Even birds aren’t spared. The ocean has become a deadly place for its life where oil spills and plastic are the biggest culprits of disaster and death. This stork is totally wrapped up in plastic.
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A study by Cornell University found that when plastic touches coral reefs, their chances of getting sick rise from 4% to 89%. Almost 136 coral reefs studied in the research were contaminated by plastic.
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This is the worst reflection of marine pollution where birds have to rely on plastic to make a nest and lay their eggs. Charles J Moore a researcher on oceanic pollution in the Pacific in his report in 2014 wrote:
“I was utterly shocked to see the enormous increase in the quantity of plastic waste since my last trip in 2009. Plastics of every description, from toothbrushes to tires to unidentifiable fragments too numerous to count floated past our marine research vessel Alguita for hundreds of miles without end. We even came upon a floating island bolstered by dozens of plastic buoys used in oyster aquaculture that had solid areas you could walk on.”
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Even beaches are clogged with plastic where not an inch in some countries like Indonesia and Philippines are strewn with garbage and plastic. The wildlife has now resorted to living in plastic.
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In 1950 the global plastics production was only 2 tonnes. Yet, in 2015 it was touching more than 400 million. That’s just in 65 years and less than a human lifetime. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves what are we doing?
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