The Plastic Ocean of Amy
By Nikeyra Williams
I am the catalyst that embraces your fears, I drive you to either fight or flight sometimes freeze. I reside in the depths of your mind where you hide your true anxiety and your emotions collide. Hello, I am Amy G. Dala or Amygdala if you wish.
Amy is our leading factor in the fight against oceanic plastic waste. The fear to do harm to the ocean should prevent us from doing such things. Though each year we add to the garbage that is dispersed into the oceans killing marine life daily. What are ways we can stop this? How have we not addressed it before as a human race? Most importantly where will our ocean be if we continue along this road.
Sea Shepherd Global Started a “Plastic Ocean” campaign earlier this year to increase awareness on the growing waste in the oceans and the constant harm we are inflicting on marine life.
Their mission as an organization is to protect defenseless marine wildlife and end the destruction of habitat in the world’s oceans. Since 1977, Sea Shepherd has used innovative direct-action tactics to defend, conserve and protect the delicately-balanced biodiversity of our seas and enforce international conservation laws. In Explaining the reason, they fight so diligently against harm to the ocean it becomes as simple as
“If the Ocean Dies-We Die”
“Sea Shepherd has been using direct action to stop illegal whale poachers around the world since 1979. After commercial whaling almost drove whales to extinction, a global moratorium was put into place in 1986. However, some countries have refused to recognize the ban. Norway and Iceland continue commercial whaling, and the Faroe Islands continue to kill pilot whales and other cetaceans traveling through their coastal waters. The Japanese send their fleet all the way to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary each Austral summer to slaughter hundreds of whales under the guise of “scientific research”, a claim rejected by the IWC as well as the International Court of Justice and the Australian Federal Courts. Since the first trip to Antarctica in 2002, Sea Shepherd’s Southern Ocean Whale Defense direct-action campaigns have successfully prevented the slaughter of over 6000 whales. Sea Shepherd has also opposed the slaughter of seals in Canada since 1978. Despite a ban on the import of seal products into the US and EU, Canada continues to club thousands of seal pups to death every year.”
The Global Ocean contains nearly 268,950 tons of plastic waste. According to a study by the World Economic Forum plastic will outweigh marine life by the year 2050.
“Plastics can remain in the ocean for hundreds of years in their original form and even longer in small particles, which means that the amount of plastic in the ocean cumulates over time. The best research currently available estimates that there are over 150 million tons of plastic waste in the ocean today. Without significant action, there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean, by weight, by 2050 Even by 2025, the ratio of plastic to fish in the ocean is expected to be one to three, as plastic stocks in the ocean are forecast to grow to 250 million tones in 2025”
As humans it is in our nature to protect life, and to do good. Protecting the ocean and sea life is an enormous task that constantly goes un-tackled. Why? Are we as heartless towards oceanic life as actions show? Is it the fear of acknowledging the harm we are causing these poor creatures? Or is it that we are distancing ourselves so far from the issue that its impact is unable to settle in?
Psychological Distance is a Construal Level Theory which explains a term known as psychological distance. Like predictions and evaluations, behavioral intentions and self-regulation should be increasingly based on high-level construal aspects as psychological distance increases.“Distancing describes the process by which psychologists help a person establish their own individuality through understanding their separateness from everything around them.”
Psychological distance and AMY seem to go hand in hand when assessing the issue of the plastic in our oceans. As we distance ourselves from issues and the world our fears are unable to sink in. Without allowing AMY to do her job and remind us of our fear towards harming the ocean we will continue to do so. Our psychological state of “not addressing issues” effects our ability to be proper world citizens and protect the Earth.
An estimated 70% of 20 million tons of plastic eventually sinks into bottom of the oceans damaging precious life on the ocean floor, According to a Enviornmental Science and Technology Article.
At this rate the oceanic life will be immensely altered due to global citizens not taking care of our oceans. If we continue to be reckless with the way, we handle plastic safe ways to recycle we will be endangering not only the planet but ourselves.
“ Imagine this vast kelp filled ocean to be covered in plastic. What would cause humans to cause such damage to a beautiful space?”
I believe a prime reason for individuals being non-active in protecting our oceans is their fear and also a cognitive dissonance between how they perceive themselves and their actions. a cognitive dissonace is when someone’s actions do not align with their beliefs. For example, many individuals may believe that they want the world to be clean and that they would never harm oceanic animals. Though their actions show differently where as they don’t recycle or take precautions when thinking of ways to protect oceanic wild life.
According to Sea Shepherd Global “Marine debris is choking our oceans, creating a devastating impact on marine ecosystems world-wide. Alongside consumer items such as plastic bottles and straws, aluminum cans, rubber balloons, plastic bags and cigarette lighters, is fishing gear such as line, nets, ropes, hooks, and buoys lost or discarded at sea. Marine debris is a danger to all marine life including birds, sharks, turtles and marine mammals, causing injury or death through drowning, entanglement, or starvation following ingestion. It’s also a serious health risk for humans, because microplastics ingested by marine animals absorb manmade toxins such as PCBs, DDT, BPA and mercury, whose effects are intensified as they pass up the food chain, making it another good reason to stop eating fish altogether.”
With the global ocean having more than 268,950 tons of plastic waste it is our responsibility to find ways to help our ocean. Humans alone contribute nearly 198 pounds of waste per person according to Ocean Crusades. These actions are making it extremely difficult for sea life and the future of our oceans.
As a people we must take action and re-calibrate ourselves with the world. We have to take a stance and accept the issues they are impacting our world. With our Earth being covered in almost 75% of water and full of sea life, we have to be able to understand the harm we are causing to our vast oceans.
We adore the beauty though with each passing year we add to the downfall of the gorgeous blue sea. Let’s make a difference and help stop the growing plastic waste.
THE OCEAN
Cited Sources
Our Mission. (2018, November). In Sea Shepherd Global. Retrieved from https://www.seashepherdglobal.org
Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological review, 117(2), 440–63.
Vannela, R. (2012, July 16). Are We “Digging Our Own Grave” Under the Oceans? Environmental Science & Technology, 7932–7933. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf
Sailing Seas Of Plastic. (2014, July 16). In Dumpark. Retrieved from https://app.dumpark.com/seas-of-plastic-2/#oceans
Plastic Statistics. (2016). In Ocean Crusades. Retrieved from http://oceancrusaders.org/plastic-crusades/plastic-statistics/
