By YKA Staff:
According to WWF, almost every marine organism, from the tiniest plankton to whales and polar bears, is contaminated with man-made chemicals, such as pesticides and chemicals used in common consumer products.
How Does This Affect Us?
Most of us commonly suffer from the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) syndrome, where we never bother about pollution or the effect it has on someone else, as long as our ‘backyard’ isn’t affected by it. But we don’t realise that our actions have repercussions, and staying ignorant about them will not do. Over 80% of marine pollution is because of land-based activities and from plastic bags to pesticides to sewage – all of our creations reach the ocean eventually. The ocean is becoming a dumping ground of our waste, and many oceans and reefs around the world are now ‘dead zones’ because they have no life forms left in them.
This infographic shows the vicious cycle of how our waste impacts the ocean, in myriad ways:
Image source: Visualistan