CHAPTER 6 通読用英文
A Sea of Plastic
1
Plastic is everywhere in our daily life. When you buy something at a convenience store, you will usually find that the container or wrapper is made of plastic. When you feel thirsty, you are likely to buy something to drink in a plastic bottle. Plastic is very convenient, but it is causing serious environmental problems, especially for the oceans.
As you may know, plastic can be harmful to marine life. For example, plastic pollution is causing harm to sea turtles. Turtles find plastic bags in the ocean and eat them, thinking they are jellyfish. This causes the turtles to suffer and sometimes die.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Let’s take a closer look at the effects plastics have on our environment and on humans and think about how we can help to conserve nature.
2
Plastic was invented about 150 years ago. Its invention was closely connected with the game of billiards. In the middle of the 19th century, billiards was very popular in the U.S. Originally, the billiard balls were made from ivory and this material was difficult to get. As a result, people searched for a new material for billiard balls and invented the first example of plastic.
Now plastic is used in a wide variety of products because it is light, strong, and cheap to produce. About 36% is used for packaging, 16% in construction, and 15% for man-made fibers such as polyester. The rest is used in a variety of products. In many ways, plastic has changed our lives for the better.
The problem with plastic is that much of it is soon thrown away. Only 9% of plastic is recycled and 12% burned. The remaining 79% either goes into landfills or is left as trash in the environment. The human race produced 8.3 billion tons of plastic items between 1950 and 2015, and of that about 5.5 billion tons ended up as waste. Unfortunately, a huge amount of plastic gets into rivers and then flows into the oceans.
3
There are 150 million tons of plastic waste circulating in the oceans, and eight million tons of plastic are added every year. Unlike paper or food, plastic does not decompose. Once in the ocean, plastic waste does not simply disappear but just keeps drifting. According to one report, there may be more plastic waste than fish in the oceans by 2050.
In the sea, the movement of the waves breaks plastic into smaller and smaller pieces. These are called “microplastics.” The threat posed by microplastics is serious. They are extremely dangerous because they tend to attract poisonous chemicals just as magnets attract iron.
Microplastics are now found in every ocean. Small fish eat microplastics and larger fish eat the smaller fish. Then humans catch the fish for food. This means that in this food chain, the amount of poisonous substances becomes more concentrated. As a result, microplastics are becoming a major threat not only to the environment but also to living creatures, including human beings.
4
Once plastic trash gets into the ocean, it is hard to get it out. What can we do to solve the problem? Collecting plastic trash on beaches is one way to reduce waste in the sea because about 80% of plastic in the ocean is from the land.
There are three principles for reducing plastic known as the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reducing the amount of plastic we use involves cutting down on such things as packaging. Reusing can be done by making use of plastic shopping bags for other purposes, for example. Recycling requires the processing of plastic so that it can be used again. But that is not enough. We also have to apply three other principles. First, refusing such things as plastic straws. Second, repairing broken items such as umbrellas. Third, rethinking whether you really need something before buying it. Together, there are six Rs we should live by: reducing, reusing, recycling, refusing, repairing, and rethinking.
There is a Native American saying that goes, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we only borrow it from our descendants.” It is our responsibility to protect the planet’s natural environment for future generations.
1
Plastic is everywhere in our daily life. When you buy something at a convenience store, you will usually find that the container or wrapper is made of plastic. When you feel thirsty, you are likely to buy something to drink in a plastic bottle. Plastic is very convenient, but it is causing serious environmental problems, especially for the oceans.
As you may know, plastic can be harmful to marine life. For example, plastic pollution is causing harm to sea turtles. Turtles find plastic bags in the ocean and eat them, thinking they are jellyfish. This causes the turtles to suffer and sometimes die.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Let’s take a closer look at the effects plastics have on our environment and on humans and think about how we can help to conserve nature.
2
Plastic was invented about 150 years ago. Its invention was closely connected with the game of billiards. In the middle of the 19th century, billiards was very popular in the U.S. Originally, the billiard balls were made from ivory and this material was difficult to get. As a result, people searched for a new material for billiard balls and invented the first example of plastic.
Now plastic is used in a wide variety of products because it is light, strong, and cheap to produce. About 36% is used for packaging, 16% in construction, and 15% for man-made fibers such as polyester. The rest is used in a variety of products. In many ways, plastic has changed our lives for the better.
The problem with plastic is that much of it is soon thrown away. Only 9% of plastic is recycled and 12% burned. The remaining 79% either goes into landfills or is left as trash in the environment. The human race produced 8.3 billion tons of plastic items between 1950 and 2015, and of that about 5.5 billion tons ended up as waste. Unfortunately, a huge amount of plastic gets into rivers and then flows into the oceans.
3
There are 150 million tons of plastic waste circulating in the oceans, and eight million tons of plastic are added every year. Unlike paper or food, plastic does not decompose. Once in the ocean, plastic waste does not simply disappear but just keeps drifting. According to one report, there may be more plastic waste than fish in the oceans by 2050.
In the sea, the movement of the waves breaks plastic into smaller and smaller pieces. These are called “microplastics.” The threat posed by microplastics is serious. They are extremely dangerous because they tend to attract poisonous chemicals just as magnets attract iron.
Microplastics are now found in every ocean. Small fish eat microplastics and larger fish eat the smaller fish. Then humans catch the fish for food. This means that in this food chain, the amount of poisonous substances becomes more concentrated. As a result, microplastics are becoming a major threat not only to the environment but also to living creatures, including human beings.
4
Once plastic trash gets into the ocean, it is hard to get it out. What can we do to solve the problem? Collecting plastic trash on beaches is one way to reduce waste in the sea because about 80% of plastic in the ocean is from the land.
There are three principles for reducing plastic known as the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reducing the amount of plastic we use involves cutting down on such things as packaging. Reusing can be done by making use of plastic shopping bags for other purposes, for example. Recycling requires the processing of plastic so that it can be used again. But that is not enough. We also have to apply three other principles. First, refusing such things as plastic straws. Second, repairing broken items such as umbrellas. Third, rethinking whether you really need something before buying it. Together, there are six Rs we should live by: reducing, reusing, recycling, refusing, repairing, and rethinking.
There is a Native American saying that goes, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we only borrow it from our descendants.” It is our responsibility to protect the planet’s natural environment for future generations.
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