Plastic in the Ocean- Yael Fibich

Plastic- it's all around us. From our shopping bags to single use utensils, from games to bottles. The multiplication of plastic appliances does not seem to stop- in the last ten years, we've used as much plastic as we did in the last century! It's a popular product-and for understandable reasons. Plastic is cheap and easy to make, with many necessary properties that make it an outstanding material in the market overall.

Unfortunately, it's faults begin to show at the end of the day. Plastic has a very long decomposition process, sometimes up to a thousand years! Therefore, we have been forced to find a place for all our trash. Sadly, the most frequent answer to this conundrum is the ocean. Our once beautifully clean ocean is now full of plastic garbage. The plastic breaks apart into small pieces when thrown in the ocean, which can cause many problems.

One of those problems is that many aquatic animals mistake them for food, choking on the plastic. Many animals have died from this, and sadly many will continue to.

Additionally, plastic can get caught up in fishermen's nets, spoiling the catch and damaging the fish. For some of them, this could decide if they have dinner that day.

Also, the plastic shards can penetrate the animals' habitats and force them to relocate to a more suitable location, making them sometimes travel for miles.

I believe something has to be done about the issue. Raising awareness to this problem and its ramifications is important- protesting companies who throw their garbage through the sewers and into the sea, raising money for cleaning projects, and volunteering however we can. Hopefully we can reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans.