We have discussed plastics and microplastics in several prior articles. But it’s something we could and probably should talk about forever. Yes, I totally understand that plastics have become a super convenience for all of us. It’s almost impossible to avoid, and difficult to even reduce our reliance on plastics. I totally get it. I’m no plastic environmental hero - I use plastics. I can’t seem to avoid plastic because it is everywhere. However, I DO try to lessen my dependence on plastics and find workable alternatives, but even that is difficult. Plastic is cheap, easy to use, and immensely versatile. But what was once the invention of the century is now becoming a plague killing everything around it. Let’s face it – nobody ever intended for endless amounts of plastics to wind up in our oceans, lakes, and rivers – the early-stage plastic inventors and manufactures probably never gave it much thought, or if they did, simply ignored these consequences because plastic was so lucrative. Capitalism at its finest, right?
But now there are thousands of different types of plastics, and most plastic products are ‘single use’ products being disposed of and dumped everywhere you turn. IT HAS BECOME A REALAND PRESENT DANGER AND A HUGE PROBLEM.
“It’ll take a collective effort to prevent oceanic troubles for good. If you've ever heard of microplastics in the ocean, you may have imagined small bits of plastic floating on the surface of the water. Unfortunately, this isn't quite the right picture. A recent global survey found that microplastics — invisible to the eye — penetrate the entire oceanic column, from the surface to the sea floor.”
“While researchers initially expected microplastics to either sink or float, accumulating at the surface or the ocean floor, an April study at Florida Atlantic University revealed that microplastics were distributed almost evenly throughout the ocean,” New Scientist reported. “By collecting data from over 1,800 oceanic stations over the past decade, the research team found that while microplastic distribution varies with size, the overall pattern is relatively uniform, and those that are the most evenly dispersed tend to be the longest-lasting. As a result, the polymers in ocean microplastics take up much of the ocean's bandwidth for carbon, especially at greater depths.”
So, NOW we have these tiny, tinier, and tiniest microplastics floating around through the entire water column from top to bottom and everywhere in between. Three big, obvious consequences, and I am not even including all the gross plastics littering beaches and shorelines making once pristine land look like city subways:
FIRST: Everything in the ocean is intentionally or unintentionally consuming microplastics. And as you already know about food chains if you have read our prior articles, as you move up the food chain the consumers become larger and are ingesting microplastics already inside their prey. It’s a cumulative process. Some of the larger microplastics are visible to the naked eye, so when you cut open a fish, you can see them. Many of the consumers in the food chain will see large microplastics as food and consume them directly. Seabirds mistake microplastics in the water or on land as food all the time. An increasingly common occurrence is finding dead seabirds on the beach, cutting them open, and finding them full of microplastics which cannot be digested, clog their systems, and kill them by starvation. This is now being observed in animals at the top of the food chain like dolphins and whales.
SECOND: WE as humans are beginning to ingest more and more microplastics in our body as top consumers in different marine food chains. The adverse health effects being discovered is the subject of another article.
THIRD: “[t]he ocean on its own is a natural carbon sink, absorbing some of the damaging carbon pollution humans release into the atmosphere. However, the prevalence of microplastics throughout the water may have disruptive implications for the ocean's carbon cycling.” And, “as microplastic polymers accumulate in the ocean, they inherently become part of the carbon absorption process and "hamper the ocean's ability to take up CO2 from the atmosphere via the biological carbon pump," according to New Scientist.” Why is that? “Our oceans are among the world's strongest protections against carbon pollution from fuel-based industrial and household energy consumption. As their capacity for atmospheric carbon capture declines, we can expect the effects of climate change to accelerate, from intensified extreme weather events to food shortages and insecurities to public health disasters.”
Three strikes, you’re out! What’s being done about microplastic pollution and how can you help? “Researchers and cleanup efforts worldwide are working to clear our oceans of these microscopic materials. But with more pollution being generated than cleaned up, it'll take a collective effort to prevent oceanic troubles for good.” “But you can reduce your own plastic consumption by opting for reusable containers and recycling whatever plastic you do consume. To help lower the ocean's carbon burden, moreover, you can cut down on your fuel-based home electricity usage in order to diminish your contributions to carbon pollution. It’s millions and millions of metric tons of this stuff throughout the interiors of the ocean," remarked Tracy Mincer, one of the team's researchers”.
Sources:
https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/microplastics-ocean-pollution-study/
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/ocean-microplastics-pollution-study/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08818-1
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-global-effort-microplastics-path-critical.html#google_vignette
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/carbon-removal-nature-ocean-forest/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2478475-microplastics-could-be-hampering-the-oceans-ability-to-capture-carbon/
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/climate-change-impact-on-nutrition-food/
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/how-climate-change-is-increasing-the-risk-of-future-pandemics/
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/microplastic-capture-ocean-pollution-waste/
Photo by Ron Lach : https://www.pexels.com/photo/plastic-scattered-on-beach-shore-9034664/
