America's Use Of Plastic Straws Isn't Destroying The Oceans

Lately, there has been all this hype about not using plastic straws or not flushing your contacts down the toilet because it is destroying the oceans. Okay yeah, ocean pollution has always been a problem not only on a national level but an international level. However, according to TheWeek.com, it is stated that "America turned its back" when it came to ocean pollution.

It seems like whenever an international problem arises, America is always the first to blame. However, if we look at the facts, America should be the last to blame for ocean pollution.

Don't get me wrong though, I am not against not using a straw or recycling and all that other stuff. And yes, I would like our environment to stay clean, but the fact that California just passed a law going as far as throwing someone in jail for giving someone a plastic straw without request is far too extreme.

Before writing this article, I did some research on water pollution, and where it originates from. Note: out of the numerous of charts I viewed, all of the dates they were created/collected were every 5-10 years. So, no, they are not very old and out of date, they are the most up to date.

Note: out of the numerous of charts I viewed, all of the dates they were created/collected were every 5-10 years. So, no, they are not very old and out of date, they are the most up to date.Statistica.com

As you have viewed this first chart, you will see that the countries in the Far East like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are large contributors to ocean pollution. The biggest contributor out of the Far East is China, releasing approximately 8.8 metric tons of plastic waste into the ocean. (You will also see that the United States contributes the least on the graph, and compared to China, it is nearly next to nothing.)

Environmental Health Perspectives (ehp.gov)

You will see here again, that the Far East is the largest contributor to mismanaged waste in the oceans. (For those who don't know what managed waste is like having organized garbage dumps and recycling centers). The numbers are so high, personally, I find it a little sickening. North Korea contributes ninety percent of mismanaged waste into the oceans!

Instead of focusing on something little like a plastic straw floating in the ocean (which is gross, but there are bigger pollution problems than straws in water, or having America being the 'root' of every single problem in the world) we need to look at the bigger picture, and who is really doing the destruction to our oceans.