Environmental conservation is one of the vital practices to save the ecosystem from the terrible effects of pollution. One of the organizations that have been at the forefront of fighting pollution in oceans and beaches is Heal the Bay. Driven by its mission of making the coastal waters and watershed safe, healthy, and clean, Heal the Bay has conducted several cleanup programs in Los Angeles to improve water quality and protect the marine ecosystem. According to environmentalists, at least eight million metric tons of plastics are deposited in the oceans annually in the United States (Law et al., 2020). A desire to maintain a clean environment and improve water quality inspired me to participate in a volunteering exercise of cleaning Santa Monica Beach and its environs in a community event organized by Heal the Bay. The registration was done online on the organization’s website, where the participants were directed to meet at Santa Monica Beach. The cleaning process involved collecting waste materials washed on the shore by the sea.
The ocean is one of the critical elements of the earth’s ecosystem. The sea is a habitat for various species of marine life and a vital source of food for humanity. Therefore, the pollution of water and the decrease in water quality directly affect human life. When the ocean is polluted, fish and other marine life are exposed to higher levels of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium. These metals tend to enter into the system of the fish, thus contaminating them and making them risky for human consumption. Excessive consumption of heavy metals through the fish has been rising in recent days. Researchers have noted a significant increase in the levels of toxic metals in fish (Sonone et al., 2020). This puts the health of seafood consumers at a greater risk of developing health conditions associated with the excessive consumption of heavy metals. For instance, according to a study, excess consumption of lead and cadmium accumulates in the body, affecting the liver and the reproduction system (Sonone et al., 2020). Cadmium has been closely associated with cancer, while mercury is linked to the development of cognitive impairments.
Through biology and a clear understanding of the human anatomy, I was able to relate how detrimental the pollution of the sea is to human survival. During the cleaning process, I realized that the level of plastics in the ocean exposes marine life to danger and the people who depend on seafood. Thousands of pieces of plastic were washed on the shores of Santa Monica beach, making it clear that the fish may have consumed several others. According to scientists, more than one million seabirds and at least a hundred thousand marine mammals die yearly due to plastic waste consumption (Marques, 2020). The high rate at which marine life is being lost due to pollution puts at least seven hundred marine species in danger of extinction. Therefore, our cleaning exercise was a vital step toward addressing the threat of extinction that many marine animals face.
Ignoring the dangers of marine pollution puts the human race at serious risk of exercising global food insecurity. Most of the aquatic life depends heavily on plankton for food. However, the settlement of plastic debris at the base of the sea presents challenges to the growth of the plankton. As a result, most of the fish end up consuming the plastic material available in the ocean as an alternative to food. Accumulation of these plastics in the fish’s body reduces their lifespan and can be transferred to human beings when these fish are consumed. It was, therefore, worthwhile participating in cleaning the beaches and promoting a healthy ecosystem for the survival and thriving of human and marine life. Cleaning Santa Monica Beach was an environment conservation mechanism meant to improve the water quality and reduce the risk of developing waterborne diseases, prevent the ingestion of toxic waste materials such as plastics and create a healthy environment for marine life.
The voluntary cleaning exercise provided me with a sense of responsibility necessary for protecting the environment from pollution. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the environment is effectively conserved to reduce the number of species that risk extinction. Maintaining the earth’s ecosystem is necessary to ensure the survival of all species because their lives are interdependent. Increased exposure to toxic materials increases the chances of disrupting the ecosystem, thus threatening human life and the lives of other species. I perceived the cleaning exercise as a community awareness that reminded us of the critical role we need to play in conserving the environment and saving the future of humanity and other species.
In conclusion, participating in the voluntary exercise of cleaning Santa Monica beach provided me with firsthand information on the reality of environmental degradation and its effects on humanity. The amount of toxic materials that people consume through seafood is unprecedented. There is, therefore, a need for an urgent intervention to advocate for clean and improved quality of water. Clean water provides a healthy environment for the thriving of marine life. Additionally, clean water reduces the rate of toxic material consumed by marine life, thus providing healthy seafood to people. Therefore, we all have the responsibility to protect the environment from various forms of pollution.
References
Law, K. L., Starr, N., Siegler, T. R., Jambeck, J. R., Mallos, N. J., & Leonard, G. H. (2020). The United States’ contribution of plastic waste to land and ocean. Science advances, 6(44), eabd0288.
Marques, L. (2020). Collapse of Biodiversity in the Aquatic Environment. In Capitalism and Environmental Collapse. Springer, Cham.
Sonone, S. S., Jadhav, S., Sankhla, M. S., & Kumar, R. (2020). Water contamination by heavy metals and their toxic effect on aquaculture and human health through the food chain. Letters in applied NanoBioScience, 10(2), 2148-2166.