Hannah’s Blog

In my childhood, my parents and I often went to the seaside near my grandma’s house to grab seafood, such as crabs and crayfish.  At that time, there were many types and numbers of marine organisms, and the seawater was very clear, without any pollution. About five years ago, many factories were built near grandma’s house. Due to the high cost of purifying wastewater, many owners of factories secretly discharged wastewater into the sea, then, resulting in severe seawater pollution in recent years.  Last summer, when I went to the seaside again, I found that many fish and shells on the beach were dead, and the gills of the crabs in the sea became very dark and looked unhealthy.  Due to a large amount of wastewater is discharged into the sea, the species and number of organisms in the sea are decreasing, and many of the remaining marine organisms are also seriously polluted.

 

The main sources of sea pollution are industrial waste, sewage and power plants, which cause the presence of toxic substances in seawater.  Some toxic substances will float in shallow waters. Fish and shellfish in the shallow waters are vulnerable, when they are foraging, they will ingest these toxic substances and cause death.  Once this contaminated seafood is consumed by humans,  toxins can accumulate in the human body and cause cancer or other long-term health problems.  Regarding this issue, the government should issue more regulations to limit the discharge of wastewater from private factories, such as paying high fines after being discovered, closing down factories, and other penalties. Not only in some industrial areas, but private factories in rural areas should also be strictly managed.

Reference: https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Solutions_for_Ocean_Pollution

23 Replies to “Hannah’s Blog”

  1. After reading the blog, I was disgusted to find that industries were dumping sewage waste into the ocean to cut costs. The images of the darkened fish remind me of the selfish act’s humans are doing to make a profit. For the conclusion, other than government regulation, what kind of precautionary measures should be taken now to prevent further exploitation of marine animals (like fish)? How does this topic relate to the Anthropocene? The blog had so much of a personal connection, from the beginning, when writing about your childhood at the beach. The blog has originality, but where is the logos and ethos?

    1. The use of personal connection to build an argument is a very powerful strategy: see for instance, the book Voices from Chernobyl by by Svetlana Alexievich and Keith Gessen, which inspired the HBO show Chernobyl.

  2. The theme of this essay is about the pollution of plastics to Marine life. I looked up a lot of materials for this, including articles, broadcasts and documentaries. I find that the current Marine environment is not very optimistic, has reached the point of crisis of human health. However, this has not attracted the attention of all mankind, which makes me very sad and anxious. My hometown is near the sea. In my home, almost every dish cooked by my mother contains seafood, which is almost equal to that I grew up with seafood. After watching the documentary “plastic ocean”, I can’t imagine how much plastic is in my body. You may not believe it and you may ask, why is plastic in your body? Because plastic is in the ocean, and it’s eaten by Marine organisms and over time it becomes tiny particles that stay in their muscles, which is what we eat, and that’s very dangerous. After watching the documentary, I swore I would never use plastic again.

    1. Very powerful story, Serene. I agree, I have a huge sushi habit, and I can only imagine the amount of toxins and plastic that I’ve picked up through it. Can you imagine a future where eating seafood is no longer sustainable because of pollution? The British Royal family is already forbidden from eating seafood because of this.

  3. Hannah, thanks for sharing this incredibly touching essay on wastewater’s devastating effects on the ocean. I had no idea how vast the problem was. The personal anecdote you gave us about your childhood experience with marine organisms fuels a powerful narrative that properly conveys the grave danger they’re in. The fact that both industrial waste and nuclear power are causing the problems shows that their obstacles are part of a larger, fundamentally broken system. While many environmentalists instinctively reach towards nuclear power as an immediate solution and alternative to fossil fuels, your article raises interesting points that should generate some skepticism.

    1. Great point, Kamran. The nuclear industry is often branded as a “clean” source of energy, but is it really? Considering the vast amounts of radioactive waste being stored all over the world that we don’t have a sustainable way to process?

  4. Wow, your story about pollution in the seawater is very familiar to me. A few years ago, I had once played a Japanese video game that is titled “Mother 3” and the game had a lot of themes within it. One of the themes was industrialization. Industrialization in the game had greatly impacted the main characters and the whole village’s way of living. It took away nature and created a robotic technological society. In your story, factories’ pollution has negatively impacted the seawater. I am not even aware about what I eat nowadays and this might make me question my diet. Overall, I thought your experience was interesting to hear and hope that there is a way to solve the factory problem.

  5. This story and information is really powerful when reading it and really taking in what is happening and what this means for the future if this continues. I enjoy how you incorporated your own story into the beginning because it shows that this is a story very close to your heart and it means something to you. I did not know to the extent that this issue was occurring. Including the picture also gives the blog more emotion and allows people to really picture and envision the problem that is going on. Overall, I think this blog was really well written and did a very nice job of describing the issue at hand and addressing how to improve it.

    1. Great analysis of the blog, Sadie. I agree that the blog really helps the readers visualize the problem in an impactful way.

  6. Your story is exactly what happened to us. We are now facing not only plastic pollution, but also a lot of chemical pollution. These things are not only a serious threat to life in the water, but also to us as human beings. I remember a couple of years ago there were a lot of news reports that fish bodies were floating in the lake, and the source was a nearby chemical plant. In China, such factories exist, but they are also on the decline. Because people living near chemical plants report their emissions, not only are their lives affected, but they also see nearby animals dying from chemical pollution. This shows that more and more people care about the natural environment.

    1. That’s true, Laura, I’ve heard that China is getting stricter and stricter with its regulations on corporations in the past few years. We need to see the movement about preventing factory pollution spread worldwide.

  7. This blog post was very informative about a personal experience you had and the connection it has to pollution and climate change. When you went into further depth about what companies were secretly doing, and creating more pollution and killing off the sea animals was a good use of pathos. I do agree with you in the sense that more regulations need to be put in place regarding environmental policies that all companies and corporations should follow. You did a very nice job of informing your audience about a personal experience that got you to look into a possible solution that could be made.

    1. I agree Kaitlyn, there is good work being done on coming up with a feasible way to develop regulations, and hopefully these efforts will coalesce in the coming years.

  8. I really liked your blog post, specifically the level of detail that you put into your own story. I think that the story and the way that you told it was very original definitely pulled me in from the start. It seems like you have done your research around the environmental factors in your local area which is very cool and adds a lot more to the story, and it also lets you explore some possible solutions.

    1. You’ve made a strong point about persuasive writing, Connor—how research helps build up the story, and how bringing in local examples can support a broader point.

  9. I really enjoyed this blog post. It was very different than the previous submissions and brought light onto a new topic. I like that you used pathos to have the audience connect to the story when you talked about your own experiences. It was also good that you used logos when you gave reasoning of why sea life became damaged or had died and the timeline of the events. Overall, this was a really interesting read and I am intrigued to learn more on the topic.

    1. Good insight on the connections between the two blog posts, Nina! I also agree, this post had good logos through the timeline and buildup.

  10. Your blog also brings back memories of my childhood too. Ten years before, Every time I go to the beach in the morning. I can see a lot of little crabs on the beach because of fall of tide. However, I can’t see anyting on the beach now. I think the disappear of these sea animals is not only because of the pollution, it also because overfishing. I think it will be more useful if the government could control both pollution and overfishing.

    1. Your description of the crabs is a very powerful image, Ruize—all the creatures that people the earth with us and are now being edged out of survival. I have similar memories of fireflies in my grandmother’s garden.

  11. I found myself getting very bothered by this post. It seems like you had such good memories and it is sad to see things like this occurring. You supported your argument with photos and possible solutions with sources. I can tell you’re educated and passionate on the subject. Thank you!

    1. Good point about supporting arguments with photos, Zoe, it seems that both posts this week were in sync about that.

  12. Well done on the Blog, Hannah. I like the personal hook with which you open the blog, and the photo you used has a strong emotional appeal. Also, good use of argumentation through storytelling. The use of personal experience is a very powerful kind of evidence for making an argument, and you’ve done that successfully in painting the picture of going to the seaside near your grandmother’s home. The topic of “environmental tax” on corporations is picking up steam, and rightly so.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *