Two thirds of the earth consists of water but a phenomenon that goes by the name of ‘garbage patch’ has been found in the 80 percent polluted water.

Over 80 percent of pollution found in the world’s ocean is credited towards man made trash making its way into the waters. A garbage patch twice the size of Texas has been located in the Pacific Ocean along with five other larger patches. These five patches are sporadically located throughout the planet, floating in different parts of the oceans.

Unlike its name, the Pacific Ocean’s garbage patch is actually more accurately described as a pollution soup; it is not literally an island of trash found in the middle of the ocean. Most of the trash found in this area is plastic base. Plastic is very hard to decompose and when it makes way into the waters it is slowly broken down to tiny pieces of plastic called “micro plastic”.

“Micro plastics can’t always be seen by the naked eye. Even satellite imagery doesn’t show a giant patch of garbage. The micro plastics of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup,” according to National Geographic.

Because of how inexpensive it is to use plastic in man made projects it is continually being used in our products daily. This is one of the reasons most of the pollution found in the ocean are plastic based.

The marine life has greatly suffered because of the pollution found in the water. For instance, Seals confused floating plastic bags as jellyfish which is one of the cnidaria they eat. Plastic pellets could easily be confused as fish eggs for seabirds. All of the plastic products that are produced to make our lives more convenient do harm our marine life daily making it hard for them to move around, hunt for food, and all in all live in their home.

Fortunately, our oceans are resilient, but we must stop creating pollution if we expect the situation to improve. The best way to help our waters begins at home. Simply reducing your own carbon footprint can have an impact on the ocean.

Try ditching the one use water bottles and switching to a reusable water bottle instead. The less pre-bottled water you are drinking means fewer bottles may possibly find its way into the sound. Another quick household change you can make is just switching from using one time plastic bags from the grocery store to eco friendly reusable bags to take home.

The best way to help the fight against ocean pollution starts right at home. Keep yourself educated on what causes regrettable phenomenon like a garbage patch to occur and make small changes at home to ensure you’re not contributing to it. We can’t clean up the oceans today or tomorrow but changes must be made to ensure a better future for generations to come.