Celebrate the Ocean
To celebrate, there was a maiden voyage of a ship in Taiwan that was made of recycled materials. Very cool! It sailed around the country, stopping to give out educational information.
That brought to mind another boat that I read about (via an article in the New Yorker, of all places, of course since it’s the treasure trove of interesting information), called the Plastiki. It was built by a wealthy British fella, who was freaked out when he learned/read about the massive plastic trash heap (The Great Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch) circulating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So he built his ship out of thousands of recycled plastic bottles and sailed it across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Sydney; the boat launched in March of last year, and completed the voyage in 4 months. This voyage in part was to bring awareness to the waste in the oceans and the environmental problems they face in general.
It’s unfortunate, then, that this event – which happen a year ago – received little fanfare, and brought little awareness (at least, that seems to be true here in the states). This is especially sad considering that new scientific studies will be posted this week, discussing the more shocking and abysmal state of the oceans than were even previously suspected. The combination of overfishing, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions seem to have a multiplicative effect, not merely an additive one, thereby accelerating the decimation of the ocean. Finding a way as a small person on the planet to affect positive change across such a huge issue doesn’t seem to be possible; but there are ways to remain informed. For example, check out websites/apps like Seafood Watch to help pick the right kinds of fish to eat. It’s super easy to use and can guide you in the right direction in terms of seafood-eating habits (if you eat seafood at all that is!). And of course, avoid or recycle that plastic bottle you’re using right now!
