One of the major problems occurring in the world today is that of ocean pollution. Ocean pollution, which is often referred to as “ocean trash” or “ocean garbage,” has caused significant problems in the world’s oceans, especially for marine life, and it is almost solely manmade. Ocean pollution refers to disregarded manmade materials that unexpectedly or purposefully enter into ocean waters. Further, plastic is the main culprit of this ongoing pollution problem. The problem of ocean pollution is so great that there are even great garbage patches in the open waters of the world’s ocean. This paper will find that the two main causes of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans are a lack of ecological ethics, which would allow human beings to approach the planet with more morality, and negligence/littering. This paper will also provide statistical support on the topic as well as examples that demonstrate how the abovementioned causes can be remedied.
The first cause of mankind’s contribution to the growing problem of ocean pollution is an overall, global lack of laws addressing the topic. At the core of this issue, which centers of the implementation of legal constraints that would deter the continued pollution of the planet’s oceans, is the way in which human beings ethically approach the planet itself. In 1948, Aldo Leopold published his now monumental essay “The Land Ethic.” In this published work, Leopold details two forms of ethics, philosophical ethics and ecological ethics. A philosophical ethic is one that defines the difference between right and wrong as occurring in a social setting. That is, a philosophical ethic can occur between or among individuals, between an individual and society, or, conversely, between society and an individual (Leopold, 1948). There are many easily recognizable philosophical ethics an individual might encounter on a daily basis. For example, the Mosaic Decalogue and the Golden Rule are both examples of philosophical ethics which serve to govern the way the individual and society integrate.
It is important to establish the depth and detail of attention human beings have given to philosophical ethics because Leopold also argues, with great relevance to the paper topic at hand, that there is “as yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations” (Leopold, 1948). Leopold argues that human beings have historically concentrated on the ethics that can be applied to the social construct, with human beings taking great consideration for how one should treat one’s fellow man. This philosophical ethic has evolved from primitive tribes of combating individuals to modern national states pursuing some sense of harmony, though the core of the ethic still exists in each example and in all social examples not listed. However, human beings have not applied such attention and care to ecological ethics. Instead, human beings approach the planet and the environment as “conquerors” of the land (Leopold, 1948). Land, in the eyes of human beings, is valued, priced, and sold to the highest bidder.
Corporations often purchase land for the sole purpose of furthering their respective economic growths with little regard for the toll it places on the land itself (e.g. fracking, for one). In fact, many corporations view the environmental restrictions placed on corporations as a hindrance to economic growth and human prosperity instead of a necessary measure to protect the planet in which human beings live. Below, after discussing the second cause of ocean pollution, some environmental laws will be explored in order to demonstrate how human beings can successfully implement legal restrictions as a method for tackling ocean pollution. However, it must be stated that despite these emerging laws, human beings still have not thoroughly examined the way they ethically approach the planet, and ignoring such an important ethic will only allow the harm human beings do to the planet to continue.
The second cause of manmade pollution in the world’s oceans is a combination of negligence and littering, because those two concepts go hand-in-hand in some ways. Quite simply, human beings do not manage their trash well and a lot of that garbage finds its way into the vast expanses that are the world’s oceans, a claim which will be supported with statistics in the below paragraph. In terms of demonstrating how human beings mismanage their trash and how this negligence/littering affects the world’s oceans, one can turn to plastic bags. Plastic bags are ubiquitous in Western culture, at the very least. One can obtain a large number of plastic bags merely by walking to a local grocery store and taking them, free of charge, from the checkout kiosk.
Yet, the National Resource Defense Council highlights plastic bags as one of the primary causes of ocean pollution (Engler, 2018). Plastic bags are a perfect example of how negligence affects ocean pollution because, with respect to the National Resource Defense Council’s claim mentioned above, plastic bags are extremely cheap, indicating a perceived low value and a therefore a subsequent tendency for human beings to negligently disregard plastic bags and the plastic’s ultimate burying place. Even if plastic bags are properly disposed of, they still remain light and voluminous plastic waste products which are easily caught by the wind and carried for distance. This combination of negligence and the simple nature of plastic bags show how easy it is, however anecdotally, for plastic to find its way into the ocean.
Indeed, plastic finding its way into the world’s oceans can be viewed empirically. In a 2015 study, researcher Jenna Jambeck discovered that, in 2010, 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered into ocean waters (Jambeck, 2015). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was able to express a similar claim in 2016, stating, “each year, at least 8 million tons of plastics leak into the ocean, which equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute” (Neufeld, 2016). Unfortunately, these staggering numbers are expected to increase as human beings push forward into the 21st century (Neufeld, 2018). However, impact can be made on the amount of trash that enters into the world’s oceans if world governments adopt legislation centered on ecological ethics. For example, in 2015, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to ban plastic bags at grocery checkouts, which has been described as “a great example of local activists and decision-makers addressing the serious issue of plastic pollution” (Herreria, 2015). In another example, one which provides support to the above example, Wales saw a 71% decrease in plastic bag use among consumers between 2011 and 2014 after the government implemented a significant nationwide plastic bag tax (Van Sebille, 2016).
The impact that human beings have on the world’s oceans does not have to as bad as it exists at current day. Plastic pollution in the ocean largely exists because human beings have not fully adopted an ecological ethic nor have human beings curtailed harmful and negligent activities that further the problem of ocean pollution. If world governments are able to follow in the footsteps of Hawaii and Wales, human beings across the globe may well be able to observe their negligence and correct this ongoing problem.
