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Mohamad Hamoui #BIOL394Photo1 #BenU

This photo was taken at the Hitchcock Woods County Forest Preserve in Lisle, Illinois on March 30th, 2019. This is a photo of one of the streams in the forest preserve. There are elements in bright colors that stand out from the surrounding serene shades of brown. These elements are a plastic bucket and a plastic bottle. This plastic waste was left behind, not by animals, but by humans. Visitors oftentimes travel to places like this to “get away” from everything, but they end up leaving behind evidence of their visit. On this particular day, we ventured out on a mission to collect litter we find in this forest preserve. These items were just a few of the many we found that day. I was surprised by the amount of litter we found. After just two hours, we were able to collect about twelve bags of litter. This is an environmental issue because all of this plastic waste eventually ends up in the food and water that we consume. Some of the items that we collected consisted of soccer balls, plastic bottles, beer cans, a water hose, shoes, tennis balls, and many more items. Plastic is widely used because it is cheap to manufacture, it is light weight, and durable. The plastic is often blown into the forest from the surrounding houses and a nearby street. The plastic finds its way to the streams and eventually to the rivers and the oceans. According to National Geographic, every year, five to fourteen million tons of plastic flows into our oceans. All of the waste then ends up accumulating in patches in the oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It is located between California and Hawaii. It was discovered by a marine researcher, Charles Moore, in 1997. Most of the garbage that is found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not biodegradable which is why it is accumulating. Plastic waste is harming marine life and also human life. The plastic waste that does break down, breaks down into micro-plastic that fish mistake for food. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is about 1.6 million square kilometers in size and growing. It is sometimes referred to as the “floating island” because it is about the size of Texas. It will take billions of dollars to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. No country is taking responsibility for this because it is too expensive and because it is too far from any coastlines. However, we can all come together to help reduce and prevent the plastic that enters our oceans. We can do this by educating people about the harms this waste is causing in the oceans and in the climate. Landfills, houses, garbage and recycling bins are the source of this waste. Many people do recycle, but most recycling bins do not have lids. Some ways we can reduce plastic from entering the ocean is by reducing the use of plastic; using recycling containers with proper lids; and by participating in groups that will volunteer to remove litter from forest preserves, rivers, and any other place where waste does not belong. The bags of litter that we collected were not that much, but it is a crucial first step to slowing down the accumulation. If everyone is aware of this issue, then we can reduce the source of the plastic accumulation.

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