# data[].attributes.body
Main points
1. Plastics and microbeads that discharge to seas have deeply destroyed the marine system. It has caused starvation, suffocation, laceration, infection, reduced reproductive success and mortality of so many marine organisms.
2. Governments aware of the significance of plastics pollution and formulate laws and regulations to reduce the use of plastic products.These measures successfully reduced the increase in plastics pollution.
3. The plastics products ban are executed differently in different countries and areas. The developed countries do better than developing countries. Since 2002 many counties in the world have been running the plastics bag ban. But many developing countries can not completely avoid the use of bags in some small shops and street vendors.

Questions
1. If the bans on plastic bags and some other plastic products influent the economic growth in some developing countries?
2. Whether some wealthy developed countries should pay much more money and resources to curb marine pollution?
3. Is it an equal method for developing countries to follow the environmental governance that formulates by international groups?

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1. I think this article brings us some new ideas on doing the research. In the article, the author pays more attention to the policies in reducing plastic pollution and try to measure its practical effectiveness. He makes the abstract problem more concrete by using quantitative methods, studying the data collected from the internationally coordinated monitoring campaigns. This method can connect to the knowledge we’ve learned in Research Methods in Business and Quantitative Skill for Business class at DUISC and can be applied to our later research. When we are going to make qualitative analysis to a problem, we can quantify it by measuring the various data to help us draw the final conclusion.

2. With the increasingly severe marine pollution, every country is attaching greater importance on the ocean environment protection. The policies of the ban on single-use plastics have been established in various countries and obtained great achievements. It can be expected that the marine pollution will be improved in the future. https://www.earthday.org/plasticban/

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Sheldon:1,The article show us the adverse consequences to marine animals,but there are lack of exact examples .Hence, I find that some examples to show how the turtle can be stuck by the plastic and the impacts of plastic abuse.
https://www.newsweek.com/plastic-pollution-bigger-threat-sea-turtles-oil-spills-752585

2,The article concern the discharge of the microplastic and macro plastic  to the sea.So people may not know about how long the plastic decompose and how it disappear? As I have search ,it takes up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills,but plastic bags we use in our everyday life take 10-1000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles can take 450 years or more.
https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/learning-how-plastic-bags-decompose/
https://www.postconsumers.com/2011/10/31/how-long-does-it-take-a-plastic-bottle-to-biodegrade/

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Main Idea
1.Marine plastic pollution has caused extensive concern.Single used plastics like pastic bags and microbeads  have serious impact on  the marine environment.
2.Many governments and NGOs have taken corresponding measures to mitigate marine plastic pollution.Interventions to reduce the use of plastic bags have been varied in range and scope. But there have been limited interventions to reduce microbeads.
3.Consistent measures are needed to mitigate plastic bags and microbeads pollution. Also,strengthen related education will be effective on reduce marine plastic pollution.
Question
Q1:What's the plastic bags policy in your country?
Q2:How does charging for plastic bags affect people's consumption psychology and behavior?
Q3:Do you know why the pollution caused by plastic waste is permanent?
Q4:What's main difference between curb plastic bags pollution and microbeads pollution?
Q5:Which policy in the table(page20-21) is most effective?Why?

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QUIZLET: https://quizlet.com/327181292/learn
I have created a quizlet which can help us learn the important terms more easily.

Marine plastic pollution - This subject specific concept is important for us to know because it has appeared 5 times in the article (including the abstract) and it is  currently an alarming environmental issue for the members of the public world-wide. The overwhelming plastic pollution has caused devastating impact to the oceans and has become a major hazard to the marine ecosystem.

Single-use plastics: The article addresses and reviews the current plastic pollution reduction policies by focusing specifically on single-use plastics which are plastic bags and micro beads.

Aquatic ecosystem: An ecosystem in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and fresh water ecosystems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ecosystem.

Microplastics: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) define microplastics as fragments less than 5 mm in diameter, microplastics comprise: primary microplastics, and secondary microplastics, from degraded macroplastics (e.g., plastic bags).

Macroplastics:  Macroplastics (larger than 5 mm) enter the marine
environment via dumping or poor waste management. Large pieces of plastic (macroplastics) can cause significant harm in the marine environment through entanglement.

Marine plastic debris: Also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway.

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Speaking of  plastic pollution, it really remind me of this show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
It is from George Carlin.
And someone has translated it into Chinese, please check the website to help you to understand if needed.
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_7e7dd3120100ub70.html
Mainly ,the show says that protecting the Earth from plastic pollution is not necessary for Earth and it is actually for human.

I think the drawbacks of plastic pollution are quite clear and we have receive enough education about it, but we are still using plastic bags for convenience. Maybe it is because when we use the bags we do not immediately realise the drawbacks. And we could print picture on plastic bags just like cigarette cover, I believe more people would be willing to bring a bag when they go shopping.

# data[].attributes.headline
Gemma's class (47) -- songyan tian ( Will)

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Gemma's class (47) -- songyan tian ( Will)

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1.This article of current international market-based strategies and policies to minimize single-use plastics provides important information and highlights gaps for decision and policymakers. However, many countries are still lack any implementation strategies. in addition, Education and outreach programs to modify behavior should be widely adopted.
2.Plastic bags have been identified, among microplastic litter items, most harmful to marine biota. The research is required to assess whether reductions in single-use plastic bags are maintained, and indeed, more research is required to determine whether these reductions are having a positive impact on aquatic or marine environments. The lack of global policy studies aimed at mitigating single-use plastics accumulating in the marine environment was the driver for this study.

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The article introduces plastic pollution.
Firstly，the author tells us some sorts of plastic pollutions，and also shows the negative impacts caused by plastic pollution.Then the article shows some international strategies for resolving the problem.Variable policies have been used in many nations.But different countries have different policies and some countries still have problems in reducing pollution.Although plastic bags and  microbeads have been banned or reduced in many nations，the amount of those plastic items is still huge.The author said that more effort should be put on to reduce the pollution.

(MARPOL 73/78, MARPOL is short for marine pollution and 73/78 short for the years 1973 and 1978) is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, /ˈnoʊ.ə/ like Noah) is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration

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1. What are the reasons and impacts of the plastic marine pollution?

2. What are the differences between microplastics and macroplastics?

3. What are the international policies to reduce the plastic marine pollution?

4. How can we improve the marine environment in the future?

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Dirk Xanthos is an entrepreneur with Master of Resource and Environmental Management at Dalhousie University, passion for the environment and 10-years experience as CPA.
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/dirk-xanthos
https://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/about/Office_Staff/Staff_and_volunteer_alumni.html

Tony Robert Walker is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University with over 25 years of environmental work experiences and PhD in Biology by the University of Nottingham UK.
https://www.dal.ca/faculty/management/sres/faculty-staff/our-faculty/tony-walker.html

Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a low-density gyre of marine litter consists of chemical sludge, plastics, and other non-biodegradable debris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) focus on global environmental issues and conducts through its authoritative advocacy.
https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment

5 Gyres Institute is a Non-government organisation that gravitates on global plastic pollution reduction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Gyres

MARPOL 73/78, an international marine environmental conventions, purpose is to reduce pollution in the oceans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78

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Main point
1 Plastic pollution involve microplastics and macroplastics pollution. These pollution cause negative impacts is not only on  marine species survive and environment sustainable but also on tourism and economy and it is gradually growing up to be a global issue.

2 .Through diversity of study governments all over the world have strategies to ban the sale of lightweight bags, charge customers for lightweight bagsand/orgenerate taxes from stores who sell them.

3 In practice to restrict plastic bag use is lack legislation support and implement strategy.

Question
1 Distinct the difference between two main plastic pollution source.

2 What is the  damage cause by persistent plastic.

3 What is the damage cause by large plastic items

4  What did UK government did to prevent the plastic bag use.

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MAIN IDEAS:
1)Plastics are widespread in the marine environment. Stranded plastic which makes adverse effects on economic development and human life influence animals' life.
2)Microplastics would finally enter the human food chain through eating seafood. And it affects people's health.
3)Some cosmetics contain microbeads which cannot be filtered by wastewater treatment facilities are released into the ocean. So it would cause environmental problems.
4)A lot of countries including developing and developed countries enact laws or charge for plastic bags compared with fewer nations implement policies to limit the use of microbeads.
5)The levy about single-use plastic bags in England had made a huge difference to reduce the consumption of them. And monitoring is a crucial way to ensure the strategies of plastics bag bans are being adhered to. Besides, Educating youth and other stakeholder is a valid way to raise the awareness of avoiding using plastic bags and cosmetics which contain microbeads.
QUESTION:
1)What impacts will microplastics cause when we release it into the sea?
2)Have any countries found something to replace the use of microbeads in cosmetics?
3)What is the outcome after the UK had levied to the single-use plastic bags?
4)What are the differences between microplastics and macroplastics?

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UNEP    The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of  United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programme

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

It is an American scientific agency
hat focuses on the conditions of the oceans , major waterways, and the atmosphere .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

It is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world and is located between Hawaii and California. Scientists of The Ocean Cleanup have conducted the most extensive analysis ever of this area.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

Ships (MARPOL 73/78)

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978(MARPOL 73/78, MARPOL is short for marine pollution and 73/78 short for the years 1973 and 1978) is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78

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Main idea:
1.plastics and microbeads bring many impacts to not just the marine environment but also people's health. It attracted counties to pay attention to reducing the pollution on plastics and microbeads.
2. Governments all over the world took some action, like release bans or make strategies, to reduce the marine pollution of plastics and microbeads.
3. Different countries intervened the global microbead and plastics policy to reduce pollution and provide the evidence to prove the effectiveness of police.
Questions:
1. What the differences between microplastics and macroplastics? which of them will pose more of a threat to marine?
2.what impacts the microplastics caused to marine pollution?
3. What did the government and the NGOs do to reduce plastic marine debris?
4. How to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies?
5. what is the purpose of this article?

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Main ideas

1.    Plastics are now ubiquitous in the marine environment, and urgent action is required to mitigate this worsening trend.

2.    The existence of plastics in the marine environment present a number of challenges that hinder economic development.

3.    Economic losses are associated with reduced tourism revenus,negative impacts on recreational activities, vessel damage, impairment in marine environment, invasive species transport and damage to public health.

4.    Recent studies suggest that risks of microplastics(including degraded macroplastics,microbeads and microplastic fibers in the marine environment may pose more of a threat that microplastics research and policies to reduce pollution from these source are lacking.

5.    Even though 134 countries agreed to eliminate plastics disposal at sea, research has shown that the problem of marine debris has worsened since MARPOL 73/78 was signed.
This may be because the marine debris problem is related to incorrect disposal of waste on land.

6.    While measures to reduce plastic bag pollution have long been established,many countries still lack any implementation strategies.

Questions:

1.    What ICC suggest NGOs to do to mitigate marine debris?

2.    What are the purpose of the two strategies come from Honolulu Strategy?

3.    How many types of policies have been mentioned in this article?

4.    Why in South Africa,the measure that to reduce the use of plastic bags is ineffective?

5.    How to quantify the effectiveness of policies to reduce microbead pollution?

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Main Ideas:
1. The article draws our attention towards how plastic material can cause devastating effects on our ecosystem and the outcome of those results will lead to starvation, suffocation, infection, reduce re productivity and mortality.
2. It also explains about how micro plastics and macro plastic are distinguished and there effects on our environment.
3. Many laws and legislature came into order so the use of plastic bags as well as microbeads should be reduced.
4. Many government and non- government organization took affords to examine how the plastic waste should be deposed off in a safe way.

Questions:
1. What is the difference between Micro-Plastics and Macro-Plastics?
2.Which countries were in support of the ban of the plastic policy and what were there strategy?
3.What are the reasons due to which microbeads in cosmetic products were banned ?
4. Even though laws are in effects the problem of plastic pollution have not ended. What are the possible reasons ?

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1.freshwater environments
Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth'saquatic ecosystems. They include lakes andponds, rivers, streams, springs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content.

2microplastics
Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our ocean and Great Lakes. Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes, but those that are less than five millimeters in length (or about the size of a sesame seed) are called “microplastics.”

3 microbeads
Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene.

4plastic marine debris
Marine debris is defined as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes.

5marine biota
Marine biota can be classified broadly into those organisms living in either the pelagic environment (plankton and nekton) or the benthic environment (benthos). Some organisms, however, are benthic in one stage of life and pelagic in another. Producers that synthesize organic molecules exist in both environments.

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Main ideas：

1. Plastics are now seriously polluted the marine environment, and it not only has the negative influence on the marine organism but also will threaten human’s health.

2. Plastics include microplastics and macroplastics, and microplastics have more threats than macroplastics in the marine environment.

3. Both governments and non-government organizations are taking actions to reduce the plastic pollutions, but some countries still lack implementations or strategies.

Questions:

1. How plastics pollution threaten human’s health?

2. What are microbeads and how will they pollute the environment?

3. What does the government do to reduce the plastic bag pollution?

4. The plastics bag has great harm to human’s health, what’s the policy to deal with the pollution in your country?

5. How to comment on the different policy in different countries, are they effective?

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1.mitigating single-use plastics accumulating in the marine environment

The main point has been study in this research is focus on the mitigating single-use plastics accumulating in the marine environment as the author claim there is lack of the studies focus on the related global policy. It also become the reason of the author to do the discussion session in three different parts.

2.NGO websites

NGO stands for non-governmental organization. In the methodology section, the author claim that there are not enough studies focus on this research question, which cause a knowledge gap for the author to build up with information not only from peer-reviewed articles and government websites ( resources normally be considered as reliable information), but also from certain NGO websites.

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Jambeck: an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia.

https://jambeck.engr.uga.edu/
Antarctic: a polar region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic
UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme, an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programme

IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education.

https://www.iucn.org/

NOAA: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.

https://www.commerce.gov/

NGOs: usually non-profit and sometimes international organizationsindependent of governments and international governmental organizations (though often funded by governments)that are active in humanitarian, educational, health care, public policy, social, human rights, environmental, and other areas to affect changes according to their objectives.

https://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos.html

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participation of ngos in the united nations system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Global Policy Forum is a policy watchdog that follows the work of the United Nations. We promote accountability and citizen participation in decisions on peace and security, social justice and international law.

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1.plastic marine pollution:

Marine plastic pollution is one of the most serious emerging threats to the health of oceans and a major hazard to marine biodiversity.

2.single-use plastic:

They are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.

3.microplastics:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) define microplastics as fragments less then 5 mm in diameter. Microplastics including primary microplastics, and secondary microplastics, from degraded macroplastics.

4.microbeads:

ne of the primary microplastics, are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.

5.Marine plastic debris:

It also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway.

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1. This article is talking about the how plastic pollution affect Marine. And this issue brings me back to our daily life. In my memory, when I was study in elementary school, the groceries store always provides free plastic bag for customer. And, I still remember that one day after shopping, the cashier asks me whether I need a plastic bag for grab my staff. It has been charging now. everything change after that. When I going to US for my undergraduate life, it even getting more control, some America local store only provide paper bag. And some even do not provide bag, the only bag they provide is Fabric. We can see those government strategies really pushing us to reduce plastic using. And it is getting better every day.
2.I saw a video from the BBC last month. It is taking about Mosquito plastic pollution. Mosquito grow up in the water surface until it becomes mature, and in these periods, they absorb the microplastic into their body. And because of it contain those in their body. The animal food chain will be affected by it, as well as our human. This news has shocked me, because of that what we hurt our environment is finally would hurt us, and it comes such a directly way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-berkshire-45593664/mosquito-plastic-pollution-revealed-in-reading-university-study?intlink_from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftopics%2Fcnegp3jvj32t%2Focean-pollution&link_location=live-reporting-map

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1.Single-use plastics:Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.
2.durability:permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force. E.g.: they advertised the durability of their products.
3.Microplastics: These are small barely visible pieces of plastic that enter and pollute the environment.
4.macroplastics:Relatively large particles of plastic found especially in the marine environment.
5.Microbeads:are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension.They are always used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.

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1. Single-use: used to describe a product that is designed to be used  once only.
2. Microbeads: very small pieces of plastic that are added to products for cleaning the skin.
3. Levy: an amount of money, such as a tax, that you have to pay to a government or organisation.
4. Entanglement: a situation or relationship that you are involved in and that is difficult to escaped from.
5. Exfoliate(exfoliating): to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, in order to improve its appearance.
7. Intervention: action taken to intentionally become involved in a difficult situation  in order to improve it or prevent it from getting worse.
8. Jurisdiction: the authority of a court or official organisation to make decisions and judgements.

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Main idea:
1.Because plastic pollution has threatened the marine and freshwater environments, it has been concerned by lots of organizations, and it has been defined as a global issue which has a strong relation with human development.
2.Plastic pollution has negative impact to economic development.
3. It is an effective measure that mitigate the source of single-use plastics.
4.Plastic pollution will finally affect people’s health.
5.Lots of countries draft policy and legislative to reduce plastic pollution.

Question:
1.What’s the performance of the threat that plastic pollution cos to marine?
2.What’s the impact that the plastic pollution cos to economic development?
3.How to further reduce plastic pollution?
4.What are the methods of reduce plastic bag pollution?
5.What is the main idea of this article?

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ubiquitous: adj. seeming to be everywhere   eg: Leather is very much in fashion this season, as is the ubiquitous denim.

suffocation: n.[U] death caused by not having enough oxygen, or the act of killing someone by not allowing them to have enough oxygen

laceration: n. a cut   eg: The boy had received horrific injuries in the attack, including lacerations to both arms.

zooplankton: n.[U] very small animals that float near the surface of water and on which other sea creatures feed

opaque: adj. preventing light from travelling through, and therefore not transparent or translucent

pelagic: adj. relating to or living in areas of the sea away from the land; (of fish) living near the surface of the sea

exfoliate: v. to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, in order to improve its appearance

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1.The ocean pollution reminds me  a shocking news I saw last year, a giant wheel died on the beach, experts dissect its body, found many plastic bags around its lung. Animals can not recognize the food from waste. Thousands of animals died because of eating plastic goods. Every time I heard such kind of news,  I felt tearful and it  grieved me for a long time. Its our fault to make them loose their lives.  Related laws should be enacted by the government to highlight our awareness of protecting the marine animals.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44344468
2. Oil is the fastest source of deterioration to the ocean, being far more harmful than trash and waste. However, only a small percentage of oil (around 12%) dumped in the ocean comes as a result of actual oil spills. Most oil causing harm in the ocean is a result of drainage from land. Oil spills suffocate marine life to death, and leads to behavioral changes and a breakdown in thermal insulation to those that do survive. It essentially changes the entire ecosystem of an affected area.

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UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources[2]) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

The five plastic gyres
The 5 Gyre Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 2017. Our mission is to empower action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution through science, education, and adventure.

Great Pacific garbage patch
The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1950 and 1988. It is located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic, floating trash halfway between Hawaii and California[2] extends over an indeterminate area of widely varying range depending on the degree of plastic concentration used to define the affected area.

exfoliating
to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, in order to improve its appearance.

MARPOL 73/78
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions.

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1.Marine pollution
Marine pollution usually means that humans have changed the original state of the ocean and destroyed the marine ecosystem. Pollution caused by harmful substances entering the marine environment can damage biological resources, endanger human health, hinder fishing and other human activities at sea, and damage seawater quality and environmental quality. The characteristics of marine pollution are that there are many sources of pollution, strong persistence, wide spread and difficult to control.
2.plastic limit order
On December 31, 2007, the General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the “Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Restricting the Production and Sale of Plastic Shopping Bags.” This notice, known as the “plastic limit order” by the masses, clearly states: “From 2008 From June 1st, it is forbidden to produce, sell and use plastic shopping bags with thickness less than 0.025mm nationwide; "Since June 1, 2008, in all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other retail outlets Plastic shopping bags shall not be provided free of charge if the system of paid use of plastic shopping bags is implemented. According to the document, in terms of environmental protection, plastic bags must be marked with the words “To protect the environment and save resources, please use it multiple times”. At the same time, the plastic bag should clearly identify the manufacturer's name and clearly identify the nominal load bearing in kilograms.

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UNEP - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

IUCN Red List - The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)  Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), founded in 1964, has evolved to become the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world.

NOAA - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.
NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to provide understanding and improve stewardship of the environment.

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Plastics is ubiquitous in the marine environment. The essay said the contemporary social pollution issues ,how to solve them and show some methods to mitigate this condition. Tell the truth, we can see the plastics everywhere, it’s  just like air in our daily life. For instance, we will buy the products in the supermarkets and hypermarkets, so it’s convenient to take items away with bags, which means people can carry them in a easy and quick approach.

Absolutely, people have learned how severe that pollution in marine. When I was a child and studied at the primary school, I heard that Antarctic bear will have no places to live, because human being just discharge waste into the ocean to let ice melt quickly than before. In my opinion, people just consider oceans as rubbish station, they put everything in it without see the result.

With the pollution become exacerbation, many countries implement different legislation to solve this question, putting bans, levies and so on. The important is that improve the education which is the positive impacts of these measures in the short-and long -term.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X8780019X

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0025326X88907084

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From a vast variety of complex vocabulary which pervades this article I have chosen some of the words which are recurrent and crucial to the understanding of the thesis:
1. Marine debris is defined as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes.
2. Macroplastic - relatively large particles of plastic found especially in the marine environment (typically more than about 5 mm)
3. Microplastic - small barely visible pieces of plastic that enter and pollute the environment. To clarify, microplastics are not a specific kind, but rather is any type of plastic fragment that is less than five millimeters in length according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
4. Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimetre in their largest dimension. They are used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.
5. Gyres - large systems of circulating ocean currents, kind of like slow-moving whirlpools. There are five gyres to be exact—the North Atlantic Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre—that have a significant impact on the ocean. The big five help drive the so-called oceanic conveyor belt that helps circulate ocean waters around the globe. While they circulate ocean waters, they’re also drawing in the pollution that we release in coastal areas, known as marine debris.
6. Degradable - capable of being decomposed chemically orbiologically.

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How does one person tackle a global, and at times overwhelming problem? And why are we flushing plastic down the toilet? In this funny, playful and moving talk, award-winning environmental campaigner Natalie Fee reveals how you can disrupt big industry from your back room … and how you can change the world, one flush at a time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJiQt9ASSNg

In Norway's northern fjords, one man is on a mission to pick up as much plastic as he can. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p069v922/arctic-plastic-pollution#

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It is a regardless phenomenon in nowadays society that plastic pollution has definitely influenced our daily life.Not only can we see the plastic bags floating in the air , but also the plastic products have occupied a large amount of our daily used tools. It is seemed like not a big deal ,but we can see in the passage, 40 percent of the world, especially the  wealthy countries, have involved in the harmful influenced of plastic pollution. Moreover, because of the effect of plastic pollution , the fine place for creatures living have reduced 10% in past 10 years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p069v922/arctic-plastic-pollution

To stop the disaster, author suggest to build up connections between governments, in my personal point of view, for individually, we can reduce the usage of plastic bags , carrying the bags to supermarket which have been used before. Everyone do a little, it is a large step for the world.

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United Kingdom Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs:

It is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. The broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air people breathe, to the water people drink.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

UNEP:The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of  United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programme

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

It is an American scientific agency

hat focuses on the conditions of the oceans , major waterways, and the atmosphere .

https://www.commerce.gov/

EU:
ROLE: Voice of EU member governments, adopting EU laws and coordinating EU policies
Members: Government ministers from each EU country, according to the policy area to be discussed
President: Each EU country holds the presidency on a 6-month rotating basis
Established in: 1958 (as Council of the European Economic Community)
Its location: Brussels (Belgium)
https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies/council-eu_en

Earth Policy Institute:

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) was founded in 2001 by Lester Brown, the founder and former president of the Worldwatch Institute, to provide a plan of a sustainable future along with a roadmap of how to get from here to there. EPI works at the global level simply because no country can fully implement a Plan B economy in isolation. When its founder retired on June 30, 2015, the Institute was dissolved.

EPI’s goals were (1) to provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, (2) to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and (3) to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

http://www.earth-policy.org

Bangladesh, to the east of India on the Bay of Bengal, is a South Asian country marked by lush greenery and many waterways. Its Padma (Ganges), Meghna and Jamuna rivers create fertile plains, and travel by boat is common. On the southern coast, the Sundarbans, an enormous mangrove forest shared with Eastern India, is home to the royal Bengal tiger.

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ubiquitous:If you describe something or someone as ubiquitous, you mean that they seem to be everywhere.(omnipresent)

mitigate:To mitigate something means to make it less unpleasant, serious, or painful.(alleviate)

ingestion:means absorb,eat something.

entanglement : An entanglement is a complicated or difficult relationship or situation.

sediment:Sediment is solid material that settles at the bottom of a liquid, especially earth and pieces of rock that have been carried along and then left somewhere by water, ice, or wind.

exacerbated: If something exacerbates a problem or bad situation, it makes it worse.

invertebrate: An invertebrate is a creature that does not have a spine such as an insect, a worm, or an octopus.

opaque: If an object or substance is opaque, you cannot see through it (the opposite mean with transparent)

deleterious: Something that has a deleterious effect on something has a harmful effect on it.

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Recommendation: official advice given to someone, especially about what to do
Ubiquitous: seeming be everywhere (omnipresent)

Mitigate:  make a situation or the effects of something less harmful, unpleasant (alleviate)

Debris: the pieces of something that are left after it has been destroyed in an accident, explosion… (fragment)

Entanglement: a difficult situation or relationship that is hard to escape from

Contaminate: pollute

Ingestion:  to take food or other substances into your body (digest)

Opaque: not transparent

Intervention: the act of becoming involved in an argument, flight, or other difficult situations in order to change what happens.

Vendor:  someone who sells things, especially on the street.

Proliferation: a sudden increase in the amount or number of something

Magnitude:  the great size or importance of something

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1.IUCN
article:
of the undreds of marine species impacted,17% are IUCN red listed species and at least 10% have ingested plastics.
Background information:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. Created in 1948, IUCN has evolved into the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network.
link: https://www.iucn.org/about
2. NOAA
article:  National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration define microplastics as fragment <5mm in diameter ,with some researchers using <1mm diameter as the threshold.
Background information:
NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.
link: https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency
3. Great Plastic Garbage Patch

article: The  five plastic gyres established throughout the oceans are well documented, particularly the “Great Plastic Garbage Patch”.
Background information:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
link:   https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
4. MARPOL73/78
article: the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships (MARPOL 73/78) was signed in 1973.
Background information:

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (MARPOL 73/78), was promoted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prohibit all ships from discharging wastes at sea which could result in pollution of the marine environment. MARPOL 73/78 applies to oil tankers, cruise ships, general cargo and container vessels, tugs, ferries, yachts and small pleasure craft. The objective of the convention is to reduce the volumes of harmful materials entering the world's ocean and the marine environment.
link:

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/860841468330898141/MARPOL-73-78-International-Convention-for-the-Prevention-of-Pollution-from-Ships
5.ICC
article:The Ocean Conservancy oversees the International Coastal Cleanup. The ICC encourages other NGOs and volunteer groups to engage in mitigating marine debris by cleaning up coastal areas across the globe.
Background information:

the International Coastal Cleanup began more than 30 years ago, when communities rallied together with the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering their coastline.
link:  https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/
6.CEPA
article: The Canadian federal government classified plastic microbeads as a toxin under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Background information:

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999) is an important part of Canada's federal environmental legislation aimed at preventing pollution and protecting the environment and human health. The goal of CEPA 1999 is to contribute to sustainable development - development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
link:  https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/canadian-environmental-protection-act-registry/general-information/overview.html

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1. Microbeads
Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene

2. Ghost net
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, including the occasional human diver. Acting as designed, the nets restrict movement, causing starvation, laceration and infection, and suffocation in those that need to return to the surface to breathe.

3. NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to provide understanding and improve stewardship of the environment.

4. Honolulu Strategy
The Honolulu Strategy is a framework for a comprehensive and global effort to reduce the ecological, human health, and economic impacts of marine debris. It is intended for use as a planning tool, common frame of reference for collaboration, and a monitoring tool on multiple levels—global, regional, national, and local—involving the full spectrum of civil society, government and intergovernmental organizations, and the private sector.

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UNEP:

The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment

IUCN:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

https://www.iucn.org

NOAA:

NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.

https://www.noaa.gov

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL):

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

http://www.imo.org/en/about/conventions/listofconventions/pages/international-convention-for-the-prevention-of-pollution-from-ships-(marpol).aspx

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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1950 and 1988.

MARPOL 73/78: The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (MARPOL 73/78, MARPOL is short for marine pollution and 73/78 short for the years 1973 and 1978) is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions.

The 5 Gyres Institute is a non-profit organization that focuses on reducing plastics pollution by focusing on primary research. Programs concentrate on science, education and adventure (research expeditions for citizen-scientists).

Ocean Conservancy (founded as The Delta Corporation) is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States. The organization helps formulate ocean policy at the federal and state government levels based on peer reviewed science. Ocean Conservancy is one of the few organizations that help protect wildlife in the ocean. International Coastal Cleanup is one of the accomplishment of Ocean Conservancy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, /ˈnoʊ.ə/ like Noah) is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, whose goal is to contribute to sustainable development through pollution prevention and to protect the environment, human life and health from the risks associated with toxic substances. It covers a diversity of activities that can affect human health and the environment, and acts to address any pollution issues not covered by other federal laws.

World Oceans Day takes place every 8 June. It has been celebrated unofficially since its original proposal in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1]

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Marine Pollution Bulletin- This is an international journal which has a  wide range of topics discussing marine pollution, pollution control, management and economics aspects and protection of marine environment.
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/marine-pollution-bulletin

UNEP- United Nations Environment Programme is the leading organization that sets global environment agendas; also, the authority that focuses on global environmental issues.
https://www.unenvironment.org

Great Pacific Garbage Patch- Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

MARPOL 73/78-This agenda was promoted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prohibit all ships from discharging wastes at sea which could lead to pollution of the marine environment and reduce marine pollution.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/860841468330898141/pdf/816070BRI0Infr00Box379840B00PUBLIC0.pdf

Grey Literature-Grey literature is any information that is not produced by commercial publishers including research reports, working papers...etc.
https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1110/resource_guides/7/grey_literature

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Main idea:

•    Single-use plastics are a significant source of marine plastics pollution, and there are many evidences that they are seriously harming the marine environment and also causing human health problems.

•    Governments and international organisations have struggled a very long time in reducing marine plastics debris, there are various range and scope of strategies implemented by different countries.

•    Examine the effectiveness of various policies implemented by different countries, some country did reducing the plastics pollution effectively like UK. However, there are few studies found out that the policies have been inconsistently implemented in some countries like North America.

•    Education and outreach programs are important, not only can they modify behavior of children, it also has social influence on their peers, parents and the community.

Questions:

1.     How the microbeads and microplastics can affect the marine environment?

2.     What are the strategies implemented to reduce the use of plastic bags by different countries?

3.     What are the international strategies to reduce plastics marine debris?

4.     Were the policies to reduce single-use plastics effective in UK?

5.     How education and outreach program could be helped in reducing plastic pollution?

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1. IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
https://www.iucn.org/about
2.NOAA:  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.
https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency
3.GPGP: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.
https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
4. Honolulu Strategy :

The Honolulu Strategy is a framework for a comprehensive and global effort to reduce the ecological, human health, and economic impacts of marine debris. It is intended for use as a planning tool, common frame of reference for collaboration, and a monitoring tool on multiple levels—global, regional, national, and local—involving the full spectrum of civil society, government and intergovernmental organizations, and the private sector.
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/solutions/honolulu-strategy
5. MARPOL :

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.
http://www.imo.org/en/about/conventions/listofconventions/pages/international-convention-for-the-prevention-of-pollution-from-ships-(marpol).aspx
6. World Oceans Day :

By its resolution 63/111 of 5 December 2008, the UN General Assembly designated 8 June as World Oceans Day.

To raise awareness about the role the United Nations and international law can play in the sustainable development and use of the oceans and their living and non-living resources, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea is actively coordinating different activities of the World Oceans Day.
http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/background.shtml

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Interventions to reduce the use of plastic bags have been varied in range and scope, lightweight bags are prohibited, there are several strategies like charging customers for lightweight bags and imposing taxes on stores. Bans, partial bans, and fees have been enact by more and more countries and municipalities.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/06/queensland-bans-single-use-plastic-bags-from-july-2018

The author thinks policy tools is not enough, one of the best strategies reported to mitigate plastic pollution would be to reduce its consumption at source. And the author also suggests that education, outreach as well as awareness should be conducted. And now, students will learn how important it is to protect the environment both at home and at school, studying some basic knowledge and do volunteer work to collect plastic bags thrown away by other people.

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1. UNEP:  The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

2. IUCN:  The International Union for Conservation of Nature, is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

3. Ghost net: fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea.

4. NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is an agency that enriches life through science. Their reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as they work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.

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1.     Marine plastic pollution has become a significant environmental concern. Single-use plastics are a main source of this pollution. Large plastic items such as discarded fishing rope and nets can entanglement of invertebrates, birds, mammals and turtles. Besides, Microplastics can enter the human food chain through ingestion of fish, shellfish and filter feeders, causing potential human health impacts.

2.     ICC encourages other NGOs and volunteer group to engage in mitigating marine debris by cleaning up coastal areas across the globe. In addition, the Honolulu Strategy have two focus. Onefocus on market-based instruments like levies on plastic bags. Second focus is create policies, regulations, and legislation to reduce marine debris like imposing bans on microbeads.

3.     The research examine the effectiveness of various policies implemented by different countries, some country did reducing the plastics pollution effectively. Nevertheless, there are few studies found out that the policies have been inconsistently implemented in some countries.

4.     Education campaigns will likely help to further reduce plastic pollution caused by microbeads and plastic bags at source. The reason is that education and behavioural change of children is crucial as they represent an important source of social influence among their peers, parents and community. Targeting youth and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, governments, industry and NGOs) is an effective way to promote positive change and help increase awareness.

1.     What is the use of microbeads? Is there any examples?

2.     What is Honolulu Strategy?

3.     Why microplastics harm human life?

4.     What is the differences between microplastics and macroplastics?

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Dirk Xanthos:
Graduated from Dalhousie University’s Master of Resource and Environmental Management program.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dirk_Xanthos

Tony Robert Walker:
Assistant Professor at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p2A7JcIAAAAJ&hl=en

UNEP:
The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment

NOAA:
NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Their reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.
https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency

GPGP:
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world and is located between Hawaii and California.
https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

MARPOL:
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.
http://www.imo.org/en/about/conventions/listofconventions/pages/international-convention-for-the-prevention-of-pollution-from-ships-(marpol).aspx

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1. Microplastics

Microplastics are defined as all forms of plastics less than 5mm. They can enter the oceans as:
a) Primary microplastics such as beads from personal care products, microfibres from clothes and pre-production pellets (nurdles/mermaid tears).
b) Secondary microplastics which are derived from larger plastic items which slowly get broken into smaller pieces.

2.  Macroplastics

fragments >5 mm, which enter the marine environment via dumping or poor waste management

3. Single-use plastics

Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.

4. Marine plastic debris

is human-created waste plastic that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway. Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack.

5. Opaque

preventing light from travelling through, and therefore not transparent or translucent:

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microbeads:

used in hundreds of personal care products like skin exfoliants and soap, can slip through water treatment systems and then become part of the plastic pollution of the oceans.

macroplastic :

Relatively large particles of plastic found especially in the marine environment (typically more than about 5 mm)

microplastic:

Small particles of plastic found especially in the marine environment (typically less than about 5 mm)

gyre:

【specialized】  a circular pattern of ocean currents (= flows of water in a particular direction)

e.g.The area is one of the world’s five major ocean gyres – huge systems of rotating currents.

​

【literary】 a circular movement in which each circle is above, below, or wider than the one before

e.g.The hawk wheels in a widening gyre.

single-use:

used to describe a product that is designed to be used once only

e.g.Sales of single-use cameras fell by 2% last year.

debris:

broken or torn pieces of something larger

e.g.Debris from the aircraft was scattered over a large area.

exacerbate:

to make something that is already bad even worse

e.g.This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.

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1.Marine pollution occurs when harmful, or potentially harmful, effects result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural, and residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive organisms. Eighty percent of marine pollution comes from land. Air pollution is also a contributing factor by carrying off pesticides or dirt into the ocean. Land and air pollution have proven to be harmful to marine life and its habitats.[1]

The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris, and dust. Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrates or phosphates, stimulate algae growth. Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny particles which are then taken up by plankton and benthic animals, most of which are either deposit feeders or filter feeders. In this way, the toxins are concentrated upward within ocean food chains. Many particles combine chemically in a manner highly depletive of oxygen, causing estuaries to become anoxic.

When pesticides are incorporated into the marine ecosystem, they quickly become absorbed into marine food webs. Once in the food webs, these pesticides can cause mutations, as well as diseases, which can be harmful to humans as well as the entire food web. Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine food webs. These can cause a change to tissue matter, biochemistry, behaviour, reproduction, and suppress growth in marine life. Also, many animal feeds have a high fish meal or fish hydrolysate content. In this way, marine toxins can be transferred to land animals, and appear later in meat and dairy products.

In order to protect the ocean from marine pollution, policies have been developed internationally. There are different ways for the ocean to get polluted, therefore there have been multiple laws, policies, and treaties put into place throughout history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_pollution

2.Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in the ocean but causes the most serious harm near coastlines and during its journey towards open waters. Existing in a variety of shapes and sizes, plastic litter harms marine life and incurs a cost on coastal economies. • We know enough about the damage done by oceanic plastic pollution to act now. However, solutions require concerted action by a range of stakeholders. The most promising solutions include: – Managing plastic waste at source, for instance by raising awareness amongst the public of the harm caused by plastic pollution as well as the economic and intrinsic value of plastic materials.
– Developing and expanding the use of plastics that truly degrade in the ocean.
– Managing waste and litter streams better: eliminating unnecessary products, ensuring adequate waste management systems are in place, setting up a circular economy for plastic products and waste where possible, boosting recycling, and incinerating unrecyclable plastic waste for energy in conjunction with the development of carbon capture and storage technology to balance the trade-off with greenhouse gas emissions.
– Using alternative materials to plastic where possible, such as substituting the microbeads in the cosmetics for non plastic alternatives.
– Cleaning up existing plastic pollution, with a focus on waterways, sewerage plants and coastlines.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/briefing-papers/The-ocean-plastic-pollution-challenge-Grantham-BP-19_web.pdf

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1. Piece of plastic is dangerous for marine life. Fish or marine organisms cannot digest particles and microplastics. Ecosystem and food chain can be damaged and it is potentially harmful to humans. There are plastic on the beach not only from bottles but also from clothes. Many researches have been done and students focus on marine problems.
https://www.theguardian.com/developing-sustainable-solutions-university-of-plymouth/2018/oct/01/sea-change-fighting-for-the-future-of-our-oceans

2. This journal is about plastic problems on the beach. It reminds me of my experience. I use facial scrub once or twice a week. When I buy facial scrub, I usually choose one with microbeads. It seems to me that facial scrub with microbeads clean my face better than others without microbeads. I read news article one year ago. I found that microbeads do not dissolve in water and it could affect ecosystem. I do not buy facial scrub with microbeads.

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Mann points:
1 Single-use plastics are a significant source of marine plastics pollution, It attracted many counties to pay attention to reduce using of pollution on plastics and microbeads
2  Governments are fully conscious of the significance of plastics pollution and enact laws and regulations to reduce and restrict the use of plastic products，. These measures had reduced plastics pollution.
3 some countries reduced plastics pollution effectively like UK. However, there are few studies found out that the policies have been iimplemented in some countries like North America.
4 Governments which from all over the world try to ban the sale of lightweight bags by charging customers for lightweight bags and/or generate taxes from stores.
Question
1,why it’s not every country in the world ban single -use products?
2Do you think it’s necessary for government to deal with plastic pollution by law?

# data[].attributes.body
legislative (Abstract part): relative to laws or the making of laws.

EX: Many of our status are resisting the necessary of legislative changes.

Ubiquitous (Introduction): Seeing to be everywhere.

EX: In spite of ubiquitous efforts and information campaigns, women continue to be poorer and discriminated against more frequent than man.

Microbeads (Introduction): Very small plastics that are added to products for cleaning the skin.

Exfoliate (Introduction): To remove dead skin cells from the surface of skin, in order to improve their appearance.

EX: Various topical treatments are available to exfoliate the scales.

Entanglement (mythology and approach) t: a situation or relationship that you are involved in and that is difficult to escape from.

EX: Physical contact such as entanglements are generally characterized by transients’ properties.

Intervention (Result and discussion): Actions taken to intentionally become involved in difficult situation in order to improved it or prevented to getting worse.

# data[].attributes.body
Levy ---an amount of money, such as a tax, that you have to pay to a government or organization

Strategies---a detailed plan for achieving success in situations such as war, politics, business, industry, or sport, or the skill of planning for such situations

Eliminate--- to remove or take away someone or something

Minimizing---to reduce something to the least possible level or amount

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1.The typhoon "mangosteen" caused the seawater to be poured. When the seawater retreated, the road surface was covered with foam and other marine debris, which were so devastated. The garbage that was originally thrown by humans was returned to them after a typhoon. On October 13, the first International Children's Ocean Festival and Shenzhen International Ocean Clean Day were held. There are more than 30 sub-meeting venues in the Jinshawan Seaside Resort and the Shenzhen Coastal Yacht Marina. More than 3,300 kilograms of garbage were cleaned on the same day. Activities from the beach, the sea, the seabed, the coastline, four directions, comprehensive marine cleaning. More than 50 scuba diving and free-skiing frogmen from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau and overseas have gone to the sea to clean the rubbish.
2. Seabin project

Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski, two avid surfers, decided to quit their jobs to create a “Seabin” that would collect trash, oil, fuel and detergents.

The mission of this project is “HAVE POLLUTION FREE OCEANS FOR OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS”.

The Seabin is a floating rubbish bin that is located in the water at marinas, docks, yacht clubs and commercial ports. The Seabin moves up and down with the range of tide collecting all floating rubbish. ... The Seabin also has the potential to collect a percentage of oils and pollutants floating on the water surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySp7HKD7jaw

# data[].attributes.body
Main Idea:
•    Single-used plastics, such as plastic bags and microbeads cause a severe damage to marine environment.

•    Governments around the world implement bans and levies to prevent plastic bags from buying in store, and also to prohibit using microbeads in cosmetics.

•    There’s a gap between research and implement, however this gap can make the monitoring system more completed.

•    UK government put information into children’s education, in order to change the concepts between plastic litter and marine environment.
Questions:

1. How microplastics affect the marine environment?

2. What strategies did the government use to decrease the use of plastic bags? Please find the examples from any countries which has been mentioned in the article.

3. What did UK governments do to deal with the microbeads problems in 2016?
4. What method can ensure that the interventions are being complied with due to lack of information on banning microbeads?  Please find an example in the article of how it works.
5. Are there any legislations for banning the use of plastic or microbeads in your country?

# data[].attributes.body
1.  Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

Great Pacific Garbage Patch was the circulation of marine debris particles between Hawaii and California. The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative pelagic concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre

https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/public_health_posters/4/

2.Ships (MARPOL 73):

The International Conference on Marine Pollution produced the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73). Besides MARPOL regulates five particular source of pollution.

https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/gintenlr10&div=28&g_sent=1
3.United Nations Environment Programme:

is the global environment authority that includes making global environment agenda, developing the coherent implementation of the environment influence of suitable development in the United Nation system and is also an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment
4.Zero Waste:

The definition of Zero Waste is promoting restart of resource life cycles, which products can reuse.

https://www.torontoenvironment.org/zerowaste_benefits.
5.Entanglement of Antarctic fur seals at Bird Island, South Georgia :

Observing 1033 Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus  gazelle were entangled in marine debris at Bird Island, South Georgia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23915979
6. NOAA:
NOAA mainly focus on the change of Earth’s atmosphere and ocean

Warning for disaster weather, providing charts seas, managing the utilization and protection of Marine and coastal resources and research the improvement about understanding and protecting environment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration#Purpose_and_function

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1.This article mainly show the single-use plastics (plastic bags and
microbeads) are a significant source of the marine plastic pollution.The author pays more attention to the  policy and legislative tools to reduce plastic pollution.
2.This article reviews current international market-based strategies and policies
to minimize single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads) provides important information and highlights gaps for decision and policy makers. While measures to reduce plastic bag pollution have long been established, many countries still lack any implementation strategies.
3. Internationally, all interventions to reduce single-use plastics vary in range and scope. Policies have been developed across a number of nations to ban primarily the use and sale of, but also the manufacturing of microbeads. Measures to reduce plastic bag pollution have included bans (including both full and partial) and levies, and these interventions have occurred both regionally and nationally. Although reduction strategies provide tools to reduce single-use plastics at source, it is recommended that consistent measures continue to be implemented to mitigate plastic bag and microbeads pollution. However, it is equally important that research measure the positive impacts of these measures in the short- and long-term. Education campaigns will likely help to further reduce plastic pollution caused by microbeads and plastic bags at source.
https://www.britannica.com/science/plastic-pollution

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1

UNEP:

The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of  United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programme

2

Earth Policy Institute:

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) was founded in 2001 by Lester Brown, the founder and former president of the Worldwatch Institute, to provide a plan of a sustainable future along with a roadmap of how to get from here to there. EPI works at the global level simply because no country can fully implement a Plan B economy in isolation. When its founder retired on June 30, 2015, the Institute was dissolved.

EPI’s goals were (1) to provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, (2) to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and (3) to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

http://www.earth-policy.org

3.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch- Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

4.

Honolulu Strategy: In March 2011, NOAA co-hosted the Fifth International Marine Debris Conference (5IMDC) in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme and other agencies and organizations. The conference brought the marine debris community together to develop and create a document known as the Honolulu Strategy.

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/solutions/honolulu-strategy

5.

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL):

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

http://www.imo.org/en/about/conventions/listofconventions/pages/international-convention-for-the-prevention-of-pollution-from-ships-(marpol).aspx

6.
NOAA:

NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Their reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.

https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency

# data[].attributes.body
1 monitoring-to be aware of the state of a system, to observe a situation for any changes which may occur over time, using a monitor or measuring device of some sort.
2 levy-a charge imposed and collected or the act of drafting into military service
3 intervention-the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute)
a policy of intervening in the affairs of other countries
4 Microbeads-very small plastics that are added to products for cleaning the skin.
5 Microplastic-small plastic particles in the environment that are generally smaller than 1 mm (0.039 in) down to the micrometer range.
6 single-use: the ability of something to be disposed of or thrown away after use.

# data[].attributes.body
UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of  United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
NOAA:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.

Great Pacific garbage patch:The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1950 and 1988. It is located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N.[1] The collection of plastic, floating trash halfway between Hawaii and California extends over an indeterminate area of widely varying range depending on the degree of plastic concentration used to define the affected area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch

microbeads:

Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. They are used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.
Microbeads can cause plastic particle water pollution and pose an environmental hazard for aquatic animals in freshwater and ocean water. In the US, the Microbead-Free Waters Act 2015 phases out microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics by July 2017.Several other countries have also banned microbeads from rinse-off cosmetics, including France, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbead

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1.NOAA:

NOAA:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.

https://www.noaa.gov/
2.UNEP:

The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of  United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices

http://www.unenvironment.org/

3.Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans. It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

4. Earth Policy Institute
Earth Policy Institute was an independent non-profit environmental organization based in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It was founded by Lester R. Brown in 2001 and functions as an environmental think tank, providing research and analysis on environmental indicators and making policy and lifestyle recommendations aimed at promoting environmental and economic sustainability.

http://www.earth-policy.org/

# data[].attributes.body
Microbeads
very small pieces of plastics that are added to products for cleaning the skin.
The reason why I choose this word mainly because the whole article talks about pollution, and microbeads is an very important thing that cause the plastic pollution. This word is typical in this article.

Debris
broken or torn pieces of something larger.
Many pollution caused by many debris. I pay attention to find some key word that can be the reason which caused the plastic pollution.

Marine organism
a living thing that on its own is too small to be seen without a microscope.
Actually, as the deep pollution bigger and bigger, marine organism are hurt by the plastic pollution. I think this is a key word.

Durability
the fact of something continuing to be used without getting damaged. Or the fact of something continuing without falling.
I mention this word not only for the article, but also this word represent that durability is also very important for improve the environment.

comprise
to have things or people as parts or members; to consist of. Or to be the parts or member of something; to make up something

# data[].attributes.body
legislative (Abstract part): relative to laws or the making of laws.
EX: Many of our status are resisting the necessary of legislative changes.

Ubiquitous (Introduction): Seeing to be everywhere.
EX: In spite of ubiquitous efforts and information campaigns, women continue to be poorer and discriminated against more frequent than man.

Microbeads (Introduction): Very small plastics that are added to products for cleaning the skin.

Exfoliate (Introduction): To remove dead skin cells from the surface of skin, in order to improve their appearance.
EX: Various topical treatments are available to exfoliate the scales.

Entanglement (mythology and approach)t: a situation or relationship that you are involved in and that is difficult to escape from.
EX: Physical contact such as entanglements are generally characterized by transients’ properties.

Intervention (Result and discussion): Actions taken to intentionally become involved in difficult situation in order to improved it or prevented to getting worse

# data[].attributes.body
This paper reviews current international market-based strategies and policies to reduce plastic bags and microbeads

From this website, we can know that we are turning our beautiful Ocean into a plastic soup. About 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the sea every year, and at this rate we face a future with more plastic in the Ocean than fish by 2050. Our plastic addiction and waste mismanagement is condemning countless marine birds and animals to death by entanglement or poisoning, and even leading to chemical contamination of the fish we eat.
https://www.oceanunite.org/issues/marine-plastic-pollution/

This is a website introduce some case about plastic pollution in ocean. For example, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé found to be worst plastic polluters worldwide in global cleanups and brand audits. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé were the most frequent companies identified in 239 cleanups and brand audits spanning 42 countries and six continents, the Break Free From Plastic movement announced today. https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ocean/

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Main idea:
1. Plastic products like plastic bags and microbeads are putting a big threat to marine system, which is harmful for marine organism and human health.
2. Governments around the world started to enact some strategies to reduce marine plastic debris, but they were struggled at first, such as the MARPOL in 1973.
3. The methodology they used is mainly aimed to mitigate single-use plastic products and microbeads, the main cases are ban or levies plastic bags and limited interventions to reduce the use of microbeads.
4. Results of these methodology are good, especially the limitation of plastic bags, many countries' number of plastic bags using was sharply decreased.
5. The against of plastic products has worked and succeeded, but we still have to work harder to protect marine system and organism, and education about this is more and more important.
Questions:
1. Marine pollution and stopping using plastic products, which one exert a worse impact on human beings?
2. What should we do to reduce the use of microbeads in spite of it cannot be replace for now?
3. What is the potential impact of marine pollution for next generations?
4. Governments has made some incorrect strategies at first, why?
5. If we finally find a material which can completely replace plastic, can we solve the problem of marine pollution as well?

# data[].attributes.body
Main point:

1. Marine plastic pollution is mostly caused by single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads). It has a negative influence on marine life and economic development.

2. Many countries are concentrating on solving the problems of marine plastic pollution for decades. Their governments have made many regulations to restrict the use of plastic products. To some extent these solutions reduce the marine plastic pollution.

3. In addition to resolving the problems of pollution directly, governments can also pay more attention to education.

Questions:

1. What may be affected by marine plastic pollution except marine life and economic development?

2. Compared to plastic bags, why do governments have limited interventions to reduce microbeads?

3. Why will education campaigns have a further reduction in plastic pollution?

4. How to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies?

# data[].attributes.body
<Main Idea>
•   Using Single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads) is one of the causes of marine plastic pollution. This is not only an environmental problem, but also an obstruction to economic development and harms human health. Therefore, efforts are needed to reduce using single-use plastics.
•   Plastic is divided into Microplastic and Macroplastic. Both have a great effect on marine pollution. Plastic bags are representative example of macroplastics. Microplastics are very small size and also can be found in cosmetics.  While there are currently many policies associated with reducing macroplastics, microplastics-related research or policies are insufficient.
•   Plastic bag policies usually take a national approach and implements market-based strategies. Most countries tax plastic bags and even ban the sale of them. Each country has different standards on plastic bags and different policy detail.
•   There are few policies related to microplastic and also their effects are uncertain. Some countries enforced their own policies, but some still have no policies to do with them.
•   Policies for marine environmental preservation should be prepared and maintained for a long time. Moreover, monitoring studies assist to check the maintenance or these policies. There should also be more macroplastics-related policies created and more studies should be done on the marine pollution impact. Education campaigns and awareness about marine pollution are also significant, and most importantly, reducing its consumption at source.

<Concept Questions>
1. What is the different between microplastics and macroplastics?

2. What are the two things that The Honolulu Strategy focused on?

3. What are the criteria for levying a plastic bag?

4. Why can’t many countries implement policies regarding microbeads right away?

5. Why is the monitoring about policies necessary (e.g. South America)?

6. What are the methods suggested by the authors of this study other than policy making?

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1. the line chart inserted in the article reminds me of the other course-Quantitative Skills, which uses statistics to help understanding the differences of plastic bags and micro-beads intervention through time.

2. Talking about marine pollution makes me think of the oil leakage incident happened in Dalian China in 2010 which damaged the environment of the coastal area and led to a loss of more than 2.3 million RMB. The loss in marine lives and the damage for environment were countless. (http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/07/oil_spill_in_dalian_china.html)

3. Images (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/plastic-trash-animals-photos_us_58ee9ec1e4b0b9e984891ddf?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_cs=pFJ1KCRJMRzp-h65GP_bLg)

# data[].attributes.body
legislative
Ex:having the power or performing the function of legislating
Eg:Although research outlining environmental, social, and economic impacts of marine plastic pollution is growing, few studies have examined policy and legislative tools to. reduce plastic pollution
impact
Ex:a powerful effect that something, especially something new, has on a situation or person
Eg:research to evaluate effectiveness of bans and levies to ensure policies are having positive impacts on marine environments
persistent
Ex:lasting for a long time or difficult to get rid of
Eg:Persistent organic pollutants sorbed onto microplastics can accumulate at concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than in ambient seawater
levy
Ex:an amount of money, such as a tax, that you have to pay to a government or organization
Eg:This study reviewed current trends of international management practices related to market-based strategies and policies for banning or adding levies on single-use plastics
implement
Ex:to start using a plan or system
Eg:Additionally, many African, Asian and European countries have implemented levies on the use of plastic bags

outreach

Ex:an effort to bring services or information to people where they live or spend time:

Eg:Education and outreach programs to modify behaviour should be widely adopted

ubiquitous

Ex:seeming to be everywhere

Eg:Introduction Plastics are now ubiquitous in the marine environment, and urgent action is required to mitigate this worsening trend

mitigate

Ex:to make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad

Eg:Introduction Plastics are now ubiquitous in the marine environment, and urgent action is required to mitigate this worsening trend

lifespan

Ex:the length of time for which a person, animal, or thing exists

Eg:Due to its durability, the lifespan of plastic is estimated to be hundreds to thousands of years

impairment

Ex:the act of spoiling something or making it weaker so that it is less effective

Eg:Economic losses are associated with reduced tourism revenues, negative impacts on recreational activities, vessel damage, impairment in marine environments, invasive species transport and damage to public health

# data[].attributes.body
1.This article points out that plastic pollution has been an international concern which need more measures and regulations to deal with.So it reminds me of an article called'

# data[].attributes.headline
Mr.Nabor's class ,Ethan,Cheng ChaorongUNEP：United Nations Environment Programme, UN Environment is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environment.IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.Microbeads: Microbeads are tiny pieces of polyethylene plastic added to health and beauty products, such as some cleansers and toothpastes.(Reference: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html)NGOs: Non-governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, or nongovernment organizations, commonly referred to as NGOs, are usually non-profit and sometimes international organizations independent of governments and international governmental organizations (though often funded by governments) that are active in humanitarian, educational, health care, public policy, social, human rights, environmental, and other areas to affect changes according to their objectives.(Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization)Honolulu Strategy: The Honolulu Strategy is a framework for a comprehensive and global effort to reduce the ecological, human health, and economic impacts of marine debris globally. ... Monitoring tool to measure progress across multiple programs and projects The Honolulu Strategy is a framework document.(Reference:https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/publications-files/Honolulu_Strategy.pdf)

# data[].attributes.subject
Mr.Nabor's class ,Ethan,Cheng ChaorongUNEP：United Nations Environment Programme, UN Environment is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environment.IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.Microbeads: Microbeads are tiny pieces of polyethylene plastic added to health and beauty products, such as some cleansers and toothpastes.(Reference: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html)NGOs: Non-governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, or nongovernment organizations, commonly referred to as NGOs, are usually non-profit and sometimes international organizations independent of governments and international governmental organizations (though often funded by governments) that are active in humanitarian, educational, health care, public policy, social, human rights, environmental, and other areas to affect changes according to their objectives.(Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization)Honolulu Strategy: The Honolulu Strategy is a framework for a comprehensive and global effort to reduce the ecological, human health, and economic impacts of marine debris globally. ... Monitoring tool to measure progress across multiple programs and projects The Honolulu Strategy is a framework document.(Reference:https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/publications-files/Honolulu_Strategy.pdf)

# data[].attributes.headline
Gemma's class-Sabrina1.This article points out that plastic pollution has been an international concern which need more measures and regulations to deal with.So it reminds me of an article that I read before called'What is corporate social responsibility'.I think we should increase our social responsibilities to reduce plastic pollutions by out staging policies and legislations .We made these environmental damages to the ecosystem, so we are responsible to deal with the aftermath of these behaviors. We are responsible to the extinctive animals, they are the victims of our environmentally unfriendly behaviors.We should be even pay more attentions to other species’ lives.

# data[].attributes.subject
Gemma's class-Sabrina1.This article points out that plastic pollution has been an international concern which need more measures and regulations to deal with.So it reminds me of an article that I read before called'What is corporate social responsibility'.I think we should increase our social responsibilities to reduce plastic pollutions by out staging policies and legislations .We made these environmental damages to the ecosystem, so we are responsible to deal with the aftermath of these behaviors. We are responsible to the extinctive animals, they are the victims of our environmentally unfriendly behaviors.We should be even pay more attentions to other species’ lives.

# data[].attributes.body
2.This article also reminds me of the news about nuclear pollution in Japan.In March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused the failure of two nuclear power plant reactors in fukushima prefecture, including an abnormal nuclear steam leakage after the earthquake at one of the first nuclear power plants. A small explosion on 12 March, or caused by a hydrogen explosion. People in the industry say the fukushima plant is a technically now unused single-storey circulating boiling water reactor, with cooling water introduced directly into seawater, and there is little hope of safety. An evaporative substance produced by boiling water. For Japan, a quake-prone region, the use of such structures is highly unreasonable. An explosion occurred after the March 14 earthquake. After the explosion, radioactive material was blown into the wind, which spread to the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Russia and other regions.
Here is the video about the news.
https://youtu.be/B3_ZRO5oATk

# data[].attributes.body
1.Durability: permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force.

2. Microplastics: fragments less then 5 mm in diameter.

3. Microbeads: manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension.

4. Marine plastic debris: Also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway.

5.Freshwater environments: a subset of Earth'saquatic ecosystems.

# data[].attributes.body
NGOs: Non-Governmental Organizations.

UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) is the leading global environmental authority. It belongs to United Nations and sets up the global environmental goals.
https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment

IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the only membership union conducted by government and civil society organisations. Its service is to offer help for non-governmental organisations, public and private in order to bring together human progress, economic and nature conservation. https://www.iucn.org/about

NOAA: NOAA is an agency that using science to benefit life. https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency

MARPOL 73/78: It is a convention that developed by the International Maritime Organization in order to reduce pollution of the oceans down to minimum. 73/78 represents the year 1973 and 1978. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78

ICC: International Chamber of Commerce is the world business organization, giving help to small, median and large international businesses. https://iccwbo.org/about-us/who-we-are/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 ( MARPOL 73/78, MARPOL is short for marine pollution and 73/78 short for the years 1973 and 1978) is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions.

# data[].attributes.body
ubiquitous  adj. seeming to be everywhere

eg: sugar is ubiquitous in the diet.

synonym: omnipresent, illocal

plankton n. very small plants and animals that float on the surface of the sea and on which other sea animals feed.

eg: Plankton provides food for some of the smallest and biggest animals on the planet, including the blue whale.

deleterious adj. harmful to living things.

eg: These drugs have a proven deleterious effect on the nervous system.

syn: injurious

exfoliating(exfoliate) v. to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, in order to improve its appearance.

microbeads n. very small piece of plastic that added to products for cleaning the skin. the diameter smaller than 1mm.

levy  v.  a government or organization to demand an amount of money, such as a tax, from a person or organization.

eg: The proposal would allow the school to levy additional fees.

syn: toll, taxation

jurisdiction n. the authority of a court or official organization to make decisions and judgements.

eg: The court has no jurisdiction in cases of this kind.

syn: legal power, competence

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1.       Q: Entanglement of species by marine debris can cause？

A: It can cause starvation, suffocation, laceration, infection, reduced reproductive success and mortality.

2.       Q: What’s the growing concern related to microplastic effecting on human and what do studies found?

A: The microplastic can also enter the human food chain through ingestion of fish, shellfish and filter feeders, cause potential human health impact. Filter-feeding mussels have been reported to contain microplastics in their tissues.

3.       Q: How about the interventions for plastic bags in North America?

A: Only two cities and six municipalities have imposed levies or bans on plastics bags in Canada.

Only four states have imposed bans or levies on plastics bags in the U.S.

4.       Q: What’s UK government plans to do in 2016 and by what means it was successes

A: In 2016, UK gov announced plans to ban microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products by the end of 2017. The ban followed the successful introduction of the five pence plastics bag charge.

5.       Q: What’s manufacturers across UK doing to release the environment pollution cause by plastic.

A: They are exploring natural alternative, including nut shells, salt and sugar, which have exfoliating properties but do not pose threats to the environment.

# data[].attributes.body
1: What recommendations to futher reduce single-use plastic marine pollution include?
2:Is there any approach for UK government to prevent the plastic bags use.
3:Could you please point out the difference between curb plastic bags and microbeads pollution?
4:Do you think it is effective on carring out plastic bags policy?
5:Why do you think that the use of plastic bags os effective in South Africa?

# data[].attributes.body
Microbeads: very small pieces of plastic that are added to products for cleaning the skin

Eg: (Abstract) Recommendations to further reduce single-use plastic marine pollution include: (i) research to evaluate effectiveness of bans and levies to ensure policies are having positive impacts on marine environments; and (ii) education and outreach to reduce consumption of plastic bags and microbeads at source.

Microplastics: small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life

Macroplastics: clearly visible plastic that can be caught, to say it in an easy way, and will not (with a few exceptions) have a direct impact on the food chain

Marine debris: also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway

Ubiquitous: seeming to be everywhere

Eg: (Introduction) Plastics are now ubiquitous in the marine environment, and urgent action is required to mitigate this worsening trend (Rios et al., 2007, Rochman et al., 2015b).

Entanglement: a situation or relationship that you are involved in and that is difficult to escaped from

Suffocation: death caused by not having enough oxygen, or the act of killing someone by not allowing them to have enough oxygen

Laceration: a cut (in your skin)

Eg: Entanglement of species by marine debris can cause starvation, suffocation, laceration, infection, reduced reproductive success and mortality (Katsanevakis, 2008, Baulch and Perry, 2014, UNEP and NOAA, 2015).

Exacerbate: to make something that is already bad even worse

Eg: Accumulation in these gyres is exacerbated because plastics take centuries to degrade (Cole et al., 2011).

Aquatic: living or growing in, happening in, or connected with water

Eg: However, wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to remove manufactured microplastic particles, which means that these are currently released into aquatic ecosystems.

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1. How does at least one of the ideas in the text connect to your modules at either DUISC or a previous course you have studied?

There is an article we studied in the AES class referring to water pollution, which is similar to plastic pollution, and the title of this article is “Meeting China’s Water Shortage Crisis: Current Practices and Challenges”, written by Hefa Cheng, Yuanan Hu and Jianfu Zhao, published in Environmental Science and Technology.

2. How does at least one idea of the text connect to a past or current news story or a historical event?

There was a news about excess garbage, recycling and organics in Canada a few years ago, prescribing the solutions of excess garbage, recycling and organics, including plastics stuffs.

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/houses/excess-garbage-recycling-organics/

3. How does at least one idea of the text remind you of a personal experience you have had?

From 2008, China has passed legislation to ban free plastic bags sold by shops, supermarkets and sales outlets. Indeed, it is useful to reduce the amount of plastic bags because loads of families choose cotton bags instead of plastic bags after that, which is non-single-use and much more economic than buying plastic bags every single times.

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1. Apart from viewing news and reports about ocean pollution, I have seldom learnt some ideas about it from the class. But this phenomenon do reflect a problem, that is the loss of education in reducing ocean plastic pollution. Majority of people from my nation are live in areas far away from ocean, so without social media, it is hard for especially students to realize the severe situation, they would still buy lots of toys made from microplastic, eat junk food wrapped with plastic bags and are even always fond of using toothpaste with bling small particles.  But if they were educated knowledges about the danger of plastic pollution and measure to reduce those, the awareness of ocean protection would be established from the root of human beings.
2.Recently, researchers found that about half of baby turtles’ stomach were full of plastic. Also, by studying plastic stuffs in big turtles’ stomach, they found some of it were remained in turtles’ body for years, which is extremely hazardous for their digestive system.Because of plastic pollution, the amount of turtle is drastically decreasing.
3.I remember when I was preparing IElTS, there were several articles listening materials concerning the damage caused by plastic pollution. Especially for marine species, like whales and dolphins. Recently, there are always plenty of whales or dolphins stranding and dead on the coastline, researchers found environment pollution play a role in this phenomenon. Because many whales and dolphins’ sensation system was damaged by ingesting loads of chemical particles like microbeads and eventually their damaged sensation system mislead their direction and cause they stranding.

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suffocation：the condition of being deprived of oxygen

entanglement：an intricate trap that entangles or ensnares its victim

debris：he remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up

Stranded：with the bottom lodged on a reef or shoal in shallow water

aesthetic：(philosophy) a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful

vessel：a tube in which a body fluid circulates

invasive：relating to a technique in which the body is entered by puncture or incision

aquaculture：rearing aquatic animals or cultivating aquatic plants for food

zooplankton： the animal constituent of plankton, which consists mainly of small crustaceans and fish larvae

degraded：unrestrained by convention or morality

gyres ：a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)

invertebrates：a creature that does not have a spine such as an insect, a worm, or an octopus.

interventions：a creature that does not have a spine such as an insect, a worm, or an octopus.

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IAN'S CLASS-YANG