How Our Actions are Harming Animals

Animals are suffering everyday from the things that we as people take part in. This topic is very important to me because I care about animals. Animals to me are like babies. They can not properly defend themselves, they cannot speak up for themselves, and they cannot advocate for themselves. They are very valuable to our world and our ecosystem. For example, one way that sea turtles help our ecosystem is by trimming sea grass to keep it healthy. Some species of turtles also eat the sponges that choke coral reefs and the remnants of their nests help plants grow on the beaches. They play a big part in the ecosystems of the oceans and beaches, but now we are killing them and their homes are filled with plastic and oil, which isn’t right in the slightest.

Littering plays a big part in the problems facing animals today. Whether it’s plastic, paper, or metal, littering affects us because it directly harms and poisons animals all over the world.  Animals may eat the trash or get stuck in it which can cause physical harm or worse kill the animal. When people throw trash on the ground or in the water carelessly, animals including sea turtles consume the trash and can die as a result. Over 52% of sea turtles have consumed plastic in their life and many have died from this plastic. Sea turtles also frequently get tangled in discarded fish lines and nets which can harm them. 

There are ways that we can help the sea turtles. We can use less plastic, clean up our trash at beaches, keep lights by the beaches dim during nesting season, and eat sea food that is caught in ways that don’t harm turtles.

Another animal harmed by humans is the polar bear. The polar bear is one of my personal favorite animals, but there are only about 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears left. The populations are currently going through a hard time because of starvation and loss of sea ice in the Arctic. These challenges are due to it being hotter than usual because of drastic changes in the weather caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions are trapping heat and warming ocean currents which are melting the sea ice from below. The ice loss affects the polar bears because it lowers their chances of finding food. Polar bears cannot outswim their prey such as seals and fish, so they depend on the thick ice to keep them afloat while they hunt for their food. When hunting for seals, polar bears wait for the seals to come up to breathe through holes in the ice, but because the ice is getting thinner, polar bears are unable to stand on it anymore. 

I strongly believe that humans play a big part in harming the environment today. One way that humans make the world the way it is now is by burning fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels happens when we use coal, oil, or gas to get energy. These sources of energy are used for the cars we drive everyday, the electricity for our households, and central heating. Another thing that humans do that affects our environment is clearing land for agriculture or in other words deforestation. When this happens, people take or buy the land and then they vigorously chop down trees, destroying the environment that was there. These are actions that are taken by us as people that affect our world and the environment, animals, and other important aspects of our world.  We as the new generation need to try our hardest to make sure that we don’t continue to damage our community and our home.