8 June 2021
The ocean is the source of the air we breathe, producing half of the world’s oxygen and absorbing high amounts of CO2 from our atmosphere. It also regulates climate by transporting heat from the equator to the poles and it’s the home of some of the most beautiful fauna and flora on Earth. The ocean is consistently giving life to us, but we constantly abuse it. This year, it is time to give back.
Plastic Pandemic
Last year was marked by the appearance of a new kind of plastic pollution that will most definitely haunt us for the upcoming centuries. Facemasks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect us against the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a new kind of plastic pandemic that we will not be able to get rid of quickly. The French non-profit Opération Mer Propre found dozens of gloves, masks, and bottles of hand sanitizer beneath the waves of the Mediterranean last year, mixed in with the usual litter of disposable plastic cups and aluminum cans. That is particularly worrying for the Mediterranean Sea, as its water cannot renew itself at the rate of other oceans. Plastic litter already accounts for 95% of the waste in this ecosystem.
Chemical pollutants and nanoplastics
Not only that, according to data gathered by the United Nations, around 75% of used disposable face masks, as well as other pandemic-related waste, will end up in landfills or floating in the seas. What’s worse: disposable facemasks could be releasing chemical pollutants and nanoplastics into the environment, including our oceans, as researchers at Swansea University found out last month.
Animals who live in those ecosystems cannot escape from being in touch with plastic pollution – old and new. They have to constantly deal with the consequences of our mismanaged waste. As a result, seabirds, fish, sea turtles, and marine mammals can become entangled or ingest plastic in the ocean, causing suffocation and starvation.
2021, the year to protect our oceans
For this year’s World Ocean Day, the non-profit group World Ocean Day calls on individuals and organizations to support the global movement to protect at least 30% of our blue planet by 2030 (“30×30”). Today, only 7% of our ocean is protected. However, considering the current plastic crisis we are living in, we need to increase our ambition.
Campaign for Nature has started a petition asking world leaders to join their “Call for 30×30” campaign. You can sign it here!
How can you join the movement today?
There are a few things that you can do to help give life back to the ocean, and that starts with yourself. Reducing our plastic footprint in our daily lives can help heaps protect the ocean and the animals that inhabit it.
With our app My Little Plastic Footprint, you can start your plastic diet and eliminate unnecessary plastic around you. For this year’s World Ocean Day, we have prepared a challenge with some of the most common plastic items found in the ocean and our daily lives. These include the infamous face masks, but also balloons, plastic straws, and others. And do you know how many marine animals are affected by plastic pollution? Or how many tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean every year? We hope to have picked your curiosity so you head out to our app and join our World Ocean Day Quiz!
Start your plastic diet and help us protect our ocean not only in 2021 but for the next century.
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