The coast that we love most
“Despite its vital importance, we are currently treating our ocean like an enormous dump. A whole garbage truck’s worth of plastic ends up in the ocean every minute, and we are way overdue in doing something about the problem”
The cost of convenience
The human population has grown accustomed to convenience, resulting in an explosion of single use plastics over the past half-century. These plastics find their way into the ocean, getting broken up into small pieces that take thousands of years to break down. Disturbing scenes such as the Bali video below illustrate the scale of the problem.
“Once plastic is in the ocean, marine animals are suffering from either becoming tangled up or eating it leading to suffocation and starvation. Plastic has a long legacy too, breaking down into smaller and smaller unidentifiable pieces and lasting thousands of years.”
What kind of mess are we leaving for future generations?
It’s important that we educate children about the problem, they will be the ones dealing with the consequences and looking for ways to fix the problem.
Take a container and go ‘treasure hunting’ for plastics at your local beach. It’s a great way to create awareness with kids and get them thinking about why saying no to single use plastics is important. Sure it’s a drop in the ocean when you look at the scale of the problem, but we have to start somewhere and every little bit helps.
Resources and information
There’s amazing organisations and projects underway, fighting hard to address the plastic problem. The links below provide a wealth of information around the issues at hand, projects and ways we can help.
Australian Marine Conservation Society – How you can help
World Economic Forum – 8 steps to solve the ocean’s plastic problem
Plastic Pollution Org – The Great Plastic Tide
The Ocean Clean Up – The largest cleanup in history