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Without oceans there would be no life on Earth. The equator would be boiling hot while the poles would be freezing. The oceans store and distribute solar radiation so that life on earth is possible. Humans would be able to survive for a little while but then trees and plants would become very dry and fires would ravage the earth scorching the land and releasing a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which would trap in more heat accelerating global warming. The average temperature of the Earth would be 67 degrees Celsius (153 degrees Fahrenheit) the only remotely habitable place would be the poles. Eventually the oxygen levels in the atmosphere would be so low that humans could not breathe anymore. Nearly all life on Earth would cease to exist, only the chemosynthetic bacteria hidden underground in hot springs would still live.

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Why do we need to keep the ocean clean anyways?

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Why do we need to keep the ocean clean anyways?

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The ocean is vital to life on earth because it regulates the temperatures of land so it remains inhabitable for humans. It is also home to many of the creatures we rely on as a food source like fish and lobster. The ocean is also a huge part of the water cycle which is also vital for life on earth.

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Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long (or about the size of a sesame seed) which are created when larger pieces of plastic break since they aren't biodegradable. They used to come from beads made of polyethylene plastic found in cosmetics and toothpaste, but then were banned in 2015 because it was discovered they were detrimental to the aquatic environment.

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In 1990 five shipping containers of Nike work boots and sneakers were lost in the Pacific during a storm. People in Washington and Oregon found them washed ashore and held swap meets to either sell them or find a matching pair!

In 1992 a ship on the Pacific lost tens of thousands of bathtub toys including rubber ducks, beavers, frogs, and turtles

In 1994 a ship lost 34,000 pieces of hockey equipment which included gloves, shin guards, and chest protectors.

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China has been contributing the most out of all countries to ocean pollution with almost 8.8 metric tons which is the equivalent of 19,400.7 pounds!  And if you combine the top five, (China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka) they account for about 60% of the ocean's pollution.

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                                                                             Works Cited

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                                                                             Works Cited

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How Big Is the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch"? Science vs. Myth, response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/how-big-great-pacific-garbage-patch-science-vs-myth.html.

“HOW on Earth Does All the Plastic Get into the Oceans?” Wasteland Rebel, 7 July 2017, wastelandrebel.com/en/how-on-earth-does-all-the-plastic-get-into-the-oceans/.

Patrick Johnston, Priyanka Ketkar | Ruggles Media. “Plastic Pollution and Our Oceans: What Everyone Should Know.” Ruggles Media, 8 Feb. 2017, www.northeastern.edu/rugglesmedia/2017/02/08/plastic-pollution-and-our-oceans-what-everyone-should-know/.

Society, National Geographic. “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” National Geographic Society, 9 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.

dianna.parker. “Great Pacific Garbage Patch | OR&R's Marine Debris Program.” Dianna.parker, 11 July 2013, marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html.

Flinn, Gallagher. “What If the Oceans Disappeared?” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 19 June 2015, science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/what-if-oceans-disappeared.htm.

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The Pacific garbage patch is enormous but it is not quite a "trash island" as depicted by some. Scientists describe it more as a plastic soup because since it is mostly microplastics it isn't as easily seen by the naked eye. In fact, even satellite images do not show a massive patch of garbage. There are some larger portions of garbage throughout the patch though. About 705,000 tons are fishing nets.

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There are  five garbage patches in total now, but more are forming due to all our litter. Additionally, it is estimated that in 2050 there will be more trash in the sea than fish.

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Debris in the patch can sink anywhere from centimeters to meters below the surface which makes it almost impossible to measure how big the garbage patch really is. The patch has been estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas.
However, not all marine trash is in that patch or any patch, nearly 70% of marine debris actually sinks to the ocean floor.

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The approximate  weight of the garbage patch is 7 million tons.

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The majority of trash in the patch is plastic which is not biodegradable which means the plastic slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics.
The microplastics only make the ocean water look like a murky soup. Certain areas of the patch can contain almost two million pieces of microplastic per square mile.
Some sources the trash comes from are people littering, trash dumping and people on boats throwing trash overboard. And those are only a few of the many causes for all the trash.

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It is one of the five major gyres. The gyre consists of a clockwise circular pattern formed by the Coriolis effect manipulating the North Pacific Current, California Current, North Equatorial Current, and the Kuroshio Current forming the vortex like area known as the gyre.

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The Great Pacific Garbage patch is a massive collection of trash and an assortment of other debris collected in  that area.
The patch is mainly two smaller piles, the Eastern Patch being closer to California and the Western Patch which is closer to Japan.
It is also known as the Pacific trash vortex because it is kept together by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.