Siddique 1
Zahra Siddique
Prof. Mary Mullins
UNIV 200
9 Sept 2015
Unit 1 Proposal
Part 1:
Growing up on the coast of New England, I have always felt a deep connection to
the pull of the tides and sound of the waves. When I am asked to think of my happy
place, I picture the rocky cliffs jutting off the coast of Maine, overlooking the vast sea. It
is a relaxing place, a place where I can go to clear my head and be alone when I need to
think. It is a place where I feel closest to nature, as I sit and watch the seagulls opening
their mussel dinners across staggering rocks and look for seals bobbing up and down in
the cove.
The coast, however, is not only rocky cliffs, but it also is home to the beaches that
have given me inspiration in finding sensational objects and building or creating works of
art from them – ultimately motivating me enough to attend college for a Fine Arts degree
in Sculpture. While I do find dainty piece of sea glass and those twisted, gnarly planks
drift wood, my hours spent searching for objects of interest also have a tendency to bring
me hours spent combing the beaches for trash and debris washed up from the tides.
Every summer, at least once on my vacation in Maine, I take a trash bag down to
the beach and pick up garbage until the bag is completely full. If there is more trash than
can be held in one bag, then I come back again, and again, until all the waste is safely
tucked into a bag, away from the water. When the tide comes in and picks up trash, it
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pulls the litter into the ocean, which becomes dangerous to the wildlife that reside in its
waters. The amount of trash I find varies from year to year, but I am only a single player
in this game of cat and mouse. Waste remains a constant problem to the environment, no
matter how much a single person may try to clean up after others. I am concerned that
although people know that waste in our oceans is a problem, they may overlook how each
and every movement they make that involves litter and chemicals has a direct effect to
our planet’s oceans – and ultimately every living organism.
While I believe that as humans we need to protect what we depend on for
survival, I understand it is not always an easy task. Throughout this research project, I
will try not to pay special attention to just the subjects that I find interesting – sometimes
the juiciest information comes from those who oppose my thinking. Trash accumulation
may be a huge problem for the ocean’s organisms, but is it possible that cleaning up what
has already spread is not possible? Are there people who have important refutations to
propositions of environmental welfare? What would their claims and evidence for those
claims mean?
We need to be educated on global conditions so that we can better our approach to
the environment and the planet that has given us life. I plan to answer questions in order
to learn about the impact of litter on our oceans, and ways in which I can help to keep our
oceans clean. The basis of my research will answer the question of how we, as humans,
are causing problems for the environment. To narrow my subject, I would like to look
into how pollution affects marine animals, focusing on two species in particular – the
primary producers, plankton, and further down the energy chain, sea birds. By
concentrating on these two groups of animals, I should be able to get a clear reading of
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how much damage the ocean’s inhabitants have dealt with. My primary question is as
follows – in what ways does human waste impact global ecology, in particular the
condition of Earth’s ocean and its inhabitants? To answer this question, I must research
the separate types of waste that pollute, and present clear information on how this
pollution is detrimental to Earth’s ecological map by studying two populations in peril –
plankton (encompassing both phyto- and zoo-) and sea birds.
In the past, I have written only a couple of research papers, though none that had a
biological focus. Mostly, the research encompassed human –on –human interaction, and
some issue in the Middle East or Southern Asia. For my first research paper, I researched
the war crimes tribunal that took place in Bangladesh from around 2009-2013. This was
an extremely heavy paper to both research and write. I was expected to write up a
background for this essay – the backstory to the tribunal and what it meant for the
country, as well as an explanation of the war that had brought about a call for this
tribunal. Since Bangladesh is not a country that is presented in the media all that often, as
well as a relatively young country, I had issues finding non-biased reports, books, or
articles on this subject. Furthermore, my father and his entire family were victims of war
crimes during Bangladesh’s war of Independence, so my research hit very close to home.
I interviewed my father and my aunt, both of whom told me some things that had
happened to them as children of war that I never could have imagined happening in real
life. After writing this paper, I became interested in global issues, and decided to take
International Relations my senior year of High School. In that class, I wrote a myriad of
research and argumentative papers alike, but all pertaining to global issues. The topics I
researched the most usually focused on US – Middle East relations, such as drone use and
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how America is handling terrorism in the Middle East. While I do enjoy reading about
international problems, I have been interested for a long time about biology, ecology, and
environmental issues, yet have never had the chance to formally research them.
Part 2:
About two thirds of the surface of our home planet Earth is covered by ocean. Of
that portion, only about 5% of the Earth’s ocean has been explored by humans. Again,
from that 5%, humans have estimated that there are around 1million species of marine
animals, yet about two-thirds of them still have yet to be discovered. The ocean plays
with an immense population and extensive biodiversity, along with a myriad of
geographical formations, such as oceanic volcanoes and coral reefs. With the technology
we have now, researchers can dive into the deep ocean and bring back videos and
information on the organisms down there, giving humans a better understanding of how
life developed on Earth. This research is important to all walks of life – children just
learning basics about plants and animals, all the way to people who work in specialized
fields. Understanding ocean life can lead to a better understanding of how organisms
come to be, survive, and thrive. After all, life itself did begin in the ocean. In fact, an
estimated 50% - 80% of all Earth’s life forms are marine animals (MarineBio). This
information can be applied to medical sciences, engineering, and even could help us
understand how life off earth can be possible through understanding the foundation of life
on Earth. With the resources we have, the ocean should be a major area of exploration
and learning, yet many people ignore the fact that the ocean’s water is detrimental to our
existence, turning a blind eye to rising pollution.
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Formal Discourse:
Plastic, among other waste, is recorded to be the highest pollutant of Earth’s
oceans. Based off my findings as a beach cleaner, I can confidently say that much of what
I pick up tends to be made of plastic – the most common being rope or cartons, or smaller
plastic shards. In 2006, the United Nations Environmental Programme estimated that
there are 46,000 pieces of plastic afloat in the ocean every square mile (UNESCO). The
area of the world ocean is approximately 139.7 million square miles. If we do the math, it
would mean that if we use the United Nations estimations, the ocean contains about 6.43
million square miles of litter. Comparing that area to a country, the area in which trash
takes up in the ocean is almost equal to the total area of Russia, which is about 6.6
million square miles. Think about it – if we picked up all the trash that has accumulated
within Earth’s ocean, we could create an entire continent, larger than Europe or Australia,
made of only garbage. In fact, due to the oceanic currents, five such garbage continents
have emerged in various areas of the ocean. These concentrated masses are known as
gyres, the biggest of which is called the North Pacific Gyre, which is recorded to have
grown to be twice the size of Texas (UNESCO). I am appalled to think about the amount
of damage humans have done to the Earth and its inhabitants with this much waste
polluting our ocean.
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Popular Discourse:
Everyday, millions of food containers, plastic pieces, and bottles get thrown away
without another thought. The company called Costa Sunglasses, based on the West Coast,
has noticed the billions of bottles humans throw out per year. They present the number is
around 200 billion bottles. “Every year, we throw away enough trash to circle the
world four times . . . and 8 million metric tons of it ends up in our oceans” (The
Making of a Marlin). Due to the worry these numbers draw, Costa Sunglasses partnered
with an artist in Oregon, and commissioned her to create a sculpture made solely out of
plastic trash found on beaches. This sculpture, a 9 foot tall merlin, was built in order to
raise awareness to just how much trash our ocean is taking in. It took 7 months to
create, with an astonishing 487 volunteers who helped gather, clean, and sort trash
from beaches along Oregon. As of now, the woman behind the creation of this
sculpture has made a total of 66 plastic debris sculptures, hoping to one day run out
of materials for her to use. By using art as a form of awareness, Costa started its
#KickPlastic project, which promotes recycling, reducing, and reusing materials
whenever possible.
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Works Cited
MarineBio. “Did You Know…” MarineBio.org. MarineBio Conservation Society. N.d.
Web. 16 Sept. 2015
The Making of a Marlin. Dir. Costa. Smithsonian Ocean Portal. Smithsonian. N.d. Web.
14 Sept. 2015
UNESCO. “Facts and Figure on Marine Pollution.” United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). N.p. n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2015.