Every year around eight million tons of plastic are submerged into the ocean. Plastic is harmful to all the marine life and can cause many of the sea animals to die off. Some marine life can become nearly extinct due to the harmful plastic bottles and netting.

Zack Gamble, a freshmen says “ I think throwing plastic into the ocean is a very bad thing. It makes our beaches dirty looking and it is killing the marine life.”

Joe Ruxton, a filmmaker, who visited Gyre, located in the North Pacific ocean, says that she found clear blue waters but with a deep rooted problem. Ruxton says, “If you were diving, it looked liked you had just jumped out of a plane.” Ruxton also said, “But our nets were coming up completely choked with plastic pieces.”

Our oceans are riddled with toxins and plastic waste is one of the most deadly, harmful, vile substances there are. Scientist say by the year 2050, there will be more plastic in these blue, mysterious waters than there will be fish.

“Plastic has such an epic material in it that it can last for centuries and over time, with the sunlight shining on it, the plastic will break down into tiny pieces filled with toxins. Plastic gets carried through the water and gets washed up on the tides leaving it on the beautiful beaches, but is now becoming a series hazard to population,” says Ruxton.

Julianna Ray, a freshmen says “ Littering is a very bad way of disposing garbage, especially into the ocean. Our marine animals don’t deserve to have their homes, and lives, threatened or destroyed because we are to lazy to throw away our garbage.”

The quantity of marine debris is increasing in oceans worldwide. Researchers at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation have shown the increase in the amount of debris and plastic thrown into the Pacific Ocean and many other areas.

In Gyre between 1997 and 2007 showed that plastic pieces outnumbered the plankton on the ocean surface.

If we, as a population, don’t preserve our beautiful beaches and marvelous waters, they will cease to exist leaving us and the creatures that inhabit this planet stranded.