We all want to make the world a better place. Don’t we? Some are doing it, others are thinking about it. But how often do we talk about it? This is my journey of the social conscience stripped bare, exposing personal thoughts, feelings and experiences in an attempt to bridge the gap between intention and action and just maybe inspire a little change along the way... one blog entry at a time.
Wait! Before you go jumping to conclusions, I'm not going to ask you to go digging in your wallets for spare change to feed the dolphins or to physically get off your backsides and help me lift beached humpback whales. What I'm asking will probably take the same amount of effort as clicking away from this page and ignoring my request for a little assistance.
The Wilderness Society is currently petitioning the Federal Government to increase marine sanctuaries off the coast of Western and South Australia in an effort to protect threatened blue whales, dolphins and Australian sea lions. The petition is also strongly opposing the government's current proposal to drill for oil off the coast of Kangaroo Island and Margaret River which could potentially have devastating effects on our marine environment (Gulf of Mexico disaster ring any bells?).
So here's what I'm asking, just a couple of clicks and few taps of the keyboard! Please follow the link below to find out more AND sign the petition to help protect a little more of our beautiful blue surrounds and its inhabitants.
The ocean is my "happy place"; a powerful presence in my life from a young age, it never ceases to soothe me and wash away the troubles of the terrestrial world. I was fortunate enough to grow up by (and largely in) the ocean, my classroom was the waters of the warm Pacific and my education was one of respect and reverence. I never grew out of my connection with the ocean, the smell of salty sea air still fills my heart with childish delight and when I have the opportunity to submerge my body in the beautiful blue, I am free, bound to the surface only by lack of gills: "when I grow up I want to be a mermaid".
Today is World Oceans Day, a day to celebrate and promote the conservation of the magnificent bodies of water that make up over seventy percent of our planet. Whilst not everybody has a strong personal connection with the ocean, many can't escape it's appeal as a food source, with one billion of the population relying on it as an important source of protein. However as we are all too slowly learning, with mass consumption comes equally massive impacts to our environment. In the 60 odd years since commercial fishing began on a mass scale and increasing technology made it virtually impossible for any fish (turtle, dolphin, shark, whale) to escape our nets we have depleted our ocean's large fish stocks by 90 percent. The bluefin tuna that so many of us have eagerly snapped up off the sashimi plate is now an endangered species and if you think that's disappointing, how about the prediction of the end of seafood by 2048 (if we keep fishing at this rate)? Not to mention the fact that disharmony in the ocean will undoubtedly lead to other serious environmental problems, taking into consideration 50-70 percent of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean.
What's most troubling about all this is that unlike other environmental problems, this one is fairly easy to solve. If we cut back and regulate world fishing practices these ocean species will replenish themselves and we can continue to enjoy the fishy fruits of the ocean for many generations to come. Unfortunately though, the change needs to happen now and the governments and fishing industries are not heeding the call. We as consumers and guardians of the planet need to put pressure on the fishing industries and governments to implement sustainable practices before it is too late. We also need to push for increased ocean reserves (no fishing zones) which currently sit at less than one percent!
Ok so what can we do? Firstly, get informed! I highly recommend watching The End of the Line, an insightful documentary revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans:
But if you want to skip straight to the solution:
1. Eat only sustainable seafood: ask where your fish comes from and how it was caught.
2. Tell politicians: respect the science and cut the fishing fleet.
3. Join the campaign for marine protected areas and responsible fishing.
In a thirsty search for plastic facts during my water bottle epiphany (see previous post), Google transported me to the doorstep of global alliance called the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC), a group of individuals, organisations and businesses who are committed to saving our planet from death by plastic. Through collaborative efforts the PPC is attempting to get the world talking about and taking action against plastic pollution. One of their initiatives to fuel the anti-plastic pollution revolution is the The REFUSE Pledge, which I signed today. This is a pledge to follow the "4 Rs" of sustainable living:
REFUSE: say no to disposable plastics.
REDUCE: Reduce your plastic footprint: buy in bulk, choose products with the least packaging, look for products and packaging made from renewable resources, and avoid plastic packaging and containers. Choose products that have the least amount of disposable parts.
REUSE: Reuse preferably nontoxic (glass, stainless steel) containers and goods to make less waste.
RECYCLE: Recycle what you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse. Recycling is a last option because it uses energy, and there may not be a market for the re-fabricated materials.
We all have items we can't leave the house without: keys, wallet, phone, lip balm, hip flask, brain. My essential item (although many of the aforementioned also apply) is my water bottle, constantly at the ready to rehydrate me during the day when the occasion arises. I could swear that sometimes just "knowing" it's in my bag keeps the thirst away. So you can imagine my parched distress when said bottle goes missing and I no longer have this amazing thirst-quenching device at my disposal! The key word here and the point I am eventually getting to is "disposal" and more specifically the issue of disposable plastic. You may be forgiven for thinking that this item which I am so clearly very fond of and attached to was one of those beautiful, shiny, stainless steel drinking vessels (which I have every intention of buying... one day), but no, the missing drink bottle was nothing more than a disposable plastic bottle which I buy and refill and eventually (as I had to do again today), replace.
Pictured above: Artist, Chris Jordan's depiction of the 2 million plastic bottles used in the US every five minutes.
Did you know that almost every piece of plastic EVER made still exists today? The average plastic bottle takes 50-80 years to decompose, so the remnants of the first plastic bottle ever created are still somewhere on our planet as I'm typing this. Plastic bottles came onto the market in the late 60s and whilst I haven't been able to get my hands on an estimation of the number which have been produced and disposed of since then, I can tell you that in America alone 2,500,000 plastic bottles are used every hour with three quarters of them being discarded after one use. I can't even begin to fathom what the damage would be over 40 odd years on a global scale but you get my drift?
"The plastic from a single one litre bottle could break down into enough fragments to put one fragment on every mile of beach in the entire world." - Qamar Schuyler
What's worse is that a frightening amount of this plastic waste (6 million tonnes per year) is ending up in our planet's vital life source, our oceans. The effects on our marine life are devastating (reason enough to make a change) but what many people also don't realise is that the consequences are transferable, the toxins from this pollution is moving up the food chain so we are simultaneously disposing of our environment and our health.
So what's the moral to this story? I don't think I need to spell it out for you but I can tell you this, tomorrow I'm going to buy that beautiful, shiny, stainless steel drinking vessel I've been dreaming of.
