Problematic Plastic Pollution

    Single use plastics have become a large polluter of our marine environments. This kind of litter either left behind by humans after use or improperly disposed of can wreak havoc on marine species ranging from sea birds and sharks to turtles and fish. On our fifth day in Florida we spent some time in Bahia Honda State Park participating in a beach clean-up at a less visited beach area where we collected bags upon bags of plastic debris and other forms of litter. However, ocean and coastal marine areas are not the only waterways in Florida that experience plastic and litter problems caused by humans.

Photo credit: Me. Picture of a styrofoam cup floating in the Everglades.

    During our visit to the Everglades National Park it was easy to see that careless park visitors had not been doing their job of keeping the park’s waterways clean or the wildlife safe. Plastic bottles, styrofoam cups, aluminum cans, and other trash could be seen in the water and along the trails we traveled through the slow moving river. While it can be distressing to see such a beautiful natural environment marred by such ugly things, it was even more disturbing for a group of us as we watched an alligator attempt to eat what appeared to be a large blue plastic bottle of some sort. The alligator only stopped when an on-looker distracted him from his inedible plastic prey by tossing a stick into the water near the creator to distract him. We can only hope that once we moved along that the alligator did not attempt to return to crunching down on that hard plastic again. 

Photo credit: Me. Picture of an alligator attempting to eat a hard, blue plastic bottle in the Everglades.

    Ingesting plastics and other litter can cause respiratory issues, digestive issues, death, and toxicity for many marine organisms that attempt to make a meal out of a non-food item. Additionally, chemicals in plastics and other trash can leach into the waters surrounding them, causing the water itself to become poisonous to the wildlife that calls a marine area home. However, there is hope. The least anyone can do to prevent tragedy as a park and beach goer is to simply carry out what you carried in. Going the extra step and picking up any trash that you may pass, even if it was not left by you, can make an area safer for everyone and everything around it. This YouTuber’s content is all about doing trash clean-ups to better a variety of environments for the wildlife that inhabit them. Furthermore, many states have been passing legislation, such as our home state of New Jersey, to ban single use plastics such as bags, styrofoam, and straws to reduce plastic environmental pollution. This website makes a compelling argument for Florida to adopt such legislation as well. 

    Keeping our environment clear of any further plastic pollution is the first step in tackling the large existing problem of plastic pollution in our marine environments.