Research Log #2 - Solutionary Project 2020 

 
Date: Feb. 5, 2020
Name:   Darian Morris
Essential Question:   Why should we do something about pollution?
 
Three Points to Prove: #1: A small amount of plastic is recycled worldwide.
                                        #2: Animals and fish are affected every year by plastic.
                                        #3: People eat small amounts of microplastic.
 
Point that this Source Proves:   # 2: Animals and fish are affected every year by plastic 
 
Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove): 
 
Early in the video, it states, “We hear a lot about pollution from single use plastic items, like plastic
straws and shopping bags that are clogging marine habitats. Although these large pieces of plastic
contribute the most to the overall mass of plastic polluting oceans, they count for a small share of the total
number of plastic particles.”

Later on, in the video, “Back in the 1940s, fabrics like nylon, acrylic and rayon all made from plastic
became really popular. These synthetic clothes were cheap to produce, comfortable to wear and as more
people have bought clothes for athletics and leisure, companies have been making more clothes out of
plastic.”

Doing a seemingly common task everyday seems to put more plastic into the ocean, “Turns out, a large
share of those microplastics are microfibers: tiny strands of plastic, and they’re coming from our
laundry.”
 
Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?): 
This video gives more insight on the issue of pollution in the ocean and how the most common of
chores in our daily contributes to the problem of pollution. Most of the ocean’s pollution comes from
microplastics and not really from larger plastics as most people believe. This affects fish easily because
the microplastic just goes up the food chain until it reaches humans. Brian Resnick from Vox states that
“Although large pieces of plastic contribute the most to the overall mass of the plastic polluting oceans,
they count for a small share of the total number of plastic particles.” This makes our situation for cleaning
up pollution even worse as the microplastics are less than five millimeters big which makes it near
impossible to see and find to remove.
There is evidence that our clothes that we wear everyday could be one of the main causes of
microplastics in the ocean. In our clothes, there are microfibers that are under the same category of
microplastics and just making and using the clothes, we seem to be harming the ocean. The clothes are
made out of microfibers from plastics that shed at basically anytime. These microplastics would
eventually make it to the ocean or to our birds to affect them and make their lives harder. Brian Resnick
also states that “fabrics like nylon, acrylic and rayon all made from plastic became really popular. These
synthetic clothes were cheap to produce, comfortable to wear and as more people have bought clothes for
athletics and leisure, companies have been making more clothes out of plastic.” More and more of our
clothes are starting to contain plastic which in return causes more pollution due to microplastics.
It seems as if doing our chores such as laundry are also causing a great deal of pollution. It turns
out that most of the microplastic in our water comes from our laundry seemingly making plastic clothes
worse for the environment quickly. More plastic clothes for us makes more microfibers for the ocean and
for our fish. These microplastics start on the bottom of the food chain and eventually reach us. The more
we use plastic clothes, the worse it is for us as we can get affected by microplastics at seemingly anytime
we eat fish or animals. As Brian states, “Turns out, a large share of those microplastics are microfibers:
tiny strands of plastic, and they’re coming from our laundry.” It seems as doing laundry for plastic clothes
causes more problems for us then benefits from cleaning.

Work Cited (correct MLA format): 

Vox. “Why these plankton are eating plastic.” YouTube, Brian Resnick, 25 Feb. 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beUhzQAkanM
This is a reputable and reliable article because vox makes professional videos about pollution, politics,
culture, food, trends, etc. since 2014 on YouTube.