Marine plastic pollution is very, very bad. And it's everywhere nowadays. We are slowly destroying our environment, and other organisms environments. And we are the only people that can put an end to it. Plastic is a semi synthetic or synthetic material that cannot be broken down easily or fully. It will always leave microplastic behind that we can’t see. It is made of polymers which are substances that are made of very similar molecules to each other. Plastic was invented in 1907 by a chemist named Leo Baekeland. After it was invented, people realized just how useful it was and mass production of it started. Plastic has so many uses and it’s very good for many things, except the environment. It is used in almost every single thing we know of. In the late 1960’s an issue started to be noticed though. It was polluting the waters, and it wasn’t going away. It was around this time when people started to see how bad it was. And since then, it has continued to go downhill. Today, the situation is pretty bad. Scientists estimate that there is at least 14 million tonnes of microplastics sitting on the ocean floor, and in some areas, there is an even higher concentration of it. Compared to all plastic produced, or even just all plastic pollution in the world, it isn’t much. But it is enough to destroy an ecosystem. 

There is plastic everywhere. Everywhere. And it impacts the environment, and not in a good way. There is plastic in space. There is plastic on our land. There is plastic in the air. And there is plastic in the oceans. And not just floating on the waterline. It has reached the bottom of the deepest points in our oceans. Most of which are over 6,000 metres deep. But the Mariana Trench is 10,890 metres deep, and there is plastic at the bottom of that. Just think about that. We made something. Something we thought was very useful. And it was, and still is. But its benefits don’t even come close to outweighing the horrible things that it does to ecosystems. Instead of breaking down, it breaks down the environment. And that’s a very bad thing, that we need to change. Fast food companies put out a lot of plastic, and they are a big part of why this is such a big problem. That's why this is being put out to them too. Because they can make a pretty big change at lowering the amount of specifically single use plastics that they put out. It’ll take a lot of work to change this, but we do ultimately have the power. 

We can change this issue. And people are already making a great effort to do so. But we all need to pitch in before it is too late. Personally, I care about this issue because I care about our home. I mean, this is our home after all. And we are destroying it with something that we invented. We need to make change to this, and to do that we need to spread awareness about it. You can help spread awareness by signing this petition. It will help a lot, and will be greatly appreciated.