tomalex1





Hello, we are **Alex** and **Tom** and our wikispace is about ocean pollution. We both felt that this was a serious issue that people need to be aware of. Ocean pollution is a very serious problem in our world today. Tons of waste and garbage is being dumped into the beautiful bodies of water that inhabit hundreds of thousands of creatures. Though action has been taken to clean the seas, there is still a lot of efforts that need to be completed to fully restore the ocean's natural beauty. Oceans do make up //75%// of the earth, so shouldn't we take care of them?


 * __Effects on Wildlife[[image:shark.gif width="176" height="150" align="right"]]__**

Unfortunately, the massive amounts of ocean pollution in our world has a negative impact on the rare and interesting wildlife that live there. When companies first started dumping in the sea, they assumed it wouldn't make an impact since the ocean is so large. Mercury tainted fish have been discovered due to this waste. In 1968, many people in Japan consumed a large amount of this polluted fish and died. Sea birds, sea turtles, penguins, and many more exotic species of marine life have been killed or their populations have been damaged as a result of this ocean pollution.


 * __Clean-up Attempts__**

There have been many efforts to clean our polluted oceans. In 1973, an International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships was held and addressed many environmental issues also, such as air pollution. The American Ocean Campaign was also created to clean beaches and natural areas around our country that have been affected by pollution created by man. All of these groups and many more have cleaned up our oceans, and we can too. Picking up trash on a beach or near an ocean could help decrease the amount of trash and waste greatly. Many organizations do attempt to clean the oceans, abut even with these volunteers, there is still a long way to go until we deem our oceans pollution-free.

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//__This video shows what harm plastic water bottles can do to the marine life and environment in our world.__//



__**Causes of Pollution**__

There are many reasons why oceans are now polluted. A big issue is oil spills. Just this past year, we witnessed the BP oil spill, which was the largest oil spill that made many outraged. Not only is the Earth's water being poisoned by oil, but corporations and companies also displace waste is the oceans. Also, ordinary people who just go to the beach and leave their trash are responsible for this tragic occurrence. The amount of pollution infecting the oceans is increasing rapidly because of these causes.

__**Endangered Marine Wildlife**__ media type="custom" key="7982578" align="center"

Due to the garbage poising and killing the animals that inhabit the seas, there are tons of marine life species who are endangered. The Green Sea Turtle is one species in danger of dissapearing as a result of human activity. The Brown Pelican bird has been affected by oil spills too. Blue whales are on the endangered list and they are the biggest animals that have ever existed. Lots of other marine species are also greatly at risk, such as the thousands of tainted fish consumed in 1968 in Japan. When the creatures in the ocean get affected by this pollution, so do we.

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__**How Can We Stop It?**__

It may seem like one person can't make a difference when a global issue is so massive, but thats not true. Even if just a few people decided to go pick up trash around a shore, that would make a difference. You could support or donate to a professional envioronmental organization, but if you are very comitted to saving the oceans, you make look into joining one. Simply not littering in the first place is always a great idea. Throwing out random trash you spot on a shore is appreciated also. Writing a petetion to any company that disposes in water or even boycott them could possibly persuade then into changing their waste removal habits. As people, we have the power to change our world! __** Be a good citizen and clean a beach! **__

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