Anna Normand
AP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
30 September 2018
How Our Throwaway Culture is Ruining the Planet
Written by Nick Paton Walsh, Ingrid Formanek, Jackson Loo and Mark Phillips
The scientific article I read was concerned with the environmental consequences to the accumulation of garbage, specifically plastic. In the article, the authors Walsh, Formanek, Loo, and Phillips gives details of plastic’s adverse effects on the environment, which include massive animal death due to plastic consumption and the destruction of entire ecosystems due to the accumulation of garbage from the ocean. The authors reference the Island of Midway, the site of a World War II battle which was formerly an isolated haven for the animals residing on it. However, decades of plastic which has leaked into the ocean has found its way into the stomachs of many birds there. According to the authors, if the rate of plastic consumption remains the same, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). Furthermore, more than 8 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean each year, and almost every piece of plastic ever made is still on the earth, because it takes an incredibly long time to decompose. This accumulation of garbage has resulted in trillions of tons of plastic littering our oceans, damaging the aquatic ecosystem immeasurably. If we continue in this way, humans themselves will become affected by the plastic which is moving through the food chain.
The role that plastic plays in the modern world cannot be overstated. Since its invention, plastic has become a staple for almost everyone on the planet, used for grocery bags, coffee cups, water bottles, and other items which are disposed of quickly. Despite its convenience and affordability, plastic has dangerous environmental consequences, given that fish consume it and, as one study found, sometimes even prefer it to their normal diet. This disruption in the ecosystem should be frightening for us, as it will eventually affect us as the top predator on the food chain. Plastic contains a human carcinogen, which is harmful to the population. The only way to stop plastic damage is to stop using plastic altogether. Although this goal is difficult, we can all do our part by using reusable water bottles, coffee cups, straws, etc.
One thing I liked in this article was their use of a specific landmark example to illustrate a global problem. Their description of the Island of Midway was powerful and had specific examples of the danger of plastic. This was helpful to really understand the problem without being overwhelmed by the global scale of the issue. However, I thought that the authors were unclear about their purpose when visiting the Island, as well as their own credentials and how they are qualified to speak on this issue. I think that knowing their qualifications would make the article more valid and would provide a stronger platform on which these authors could take a stand on this issue.
Luke Freeman
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology Current Events 4 - Comment
October 5, 2018
Nick, Thompson. “Plastic Island: How Our Trash Is Destroying Paradise.” CNN, Cable News
Network, 0AD,
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/
This article, reviewed by Anna Normand, is a touching, serious issue. For starters, Anna did a great job at establishing the issue and giving the reader context about the article. Her summary is near-perfect in capturing the whole article, while keeping it brief. Secondly, in her explanatory section, she does a great job of bringing the reader back to the main premise of the article, as embodied by this statement, “Furthermore, more than 8 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean each year, and almost every piece of plastic ever made is still on the earth, because it takes an incredibly long time to decompose. This accumulation of garbage has resulted in trillions of tons of plastic littering our oceans, damaging the aquatic ecosystem immeasurably”. By relating everything back to the issue, Anna is able to discuss the the article as well as the national issue as a whole. Finally, Anna not only gives evidence, but provides her own analysis with pieces of the article, which makes this review very well done.
Two small things stick out to me when looking at Anna’s review, the first being the ever-so slight repetitive nature of it, as she cites the Island of Midway multiple times. However, this is a bit too much “nit-picking”. My main concern with the review is the lack of citing the statistics for plastic pollution by country, or the climbing number of kilograms of plastic deposited in the ocean per second. These two pieces of information would have made Anna’s review far more comprehensive, and would have let the reader understand the sheer gravity of the worldly crisis which we find ourselves in.
As stated in the previous paragraph, the greatest thing I took away from reading both Anna’s review and the article itself was the striking counter which tracks the amount of plastic deposited in the ocean (by weight) since reading the article. For myself, in the time it took for me to read this CNN article, well over 400,000 kilograms of plastic were deposited into the ocean. Watching that number climb higher and higher every second has a profound impact on the reader, and is the most shocking part of the entire thing. Furthermore, the videos and descriptive phrases used by CNN (and Anna) demonstrate to the reader just how serious of an issue this truly is. Upon reading both, my takeaway is that a serious change needs to be made, and fast, or else we won’t have much of a planet left to protect.
Alisa Kanganis
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
October 5, 2018
Current Event 4
Nick, Thompson. “Plastic Island: How Our Trash Is Destroying Paradise.” CNN, Cable News Network, 0AD,
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anna’s review of the article “Plastic Island: How Our Trash Is Destroying Paradise”. Specifically, Anna did a good job of making her review concise and easy to follow. Her writing flows well and is able to keep the reader interested from beginning to end. I also found the review very impactful, especially when she stated that “by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.” Nearly everyone knows that plastic is a huge issue concerning our Earth’s health, but many do not know that plastic pollution is already causing catastrophic impacts on many ecosystems. Lastly, I appreciated how she listed a few simple ways for how anyone can help reduce their plastic usage, such as by “using reusable water bottles, coffee cups, straws, etc.” It is the small things that can make a large impact in the long run.
While this review is very well written, there are a couple of areas that can be improved. Including some statistics in her writing would help to emphasize how truly big of an issue of plastic pollution is becoming. The Island of Midway reference is a good example, but some quantitative data would have been a helpful addition. Secondly, I wish she elaborated more on how exactly plastic is harmful to live organisms. For instance, what kind of health problems come with ingesting too much plastic or how much plastic does one have to consume for it to become harmful?
This article covers a topic that is very important to me. Recently I have been trying to cut down on my plastic usage by using a reusable water bottle every day and making my mom use reusable bags when she goes grocery shopping. No one can cut all the plastic out of their life, as it is in nearly everything these days, but there are small efforts that can go a long way. I hope that in the near future we will be able to come up with a solution for our plastic pollution issue.
Anabel Maldonado
ReplyDeleteIppolito C Even
Current Event #4 Comment
October 7th, 2018
Nick, Thompson. “Plastic Island: How Our Trash Is Destroying Paradise.” CNN, Cable News Network, 0AD,
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/
From Anna’s review, it is very clear that she is passionate about this topic. Her passion is illustrated especially when writing about the environmental consequences of the accumulation of garbage in our world. She explains that “massive animal death due to plastic consumption and the destruction of entire ecosystems due to the accumulation of garbage from the ocean.” Similar to other classmates, Anna explains the effects in a simple and effective way. Another thing that Anna succeeded with was explaining the role plastic plays in our lives. Most people never explain the importance of plastic, because they think their audience already knows it. However, Anna’s explanation was my favorite part of her review. In her explanation she gives certain examples of modern objects such as grocery bags, coffee cups and water bottles. In my opinion, Anna’s examples open the eyes of her audience to how many dailyobjects cause these repercussions. Her examples prove that all of the objects can easily be traced back to one of us. In addition, I enjoyed her clear and in-depth explanation of how this dilemma will affect us tremendously in our future. She explains that “This disruption in the ecosystem should be frightening for us, as it will eventually affect us as the top predator on the food chain.” She states that we can fix this problem by reusing bottles and prevent using plastic altogether.
Anna did succeed tremendously when writing this review. However, one thing she could improve upon is when first mentioning the Island of Midway. After reading the article, I understood how this was related to her topic. However, when she first mentioning the Island of Midway, I did not understand how it was related to her topic of plastic dilemmas. In order to fix this, she could have done some outside research or included more information about the island in her first paragraph. Another thing she could improve upon is certain grammatical errors. For instance, when describing the human carcinogen. She explains that this is harmful to the population. However, I was a bit confused if she was speaking about our population or the bird’s population. In order to fix this I would fix certain grammatical errors.
One thing that I found extremely interesting was when Anna stated, “if the rate of plastic consumption remains the same, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). Furthermore, more than 8 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean each year, and almost every piece of plastic ever made is still on the earth, because it takes an incredibly long time to decompose.” It was clear from this point on, that Anna is extremely passionate about her topic. This eye-opening information truly helped me realize how severe this problem is, and should be fixed immediately.
Clara DeMagalhaes Current Event #4
ReplyDeleteNick, Thompson. “Plastic Island: How Our Trash Is Destroying Paradise.” CNN, Cable News
Network, 0AD,
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/
Anna’s review of the article “Plastic Island: How Our Trash is Destroying Paradise” deals with a very important topic to our modern time and does it well. One thing that I liked about the review is how Anna described just how significant plastic has become to humans and how its overuse greatly damages the environment. Even though its well known that plastic causes a lot of problems, she explained it in such a way that highlights the major reasons why its effect on our ecosystem is so severe, leaving a big impact on the reader. She described our dependability on it in a clear and concise way, which also brings me to another aspect of the review I liked. The review was straight to the point and brought up the most important parts of the article, and no part of the writeup was skippable. Lastly, I like how Anna said the article could be improved, especially the part about how the authors should state their own credentials. That way, what the authors say in the article about their findings would be a lot more believable and credible.
However, there are a couple of aspects that could be improved. For starters, I believe that the first paragraph, which was the summary one, was a little bit unclear. I feel like the points didn’t flow quite as smoothly as I had hoped, making it seem a bit choppy. Also, I noticed that the review had a few grammar issues and the formatting was a tad inconsistent. The first paragraph seemed to be double spaced while the other two were not, although this may just be a nitpick. For both of these criticisms, I recommend that some more proofreading could be done, and if grammar is not Anna’s strong suit, she could get a friend or family member to proofread her review or get an online program to do it for her, such as Grammarly.
As already stated, this is a topic that is concerning to scientists and common folk alike all around the world. Anna’s review and the article itself helped further expand my own knowledge about this a lot. It was both fascinating yet worrying going through both pieces of work, since its interesting to read about new research building on a large subject, but the actual subject is very important. The statistics listed in the review, such as the fact that over 8 million tons of plastic has made it into the ocean and most of it is still around, are perhaps the most impactful since it gives the reader a visual estimate on how severe this problem is. This further supports the need to take serious action, and after reading this I feel more motivated to research further into this topic and see what I could possibly do to help.
Harry Villanueva
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
10/8/18
How Our Throwaway Culture is Ruining the Planet
Written by Nick Paton Walsh, Ingrid Formanek, Jackson Loo and Mark Phillips
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/
In this review, Anna gives insight into one of the world’s most overlooked problems, that being plastic pollution in the ocean. This problem is slowly creeping up on us, starting as just a problem in the ocean to a problem affecting the entire planet. Anna does a particularly good job at stressing the importance of this idea and explaining the urgency that people need to have towards this issue. She reveals to us that “8 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean each year.” This piece of evidence is absolutely shocking and leaves a lasting impact on the reader. Another aspect that Anna executes well on is her use of quoted information. Anna furthurs her point of view with good uses of detail and quoted evidence from her article. She expresses her author’s claim that “if the rate of plastic consumption remains the same, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.” Just the thought of this is gut wrenching as it causes for realization that in just 32 years, our generation will see the world’s oceans spoil. Anna shocks the reader again by later stating that “plastic has dangerous environmental consequences, given that fish consume it and, as one study found, sometimes even prefer it to their normal diet.” This information is undoubtedly compelling and thought provoking towards the reader. One last aspect that I admire in Anna’s review is her overall assertive voice in her writing which is particularly effective in captivating an audience.
The review was very well done with only small things to improve upon. Firstly, I think that Anna could have stated a more realistic goal for the reader when explaining how we can avoid ocean pollution. Anna made the point that the only way to avoid further damage to our oceans is to stop using plastic altogether. Reaching this goal in the next 32 years sounds just about impossible. Anna even recognizes that plastic is so prevalent in the lives of everyone and this goal will probably never be met. I think that Anna could have established a more reasonable goal for the reader and said something like “We can reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean by over 15% if everyone in America uses biodegradable straws…” or something similar to that. Anna could have also been more elaborate when describing how the researchers in her article lacked credentials. Anna presented the fair argument that the article would have been more established if the researches who visited the island of Midway had some sort of title. I think that Anna could have been more clear about what kind of “credentials” she was looking for. Was she curious as to what background they had educationally, or what kind of past experience they had in their field of study… etc.
As a whole, this article makes me think of how my smallest choices can surmount to have a profound impact on this planet. If every person uses a small amount of plastic every day, each person’s small use of plastic still adds up to the 8 million tons that get dumped into the ocean every year. This article makes me reflect upon the lifestyle that I choose. It also makes me wonder whether our generation will ever be able to combat this problem and truly eliminate plastic from our lives.
Emily Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
October 8, 2018
Walsh, Nick Paton, et al. “Plastic Island: How Our Throwaway Culture Is Turning Paradize into a Graveyard.” CNN, Cable News Network, www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/.
I really liked Anna’s summary of the article because it included the main points and also many examples, like how the Island of Midway was so quickly polluted with plastic. When she used statistics she would frequently cite them, referencing either the original source or the article. Anna also did a great job at describing the consequences of using plastic. She connected pollution directly to human populations by explaining how some animals consume the plastic that was dumped into their habitat and the carcinogens in the plastic can travel up the food chain to humans. I also really like that in her critique of the article she said that the authors should have explained their credentials. It is very important that authors introduce themselves or the scientists involved in the discovery to make their article more valid.
While her grammar was mostly correct, Anna could change the wording of some sentences to make her review a bit clearer. For example, the first sentence is a little lengthy and confusing. She could simplify this sentence by saying “I recently read an article that discussed the environmental consequences of using plastic.” I also wish that Anna had done research to find out more information about the authors. Even though the article that she read did not introduce the authors, she could strengthen her review by listing their credentials (aside from the fact that their article was published on a reputable news website, it may be helpful to explain any background they may have in science).
I was shocked by many of the examples that Anna included in her review. It is crazy to think that in just 30 years there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean. An equally shocking fact is that 8 million tons of plastic enters the ocean each year. Plastic consumption is an issue that deserves more attention than it gets. After reading this article review, I will definitely be more conscious about waste and avoid plastic whenever I can.
Emily Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
October 8, 2018
Walsh, Nick Paton, et al. “Plastic Island: How Our Throwaway Culture Is Turning Paradize into a Graveyard.” CNN, Cable News Network, www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/world/midway-plastic-island/.
I really liked Anna’s summary of the article because it included the main points and also many examples, like how the Island of Midway was so quickly polluted with plastic. When she used statistics she would frequently cite them, referencing either the original source or the article. Anna also did a great job at describing the consequences of using plastic. She connected pollution directly to human populations by explaining how some animals consume the plastic that was dumped into their habitat and the carcinogens in the plastic can travel up the food chain to humans. I also really like that in her critique of the article she said that the authors should have explained their credentials. It is very important that authors introduce themselves or the scientists involved in the discovery to make their article more valid.
While her grammar was mostly correct, Anna could change the wording of some sentences to make her review a bit clearer. For example, the first sentence is a little lengthy and confusing. She could simplify this sentence by saying “I recently read an article that discussed the environmental consequences of using plastic.” I also wish that Anna had done research to find out more information about the authors. Even though the article that she read did not introduce the authors, she could strengthen her review by listing their credentials (aside from the fact that their article was published on a reputable news website, it may be helpful to explain any background they may have in science).
I was shocked by many of the examples that Anna included in her review. It is crazy to think that in just 30 years there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean. An equally shocking fact is that 8 million tons of plastic enters the ocean each year. Plastic consumption is an issue that deserves more attention than it gets. After reading this article review, I will definitely be more conscious about waste and avoid plastic whenever I can.