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I know that pollution is a very bad problem in our world that is only getting worse. I also know pollution is one of the main causes of global warming, extinction of species, and causing many water sources to become unusable. I know sunscreen pollution has a major effect on reefs throughout the world, when the chemicals from sunscreens wash off while you're in the water and kill the coral in reefs. I also know plastic pollution enters the ocean, and fish eat it. We then eat these fish and we can catch diseases from the plastic we ourselves put into the ocean. One thing that interests me about pollution is the fact everyone knows it's occurring and it has so many negative effects on us in the long run, but choose to sit around and not do much about it. Another thing that interests me about pollution is in recent searches, scientists have found that there is now more plastic than fish in our oceans. This amazes me, because when I think of the ocean I think of the massive number of fish we have.

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This source speaks about the massive increases in plastics in oceans over the past 30 years, and the estimates of plastic that will contaminate our oceans in years to come. The point of the article is to explain just how much plastic is in our oceans and how challenging it is to even begin removing it, due to the way it breaks down into tiny particles. It's difficult to track how much plastic there truly is due to the currents, weather, and other consistent changing patterns in the sea.  This is a reliable and objective resource that provides general facts about ocean pollution, and the major levels of pollution we can experience in the future if we don't take action now. This CNN article was very helpful in my research when explaining how pollution has increased and taken a toll over the years. It explains how easy it can be for a place to be polluted, and how difficult it can be to take back that action. The article also lists strong facts to convince others that, “we don’t need to wait for new research to take action — the problem is already painfully clear, in the plastic accumulating in our oceans, air, soil, food, and bodies.”

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The world's oceans are polluted by a "plastic smog" made up of an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles that if gathered would weigharound 2.3 million tons, according to a new study.

A team of international scientists analyzed global data collected between 1979 and 2019 from nearly 12,000 sampling points in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

They found a "rapid and unprecedented" increase in ocean plastic pollution since 2005, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

"It is much higher than previous estimates," Lisa Erdle, director of research and innovation at the 5 Gyres Institute and an author on the report, told CNN.

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More than 170 trillion plastic particles found in the ocean as pollution reaches 'unprecedented' levels | CNN

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The world's oceans are polluted by a "plastic smog" made up of an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles that if gathered would weigh around 2.3 million tons, according to a new study.

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This BuzzFeed argues that chemicals in almost all sunscreens called oxybenzone and octinoxate are breaking down coral reef systems, by sucking out their nutrients. The Buzz Feed author, Michelle Broder Van Dyke, explains how sunscreens are killing our reefs when they rub off swimmers and surfers, and get transferred into the reefs. The goal of the source is to inform readers that many of the most common sunscreen brands are harming some of our world's most important ecosystems.  The BuzzFeed article is a reliable source that uses facts to make an objective point. This source was very helpful in addressing pollution causes due to sunscreen. It informed me on the ways our sunscreen gets in waterways and causes problems. This BuzzFeed article uses facts to better convince readers to be mindful of products they use when entering the ocean. This article offers a perspective on a different type of pollution that helps my presentation be more complete.

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Michelle Broder Van DykeBuzzFeed News Reporter

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Sunscreen Chemicals Are Destroying Coral Reefs And Now Hawaii Is Banning Them

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Oxybenzone and octinoxate, chemicals found in many common sunscreen products, are known to kill coral and marine life.

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This article discusses the human intake of microplastics due to the fish we consume eating plastics and passing them onto us. As we release plastics into the ocean, microplastics are created which then circulate through ocean ecosystems, eventually ending up on our plates. The article explains how chemicals in these plastics are harming our bodies when ingested and in the long term can cause many diseases. If we become more mindful of what we put into our oceans, we can prevent illnesses in ourselves. This source was very useful, because I was able to learn a lot about what pollution is doing to our bodies and not just the ocean. This source is different from the other articles, because it discusses pollution through food chains, which is not well known, but is a rising issue in the world. This NewsWeek post is objective and reliable, because it uses specific statements from scientists along with facts on the pollution issue. The goal of this article is to inform readers about the issue with second hand pollution, when humans consume animals who have eaten microplastics we release into the ocean. This NewsWeek article  convinces people that pollution is not only hurting the world, but can also endanger us, and have negative affects on our bodies.

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A large proportion of fish meant for human consumption may contain microplastics, scientists have found, with one expert saying that the decision whether to eat fish or not was a "personal choice."

According to a paper published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, three quarters of fish caught off the coast of southern New Zealand contained some degree of microplastic in their tissues.

Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic defined as being less than 0.2 inches in diameter.

"75% of fish that I sampled had ingested microplastic. I sampled fish over a two-year period, throughout all seasons, along the south-east coastline of southern Aotearoa (New Zealand), from Oamaru to Te Waewae Bay," coastal scientist and lead author of the study, Isabella Clere, told Newsweek.

"I found a similar ingestion rate between pelagic (surface dwelling) and benthic (bottom dwelling) fish, which suggests that plastics are ubiquitous throughout the water column and a persistent feature in the ocean."

According to National Geographic, some microplastics are tiny particles designed to be that size for use in cosmetics or microfiber clothing, while others are a result of the breaking down of larger pieces of plastic caused by environmental degradation.

According to one 2021 estimate from a study published in the journal Microplastics and Nanoplastics, there are roughly 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastic in the world's upper oceans, with a combined weight of 82,000 to 578,000 tons.

These microplastics find their way into most marine organisms, often by being eaten.

Clere's New Zealand study found that 391 microplastic pieces were retrieved from the 155 fish examined across 10 species. Some 98 percent of the microplastic pieces were less than 3mm in size.

"We looked at a range of benthic (bottom dwelling) and pelagic (surface dwelling) fish and found microplastics in the guts of all species, suggesting the ubiquity of microplastics throughout all ocean layers," study co-author Bridie Allan said in a University of Otago statement.

"A random selection of fish guts were analyzed to identify the plastic type, with the majority found to be polyethylene, viscose, polypropylene and plastic additives. Polyethylene is the most widely used plastic and also the most prevalent found in the oceans globally," she said.

"Because the fish were collected over the course of a year, rather than a single time point, this suggests that the presence of microplastics in our southern waters are a persistent feature."

While a variety of microplastics have been found in fish across the globe, the New Zealand study marks the first time that a similar trend has been observed in the Southern Hemisphere.

"There has been research globally on microplastics in fish, with similar findings to my study. The Southern Hemisphere has had limited research into marine microplastic pollution, with the majority of studies focused on the Northern Hemisphere and around oceanic gyres," Clere said.

Ocean gyres are large systems of circular ocean currents formed by wind patterns and forces created by the rotation of the Earth.

Microplastics are known to bio-accumulate up food chains, becoming increasingly concentrated in the tissues of predators. This can be damaging to the animals' health: according to Scientific American, microplastic particles can damage organs by rubbing against organ walls, as well as carrying pollutants on their surface, causing liver damage.

"Generally, with seafood that is eaten whole such as sardines, anchovies, and shellfish, there is a greater risk of secondary transfer of plastics," Clear said.

"Plastics also contain a suite of chemicals, some of which may be transferred to humans via ingestion. However, there has been very little research carried out to date which has looked at the risks associated with the secondary transfer of plastics and associated chemicals to humans."

Speaking to Radio New Zealand's Morning Report Clere said:"We need to be conscious of our plastic use and potential misuse and how that's getting into the natural environment and potentially affecting ourselves but in terms of eating it, that's just a personal choice really,"

Microplastics are being increasingly found inside the human body, too. One 2022 study in the journal Environment International found microplastics in human blood for the first time.

"It is certainly reasonable to be concerned," Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and author of the blood study, told The Guardian. "The particles are there and are transported throughout the body."

"We also know in general that babies and young children are more vulnerable to chemical and particle exposure."

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Alarming Level of Microplastics Found in Fish-Eating It 'A Personal Choice'

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Microplastics accumulate up the food chain, increasing in concentration in predators compared with prey.

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If people continue to remain indifferent about ocean pollution, our world could face catastrophic consequences. One of these consequences is that our oceans will just continue to pile up plastic and trash, to the extent where we will never be able to rid our oceans of pollution. This will affect our food supply, as fish eat the plastics and either die, or make humans sick when they consume the polluted fish. As for our reefs, their whole systems can collapse due to chemical pollution, killing the organisms that live in them. There are very few solutions to ocean pollution. Two easy places to start though, are recycling plastics and using alternative sunscreens. We can also be mindful of the amount of trash each person generates each day. If we do all of these, it can slow the rate of new pollution, to give us time to find solutions to the problems we created.