Imagine you’re in a small boat, drifting in an endless ocean of plastic junk, particles, and bodies of dead animals. You desperately try to paddle your way out, but as far as you can see, there is no way out of the gigantic sea of garbage. You look up and realize that the garbage extends out for hundreds of miles to the horizon and there is no life anywhere in sight. You try to paddle aside the garbage around the boat, but there are thick layers of garbage swirling deep beneath you. The smell of death fills the air as a large wave of garbage comes crashing down against the boat.
Sadly, this is not the future or an imaginary place. It is here on earth today.
Honorable judges, teachers, parents, and fellow students, my name is Ren and today I am going to talk to you about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and our polluted oceans.The place I just described is a giant mass of garbage swirling in the Pacific Ocean, between here and Japan, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. All of this garbage traveled in rivers and lakes to reach the ocean, where ocean currents sucked it into one giant whirlpool. Scientists have estimated the size of the garbage patch to be twice the size of Texas, while many other scientists have argued that it’s mass has extended to twice the size of United States.The garbage patch was predicted in 1988 by Charles Moore, but people never took action to prevent it. Now, it’s the largest collection of garbage on earth.
Today, millions of seabirds and marine mammals die each year because of the garbage in the ocean. Eventually the polluted ocean water will evaporate into the sky and come back down as a deadly acid rain.
So what can we do about our polluted oceans? Many people think they can’t make a difference, but in fact they can have a big impact by making small changes in their lives. Easy things to do include recycling, reducing waste, and reusing products before throwing them away. You can also write letters to the government and call for environmental protection. In the 1970s, ordinary citizens like us started to call for stronger laws to protect clean water. This led to a huge project called The Clean Water Act, which made a huge impact by protecting countless rivers and lakes in North America. In many areas, wildlife that had disappeared returned once again to the clean waterways.
Now imagine your in a small boat floating through crystal clear waters. You look down, and you can see colorful fish swimming freely beneath you. You look up and flocks of white sea birds are flying under the shining sun. The air smells crisp and fresh. This is a world that we could lose forever, but this could also be our future. Now the choice is up to you.
Let's join hands with fishes, and clean our oceans.
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