|
Would you believe it that 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based activities!
Have you ever considered where does all the pollution in oceans come from? Though it is not uncommon to see oil spills hogging the limelight in news depicting pictures of fishes, and birds caught in muck and shores with layers of crude destroying flora and fauna, what is not widely known is that the % of such oil spill based pollution is bare 12% of the total pollution we humans have been dumping. The 12% accidental pollution is nothing as compared to the intentional 80% + pollution we have been dumping
in the oceans regularly.
If you are not sure what it means, consider this -- most of the waste produced on the land, right from plastic bags, pesticides, industrial waste etc eventually gets washed and drained in rains, or sewerage and ultimately finds its way to the final destination -- yes the oceans. If you don't believe in our words, have a look at the rivers all around you. You would hardly find clean water since industries along the river banks have done enough damage to infact make water dirty enough not to take a dip. River Yamuna is one such river where foamy layer on water surface gives you just a glimpse of how much toxic waste is dumped in it on a regular basis from all cities it passes through. If it's just the river that would suffer would be gross miscalculation because eventually this water would reach it's final destination to Bay of Bengal and thus enter the oceans.
It's not just liquids that may enter sea, because solid waste too has ways to find it's way to the seas! Numerous plastic and polythene bags, bottles and anything that is fit to be thrown does keep going towards the sea along with toxic water and eventually ends up in the sea. Not only does it threaten marine life (and life on the land with cows and buffaloes dying untimely death by swallowing polythene bags) coast line too gets dirty and destroyed as these waste starts to settle along the shore when its washed by the mighty oceans.
What can you do to avoid pollution to the marine life
- Please stop using plastic bags. You and I CAN make a huge difference.
- Care for water bodies and rivers. Don't be indifferent and just look for a reason to blame the Government for inefficiency. We all know that millions have been drained down the rivers for cleaning them and nothing has changed, perhaps because we wanted to stay within the comfort of our house while someone else would take care of your problem. The fact is -- you got to go out and find solution for the problems.
- Avoid dumping waste in rivers and water bodies. Honestly we in India have tradition of keeping our house clean but surroundings dirty.
You can change. You can make the change
Compiled by Gaurav Based on report on WWF - www.panda.org
|
