Sperm Whale found dead with 220 lbs of trash in its stomach

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-sperm-whale-found-dead-in-scotland-with-220-pounds-of-trash-in-its-stomach/

a A sperm whale died after beaching itself on a Scottish beach and an autopsy of the mammal found in upwards of 220 pounds of trash in its stomach. The trash consisted of discarded fishing gear like ropes and net as well as various plastics such as cups, tubing, and bags. Although this did not necessarily contribute to the whale's death, it still paints a very bleak picture of the state of our oceans.

There are approximately 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic sitting in our oceans and almost 14 billion pounds of trash enter our oceans every year.  Isn't that just astronomical to even comprehend? Like, 14 billion pounds a year. This in itself is a call to action but when you start to consider the reefs and marine life that are undoubtedly affected by this insane amount of garbage every year, it's frightening. The situation with the whale is sad for sure but it also shines a light on how bad things really are in our oceans and why we need to be doing more and quickly.

While there are initiatives happening all around us, working towards a more environmentally friendly way of approaching our daily lives, there is much to be desired in regards to managing our pollution and keeping it out of the ocean. The ocean encompasses 70% of Earth, which means it is also home to a large percentage of life on our planet. We've heard enough about different varieties  of whales, sharks, porpoises, and other marine life falling on to the endangered species list because of loss of habitat, changes in climate, and of course, pollution. It couldn't be more important to start funneling money into cleaning up and preventing further pollution to our oceans.

It's tiring hearing about single use plastic bans by 2030 and carbon emission drops of 25% in 20 years because the situation is dire. We need more action than something ten years down the line, we need urgency. A growing number of people across the globe are becoming increasingly aware of the damage our planet has sustained as made evident by the climate strikes across the globe. Pollution is a major contributing factor to environmental damage which is why we need solutions now, not ten years from now. 

It may sound harsh and overly critical of me to expect a leader to make this sort of an abrupt change quickly but doesn't this sort of situation warrant my reaction? Yes, we have to condition a nation to adapt to change but we must also consider the scope of the problem. We need to be preventing continued pollution in the ocean before we successfully endanger / cause extinction to more aquatic creatures. We need to immediately ban single use plastics like straws, cups, and silverware & offer incentives for reusable containers / bags for shopping. We need to be monitoring and punishing fishing boats that dump old gear into the ocean. We need to work at finding reasonable solutions for cleaning up some of the mess we've made in the ocean before it's too late.

RIP whale, but thanks for bringing attention to this extremely grave matter.

HAPPY VEG

Information taken from;
https://worldanimalnews.com/breaking-sperm-whale-found-dead-in-scotland-with-220-pounds-of-trash-in-its-stomach/
https://seastewards.org/projects/healthy-oceans-initiative/marine-debris-and-plastics/
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/ocean-trash-525-trillion-pieces-and-counting-big-questions-remain/