Ocean Pollution.

It is said that the first life on Earth originated in the oceans. Oceans have undergone massive changes in the past eras but man-made causes have been the most destructive of them all. The University of Georgia has concluded that 18 billion pounds of plastic trash ends up in our oceans every year and the most common items found on the coasts throughout the world are plastic cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bottle caps, and plastic straws and drink stirrers. The depressing fact is that ocean pollution kills more than one million sea birds every year and more than 100,000 sea animals die every year due to plastic entanglement and ingestion. At this rate, we'll most likely lose hundreds of species of sea animals within a very short time interval.

There are dead zones in the ocean where no life can exist. These kind of zones are naturally found in the oceans at some parts, but man made activities have created around 500 dead zones in the ocean, which covers a similar size as the United Kingdom. Oil spills contribute only 12% of the oil present in the oceans but 36% of the oil comes from runoff sources from cities and industries. It is also estimated that in the year 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. China and Indonesia are the world's biggest contributors of plastic pollution in the oceans. Together, they account for one third of the total ocean pollution. It's frightening to know that there is enough plastic in the ocean to encircle the Earth 400 times.

Beach clean ups and proper disposal of wastes can be done to prevent plastics from entering the oceans. Small initiatives to clean up the coast lines will help in the safe breeding of sea birds and animals. And adding my own personal experience to this problem, I'd like to add a memory of how sickening people's attitude towards the oceans can be. When I was a part of a beach cleanup, I encountered questions like, "Why do you kids go around cleaning the beach, it will become dirty the very next day so don't waste your time on this" and it is obvious to add that, this made most of us angry. We've all lived with the wrong selfish attitude all this while and no amount of cleaning or disposing will help our oceans if there is always somebody who throws away their wrappers without any concern.

The change begins with you and if we hope to live on this planet for many more years to come, then our selfish and indifferent attitude will never take us there. Realize the mess that we've made and understand that we need to live with the consequences, unless we start doing our bit in saving our oceans.