190 likes | 1.43k Vues
Plastic Planet Introduction All over the world more and more whales, porpoises and other sea mammals are getting killed every year by the Plastic Plague. The world uses over 1.2 trillion plastic bags a year and most of these end up in oceans.
E N D
Introduction All over the world more and more whales, porpoises and other sea mammals are getting killed every year by the Plastic Plague. The world uses over 1.2 trillion plastic bags a year and most of these end up in oceans. We are now depending on you to help us to change what is happening around our fragile and beautiful world.
Plastic Plague There are about 46,000 pieces of plastic remains floating on or near the surface of every square mile of Ocean. This gets washed up onto beaches and kills animals along the way. It also kills animals which come onto the beach to collect food or return to their habitat, in which case they also may get killed. This is all called the Plastic Plague.
What has been caused by the plastic plague? Hundreds of whales, seals, dolphins, porpoises, turtles and lots of other sea creatures die each year from plastic waste being littered into the ocean. Litter can get eaten by water mammals or can get caught around their necks or anywhere else on their body. Would you like it if somebody littered your habitat with plastic and you got trapped in it? Not a nice way to die……. IS IT ?
Before and After Before This is what the beach could look like... After
Animals affected Many animals’ lives are affected by the Plastic Plague; because they may die from plastic getting caught on their skin/ fur. Also they can swallow and ingest the plastic objects and plastic bags. Porpoises, Dolphins, Whales, Turtles and Seals are just some of the animals that have been affected.
Fishing Nets THOUSANDS of fishing nets have floated ashore in Gulf of Carpentaria waters, killing tones of marine and animal life and endangering boats and crews. One of the so called ‘ghost nets’ were found at sea in September and was thought to be 12km long and weighed a massive five tonne! This fishing net had trapped thousands of fish and animals, and because this net was so big there was no boat to carry it to shore. Fishing Nets, like plastic bags, make lots of species endangered so if you know somebody who fishes with nets tell them to ‘Bin The Net and Save the Wildlife.’
What has been done to help? Some countries have already banned or tried to minimise the amount of plastic bags used; some of these countries are : Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, Taiwan, Mumbai (originally Bombay), Scotland, France, West Bengal, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Switzerland, Rwanda, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, California, Somalia, Botswana, and the Philippines. The British Government has released a document called the Marine Bill which promises to have more done to protect oceans and the wildlife in them. It also claims that they will create a protective zone for sea wildlife to live in. The Marine Bill was launched by the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn. The Government has also said that it will monitor and manage fisheries to stop over fishing in UK waters.
Facts The Plastic Plague • About four-fifths of marine trash comes from land, swept by wind or washed by rain off highways and city streets. • Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic. • 500,000 albatross’ are born each year but 200,000 die from dehydration or starvation; chicks that die from these causes have twice as much plastic in their stomach as ones that die from other causes.
Facts cntd… Plastic Bags • Every year the 20 million Australians use 6 billion checkout bags. Imagine how many 60 million British people must use! • It takes 15-1000 years for a plastic bag to break down in the environment. • A Brydes whale died on a beach in Cairns after ingesting 6 square meters of plastic waste.
What we can do to help? We can help these poor creatures by reducing the amount of plastic bags we use. That means we have to stop using plastic bags and start using bags for life made out of canvas and these can be quite stylish too. In school we can send out flyers showing what is happening to these poor creatures and why it is happening. This means we have to put a stop to plastic bags NOW!
Credits We hope that after watching our presentation you will consider helping us do what we can to save not just our planet but our animals and plants as well.