The level of pollution is continuing to rise, which puts our planet in danger. Plastic seems to be the worst, and in some cases, the most dangerous form of pollution. So National Geographic has launched an initiative to try to reduce the millions of tons of plastic waste that pollute the shorelines and put sea life and other creatures in serious jeopardy. But first, you should take a look at the following photos. They’re so disturbing that they’ll make you mindful of how you dispose all plastic-related trash. If these images don’t curve humanity’s habit of polluting the Earth, these creatures will definitely pay the price.The level of plastic pollution has been increasing year after year and it’s having a detrimental effect on animal life, particularly sea life as plastic items continue to wash up on the ocean shores. Some of the images you are about to see will break your heart.
Somehow it seems to have cut through the bag with its beak so it could continue breathing, but it clearly makes moving around pretty difficult. Worst of all? This creature could have choked. As a matter of fact, many other animals often do.
Take this adorable seahorse for example. Being so tiny, it relies heavily on its tail in order to make the necessary motion to move underwater. Of course, it can’t do that since its tail is stuck to this discarded Q-tip.
Of course, this adaptive skill won’t help this fellow given that it’s entangled in this net. It attempts to bite its way free but isn’t having much luck. If it doesn’t get loose, it won’t be able to look for food and is also vulnerable to predators.
Since beachgoers often collect the shells that hermit crabs use to protect their abdomen, this little one decided to use a plastic bottle cap in lieu of a shell.
With the help of world organizations, a family in Bangladesh wouldn’t be sifting through plastic bottles under a bridge by the Buriganga River in order to sell whatever they find to a scrap dealer for $100 a month.
This photo was taken at a landfill in Harar, Ethiopia, and it shows a bunch of hyenas pillaging through an area that is littered with plastic. In this snap, one of the hyenas hears a garbage truck and will likely scavenge through the trash as well in order to find food.
It turns out that the situation is a lot more complicated than we could’ve anticipated. Plastic is broken down into categories, and while some forms of plastic are easy to recycle, there are others that are difficult to process, like drink straws. Now scientists fear that some materials could remain in marine environments for over 450 years.
While a couple of people have opted for reusable bags, there are trillions of plastic bags that are used every year. Those bags will ultimately make their way to a landfill, or worse, a marine environment, which will only aggravate the plastic pollution crisis.
You can either keep on using plastic at the cost of the planet and everyone living in it, or you can choose to save the planet and do something to help control this growing problem. If people don’t adhere to the warnings, Earth could become a waste zone.
To that end, “New Girl” actress Zooey Deschanel started posting pictures of the effects of plastic pollution on her National Geographic’s Instagram page. National Geographic will also post devastating images of the ravaging effects of plastic on our ecosystem in hopes that it will lead to change. Take the plastic pledge, and let’s clean the planet little by little.
