Make our oceans thrive again

With all the information we have about "how to save the environment", it's easy to feel overwhelmed, and belive that what you do simply doesn't truly have an impact. What I want to tell people is that no matter how you are helping, the fact that you are actually doing something is a huge accomplishment in itself. If you pick up that piece of trash on the street, if you use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic one or if you go completely zero waste is all building up and together creating a massive change. I wrote an article for a magazine called Aquamarine, about the ways we are destroying our environment, and how people are starting to realize that what we are doing is unsustainable. Both Martine and I have written a lot about how to be more eco- friendly on the site before. This is such a huge passion for the both of us, and we would like more people to find easy and effective ways to help the environment. One of my favorite ways to help the environment and marine life is to have a "5 min cleanup". Whenever I am at a beach, park or in the forest I like to take about five minutes to simply pick up any trash around me. Sometimes I bring something to put the rubbish in, other times I collect it and take it to a trashcan if there is one present. This clean up does not take a lot of time, but the impact is creates is massive. 

Make out oceans thrive again

Keeping our waters clean are crucial to our existence. Whether you live by the shore, or you are someone who just enjoys a sunset by the beach when you are on vacation. You may know the oceans is the largest organ on earth and covers about 72% of the earth’s surface. One of the biggest contributors that is polluting the coastal waters is urban runoff, which may contain trash, bacteria and chemical toxins. All this is causing harm to people, animals, and marine life. Science Daily reported that within the past decade the ocean has been absorbing more Co2 than ever. This might be a good thing as fewer greenhouse gasses are reaching the earth’s atmosphere. But the continually rising levels of CO2 is promoting acidification, which breaks down the calcium carbonate shells of some marine organisms. In other words, rising levels of Co2 in our oceans are killing marine organisms.

Plastic is also one of the main problems that are destructing our oceans and planet in general. According to plasticoceans.org more than eight million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year. All this plastic is either eaten up by precious marine animals or decomposed into tiny plastic particles that never leave the sea. Over the last decade, thousands of reports indicate that fishermen are finding more plastic in the fish that they catch than ever.

I am not going to go too in-depth about all the effect humans have on the ocean, but rather focus on how we as individuals can make a significant and important change.

What I would like you to get out of this little article, is for you to quite literally crave your ability to take action. Let’s all do our part to make to ocean thrive again. Even if it seems insignificant, that what you do does not really have an effect. I believe that in every aspect of your life there is a way to help. Dispose your trash correctly, pick up loose garbage on the street or sand, and whatever you do please do not litter. Researching and educating yourself is the number one most effective way to help, as you will be able to share your knowledge with other people to spread the message, and make more people conscious about how they are living their life.

No matter what you do, the fact that you actually started thinking about changing your environmentally negative habits is a step in the right direction. Every step counts, and if you take one step each day, it truly adds up.

This article was also published in Halcyon Girls magazine 'Aquamarine', go check it out for more articles, poetry, interviews and more ;)