 13 Mar.

2013. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.

Joe, Nomad. "How to Get Garbage off the Beach." Phuket Gazette (online) [Phuket, Thailand] 28 Sept.

2013: 18. Global Issues in Context. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.

Land, Graham. "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is an Environmental Disaster." Garbage and

Recycling. Ed. Margaret Haerens. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. of

"The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The Parabolic Toilet of the

Environment." GreenFudge.org 11 Oct. 2010: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20

Sept. 2017.

Ocean Plastics Pollution. Center for Biological Diversity, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.

Weiss, Kenneth R. "Sea Turtle Is Losing the Race." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) 2003 21 apr:

A1+. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.