Are we dumb? Yes, we are. We are not referring to someone who cannot hear anything and have impairment with the ears. When we say ‘dumb’, it is not the physical dumbness that people have, we are talking about the ‘phycological dumbness’ that we have.
Man is the only living being on Earth that is created to think and dominate over the other voiceless creatures. We are so dumb that we cannot do anything good to restore the planet.
We are turning the surroundings dirty and yet we blame the government or politicians when the problem is actually ‘you’ in the first place. We have already turned the oceans from bad to worse and the plastics are now slowly eliminating marine life.
The plastics which we expel in oceans is not only a threat to aquatic creatures but for us too. As per a new study by Macquarie University, plastic in our oceans and seas leak maximum toxins into the water, which would prevent the growth of a vital bacteria named Prochlorococcus, as well as restricting its photosynthetic efficiency?
The bacteria in question is responsible for eliminating CO2 and producing about 10 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. But we don’t hesitate to throw plastics and leak toxins into the oceans. This is like indirectly writing a death note for us.
“We found that exposure to chemicals leaching from plastic pollution interfered with the growth, photosynthesis and oxygen production of Prochlorococcus, the ocean’s most abundant photosynthetic bacteria,” lead study author Dr Sasha Tetu stressed the fact in a recent press release.
Prochlorococcus is also a major part of the marine food cycle. “Our data shows that plastic pollution may have widespread ecosystem impacts beyond the known effects on macro-organisms, such as seabirds and turtles,” Tetu said.
“If we truly want to understand the full impact of plastic pollution in the marine environment and find ways to mitigate it, we need to consider its impact on key microbial groups, including photosynthetic microbes.”
World Economic Forum says that if plastic pollution continues at this rate, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.
“What goes around, comes around.” This phrase perfectly applies to humans. Much of what we have done worse to the planet is now indirectly affecting us in many ways. The only way to prevent this is by carrying out effective clean-up operations, which can save the planet to some extent.