Hello all!
This week I went to a few new places I have never been to before. On Wednesday I went on a fishing trip and held my first fish. I also touched sea worms for the first time and threaded them onto a hook. That part was really gross and smelly but it was a lot better than touching squid. I also went on a fishing boat for the first time. This week was just filled with a lot of firsts. I was working on George’s Island this week. The island is really beautiful and interesting and the history of the jails and the Lady in Black is so mesmerizing. On Friday I went to Peddocks Island to pull weeds and clean the trails. I got my fair share of bug bites, but I learned a lot about invasive plants! They were brought over to the islands and they disrupt the native plants and environment. I also learned about knotweed and garlic mustard plants and how they grow. Knotweed if you pull it out and throw it on dirt it will just sprout out roots and grow back again.
So far this summer I have noticed that plastic pollution in Boston Harbor isn’t as bad as I thought or as it is in other places. There are only a few bottles here and there and a few wrappers. Honestly, I could go a whole day on the Boston Harbor without seeing any trash depending on which area I’m in. Plastic pollution in the harbor has really been contained and minimized over the years.
Plastic takes between 500 to 1000 years to break down. Since it takes so long to break down it tends to flow out to sea where marine animals either get trapped in or consume the plastic. These marine animals end up starving to death because their stomachs are full of indigestible plastic making so that there is no space for food. Also because the plastic tends to float in the sea it is exposed to UV rays caused the plastic to be broken down into microplastic. This nice plastic ends up in the marine life’s stomach and system. Plastic waste just throws the environmental balance off and causes many health issues for marine life.
Not only does this plastic waste affect marine life but it also affects humans. That microplastic that I was talking about earlier travels it’s way up the food chain. We eat those marine life animals who have consumed that microplastic. That plastic ends up traveling to our bodies and systems. Keep in mind that some of the materials and chemicals in plastic throw off our ph levels along with they can cause cancer.
A few ways I can try to reduce plastic pollution in the harbor and in general is just by trying to stay away from plastic. I can use refillable water bottles, bamboo straws, cloth bags. I can find alternates to all the plastic products I use each day. I can also pick up and trash I see floating in the water and properly dispense of it. Mostly all plastic is recyclable. So what I recommend to my family, friends, and others is that they just rinse off the plastic and throw it in the recycling bin. This will slow it so that that plastic doesn’t float off to sea and it will be reused so more plastic won’t have to be made!
Bye for now,
Vanessa
This week I went to a few new places I have never been to before. On Wednesday I went on a fishing trip and held my first fish. I also touched sea worms for the first time and threaded them onto a hook. That part was really gross and smelly but it was a lot better than touching squid. I also went on a fishing boat for the first time. This week was just filled with a lot of firsts. I was working on George’s Island this week. The island is really beautiful and interesting and the history of the jails and the Lady in Black is so mesmerizing. On Friday I went to Peddocks Island to pull weeds and clean the trails. I got my fair share of bug bites, but I learned a lot about invasive plants! They were brought over to the islands and they disrupt the native plants and environment. I also learned about knotweed and garlic mustard plants and how they grow. Knotweed if you pull it out and throw it on dirt it will just sprout out roots and grow back again.
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| Peddocks Island in the weeds! |
So far this summer I have noticed that plastic pollution in Boston Harbor isn’t as bad as I thought or as it is in other places. There are only a few bottles here and there and a few wrappers. Honestly, I could go a whole day on the Boston Harbor without seeing any trash depending on which area I’m in. Plastic pollution in the harbor has really been contained and minimized over the years.
 |
| Enjoying the crabs in the water! Not the plastic! |
Not only does this plastic waste affect marine life but it also affects humans. That microplastic that I was talking about earlier travels it’s way up the food chain. We eat those marine life animals who have consumed that microplastic. That plastic ends up traveling to our bodies and systems. Keep in mind that some of the materials and chemicals in plastic throw off our ph levels along with they can cause cancer.
A few ways I can try to reduce plastic pollution in the harbor and in general is just by trying to stay away from plastic. I can use refillable water bottles, bamboo straws, cloth bags. I can find alternates to all the plastic products I use each day. I can also pick up and trash I see floating in the water and properly dispense of it. Mostly all plastic is recyclable. So what I recommend to my family, friends, and others is that they just rinse off the plastic and throw it in the recycling bin. This will slow it so that that plastic doesn’t float off to sea and it will be reused so more plastic won’t have to be made!
Bye for now,
Vanessa
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