My speech

By Jess P

Everyone knows we shouldn’t litter, but do we really know what littering can do. Littering not only looks bad but it also affects sea life, And if plastic gets left around it won’t decompose for a very long time. But you could help be the change!Sea life hasn’t done that much bad to us, I mean sure there are a few shark attacks and stuff, but we cause many more deaths just so we can have fish and chips for dinner. But leaving plastic around also has a big affect on them too. According to World Wildlife Funds (WWF) 100,000 sea animals die each year because of plastic debris. Mainly sea mammals, birds, and turtles. These animals need to breath air but if we leave plastic bags around the plastic can get caught around them, either suffocating them or preventing them be able to swim up to breath. Therefore  drowning them, for other fish plastic bags can lead to strangulation. Another problem is quite surprising. Balloons! Yes those harmless children’s toys we use for birthdays have a big impact. Turtles and small fish in particular mistake these colorful pieces of plastic for food and eat them. This mistake can lead to blockages in their digestive system and eventual death. If we keep littering our sea life could die out.Another bad thing about plastic is that it takes way longer to decompose than other garbage. Plastic bottles especially. Remember that drink bottle you left at the beach. Well it could still be there in 450 years!  Your great, great, great, great, great grandkids  (yes 5 greats) could find the drink bottle you left behind 450 years ago. OK sure I know that sound interesting, like let’s all leave plastic bottles around so our  great, great, great, great, great grandkids can find them. But that’s not the point. If we did that the world that future generations live in wouldn’t be very clean. Plastic bags hang around for 350-400 years. So don’t have a bad attitude, we need to have a good one, towards keeping the world clean and healthy for generations and generations to come.Now don’t think I’m just about being against human activity, I’m not. This next bit is about how you can help make the earth clean again. Did you know that more that 90% of plastic is used once then chucked out. This includes plastic bags, glad wrap, plastic bottles, plastic cutlery, and straws. All of these products tend to be used once then chucked out. But you can help by using reusable products for example containers and stronger drink bottles. Or you can start saving things for art and crafts and maybe even giving them to pre-schools. Another way you can help is to recycled. Yes it is obvious. But less than 14% of the world’s plastic is actually recycled. Most plastic gets chucked in the wrong bin. So you could help save the world by knowing what goes in each bin.So as you can see there are many reasons why we should NOT litter. The world doesn’t belong to us. We need to keep it clean for sea life and future generations. So next time think before you litter!