When you throw away that raspberry popsicle stick you feel good, right? You're not throwing it in the street, you're guiding it here...

But does it always go there? In reality, 5.25 trillion pieces of harmful plastic float in our oceans today.

Believe it or not, our ocean pollution damages our home by torturing and killing our gorgeous ocean creatures. Often, birds and fish are found dead and are dissected only to find their stomachs packed with a horrific amount of garbage. They were murdered by this poison we dump into the oceans so casually just because we had to have those Chicken McNuggets. Here is a comparison of a healthy pelican and a pelican damaged by ocean waste.

A Healthy Pelican

Unhealthy Deceased Pelican

As you can see, the stomach of the bird is filled with various pieces of plastic. The plastic is not broken down and managed to kill this poor creature.

Plastic water bottles are not a necessity unless a person has a lack of access to a running faucet with clean water. If you do and damage the planet because you think the water tastes better then you can improve your impact on ocean creatures. This is one way you can help. I would suggest purchasing a reusable water bottle that will last instead of using a disposable one. Again, if you water is unsafe or you do not have access to running water then that is a different story. But if you have the luxury of clean, running water then must it be "improved"? I personally find no difference in clean tap water and water bottle water. In fact, I prefer the taste of tap.

Sources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150109-oceans-plastic-sea-trash-science-marine-debris/