Here is my essay it is about dealing with a tragedy of the commons

1. Help with my support roadmap. I don't know what that is or should look like but its required to be in first paragraph with the thesis statement. Both need to be clear, but thesis needs to be in detail.

2. How does my grammar, punctuation and sentence structure look?

3. Does each topic sentence and supporting sentence clear enough and follow through each paragraph and the rest of the consecutive sentences follow through with everything? Does it all make sense?

4. In-text citations help--what do I need to change or add?

5. Does my arguable claim and rebuttal look good?

6. In works cited section, how do I add the quotes sources and do I do a different cite for those? I also need in there the "date accessed" does it go in that part or regular MLA works cited section? etc.,

7. Do I need to move sentences or rearrange any paragraphs?

8. Is there anything I can do extra to make this essay stronger?

9. I am supposed to include a metacognitive component about my skills, what I've learned etc.., Never done one of those before.

Plastic Pollution is a Global Tragedy Affecting Marine Life

The tragedy of the commons, a conceptual idea which was introduced by Garrett Hardin in 1968, shows how the depletion of shared resources is due to human self gain. In the situation of plastic pollution in the ocean, the commons are the marine life, which is affected by the mismanagement of plastic waste. Plastic pollution in the ocean is a tragedy because it causes irreparable consequences for marine life and their habitats. The tragedy of the commons is visible in the ocean, where plastic pollution causes devastating impact on marine life.While plastic has been a convenience for humans, its mismanagement of disposal into the ocean creates a devastating impact on marine ecosystems, leading to irreparable harm to marine life and the loss of their habitats. Not only does plastic affect the marine ecosystem it also adds more harm to the existing issue of climate change and negatively affects humans.

Plastic pollution can cause entanglement to marine life leading to injuries or even worse, fatality.Marine animals such as whales, dolphins, sea turtles, seals and sea lions become entangled by marine debris such as commercial or recreational fishing gear, other types of rope or fishing line and trash, and including plastic bags. According to NOAA Fisheries "Entanglement of marine life is a global problem that results in the death of hundreds of thousands of marine mammals and sea turtles worldwide every year."

Entangled animals may drown or starve if the debris they're stuck in is restricting their ability to move or seek their food source. Marine life can also suffer from physical cuts and infections from the plastic debris that can cut into their limbs or bodies. Smaller marine life may drown if the fishing gear they are caught in is too large or too heavy for them to escape from.

Plastic pollution in the ocean also creates a fatal threat to marine life through the degradation of plastic particles.Although there isn't a specified size criteria for microplastics, microplastics are generally referred to as being 0.1-5,000m in size. Plastic debris that is more than 5 mm is classified as macroplastic, while nanoplastic debris have a size range of 1 to 100 nm. These particles are the result of plastic degradation. Because plastics are not biodegradable it can take many years for plastic to break down. Plastic can only break down in one of two ways: mechanically or by the sun's UV rays when the plastic is floating on the ocean. Majority of plastic isn't recycled. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) states that "Globally, only about 9% of plastic waste is recycled, while 22% is mismanaged" (Science On Tap, Feb. 8, 2024). Plastic is not biodegradable and it takes many, many years to break down in size this is why the marine life and ecosystem are on the verge of becoming depleted.

Microplastics are harmful to marine life but research has found that nanoplastics pose an even more dangerous risk to marine life because of their decrease in size which elevates the contaminant amount of capacity leading to their uptake and transport of polluting molecules. Marine life mistakes these tiny plastic particles as their food source such as plankton, which leads to health issues like intestinal blockage and starvation. Some particles do not get eliminated from marine life and build up in their guts, tissues and cells. Starvation happens because marine life's stomachs fill up with plastic particles which sends a signal to their brain that they are full, when in fact, they are starving to death. They are not getting the vital nutrients they need to survive. According to Susanne Brander these particles are big enough and they reside in the g.i tract long enough that they can cause something called food dilution. What food dilution means is that they're not getting enough nutrition as they need to be getting, they're ingesting synthetic particles, foreign particles and that's taking up space in the gut sending the brain a signal that they're full. [Video 20:15]. Brander also states that "when you expose these animals in early life stages to these particles, to other plastics, they tend to have reduced growth rate." [Video 20:46].

Stacey Harper a professor at Oregon State University. Harper explains how nanoplastics can be so tiny and invisible that they can be very easily and unknowingly ingesting these particles just from breathing the water and air in because they are so tiny it's impossible to see them without a special microscope.

Below is a very graphic image that shows the devastating effects of a deceased Laysan Albatross that has died as a result of starvation because their stomach has filled up with marine debris instead of their nutrition needs to survive. This image was chosen to bring awareness of how marine life is being harmed from ocean pollution but also to bring supporting evidence to back up the claim of plastic pollution affecting marine life.

Figure 1: "A deceased Laysan Albatross lies on the ground in Midway Atoll, with an exposed stomach filled with debris it consumed around its coastal habitat. Marine animals cannot digest debris and often die due to starvation." Credit: NOAA.

Plastic pollution also harms marine ecosystems by releasing harmful chemicals into the ocean water from bigger plastics breaking down. Plastics absorb chemicals and then they release those chemicals when the plastic pollution breaks down into smaller pieces releasing toxins into the water which affects marine organism health and leads to toxin build up in the food chain. As smaller marine prey such as plankton ingest these particles the next level up from them in the food chain, such as fish, eat the plankton that is exposed with plastic particles. It's a cycle; prey eat the plastic particles then predators eat them and that is how plastics move up the food chain. Making their way into the seafood humans eat exposes humans to plastic particles too. In April 2022, Yogyakarta, Indonesia a study was done from a local fish market. They tested the consumers' highly demanded three types of fish; Snapper, Skipjack tuna and Pomfret. All three fish showed evidence of microplastics.

Plastic also adds to the already existing issue of climate change in two ways.The first way is that single use plastic production relies on fossil fuels, including natural gas and crude oil, creating these plastics that emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses which also contain certain chemicals that are known to disrupt endocrine and threaten the health of humans. Human exposure to these chemicals cause hormone imbalances, reproductive harm and even cancer.

The second way plastic adds an existing issue of climate change is through the build up of plastic debris in the ocean. Plastic particles are throughout the ocean water. They float on the surface and are all the way down to the sediment. Plastic traps heat and adds to the rise of ocean temperatures. Broken down plastic particles absorb carbon dioxide which leads to ocean acidification and progression on marine life endangerment. Ocean acidification is when the pH lowers, the water becomes more acidic which inturn binds up carbonate ions making these less sufficient to marine life such as corals, oysters, mussels and many other organisms that need these ions to help build their shells and skeletons. This also creates harmful algal blooms which increases shellfish toxicity adding to the negative health impact of humans ingesting poisonous seafood.

While some may argue that plastic pollution is an unnecessary effort to address, it is actually very important to recognize that the long term damage to marine life and the health of the ecosystem also affects humans.Many humans rely and depend on the ocean as a source for food, they also rely on commercial fisheries for employment, it also helps the economy financially and humans also enjoy the ocean for many recreational activities such as surfing, fishing, boating, jet skiing and touring. It's time to start respecting the ocean and limiting plastic, especially single-use plastics.

Works Cited

"HMSC Science On Tap, Feb. 8, 2024."YouTube, uploaded by Hatfield Marine Science Center

OSU professor Susanne Brander, Coastal Marine Experiment Station, Hatfield Marine Science Center, 8 Feb. 2024,https://youtu.be/IciosBOLYRQ?si=cuKHRkgOXz9XSvc8.

Brander, Susanne. "HMSC Science On Tap, Feb. 8, 2024."YouTube,8 February 2024,

https://youtu.be/IciosBOLYRQ?si=cuKHRkgOXz9XSvc8. Accessed 4 March 2024.

Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Published inScience,13 December, 1968.

www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html.

Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Published in Science, 13 December, 1968. Accessed 4 February 2024.www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html.

"Microplastics Research at Oregon State University."YouTube,uploaded by OSU AgSci, Stacey Harper, 12 November 2019,https://youtu.be/6u_r73et4Tc?si=xOvbSgjrNKDBSajN.

Harper, Stacey."Microplastics Research at Oregon State University"YouTube,Oregon State UniversityAgSci, 12 November, 2019. Accessed 4 March 2024.https://youtu.be/6u_r73et4Tc?si=xOvbSgjrNKDBSajN. Accessed 3 March 2024.

NOAA. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. N.d.https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/multimedia/photos/impacts#prettyPhoto[field_image_image]/9/

NOAA. Image creditNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. N.d.https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/multimedia/photos/impacts#prettyPhoto[field_image_image]/9/. Accessed 14 March 2024.

Rahmawati, S., et al. "Identification of Microplastics in Fish From the Local Fish Market of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia."IOP Conference Series. Earth and Environmental Science;Bristol, vol.1263, Iss.1, Nov. 2023.https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1263/1/012043