One little action for something great and effectual
You are sick of walking around school and being confronted with all the garbage lying on the floor and schoolyard? You are sick of local news mentioning ocean pollution, dying marine mammals and climate crisis? You want a change? Well, you can get a change.
First of all, as you probably know, plastic is a common material being used all over the world. Even though plastic can be helpful and convenient, do you know its side-effects? Plastic is everywhere. You can see it in school, on streets or in rivers. In America around 100 billion plastic bags are being used per year. But what happens with plastic that is being thrown away?
Plastic is not biodegradable. It takes 400 to 1000 years for plastic bags to decompose, but their chemical residues even longer. They end up as garbage patches which never disappear. They turn into microplastics which are automatically easier to ingest, which leads me to my second argument. It doesn’t only cause environmental pollution but also ocean pollution. Marine mammals have to deal with all the garbage filling up the ocean. Despite the fact that plastic contains toxic chemicals, according to the infographic “Plastics Breakdown“ by One World One Ocean, published in 2012, 54% of the 120 marine mammal species got entangled in or ingested plastic. According to a study, 92% of dead seabirds ingested plastic amounts same to 5% of their body weight. Last but not least, plastic has a huge effect on the climate. There are only three forms of plastic that can be recycled, while the rest go to the general bin. By incinerating the garbage that has been discarded, it produces greenhouse gases. Too many greenhouse gases lead to global warming, which not only harms the environment but also us. So, how do you feel after hearing all these information? You feel bad after realizing what your consumption with plastic causes? You feel bad for the innocent marine mammals, who have to deal with our garbage?
You can help them by joining our clean-up project. The advanced English class of year thirteen sets up a cleaning day. A day, where all the garbage and waste in and around our school are being picked up and being properly discarded. The Otto-Hahn-School is going to be clean, fresh and less repulsive, while walking around school.
In conclusion, using plastic has a life-threatening effect, which many of us either don’t know about or just don’t want to admit. With the clean-up project, we can save our school from garbage and save lives of marine mammals in one go. Join us and be part of something good.
Gizem,
ENG LK, Q3
Alle Bilder gemeinfrei com pixabay.com
