Celebrate World Oceans Day with me!

blackbearmagic:

Today, June 8, is World Oceans Day! The oceans, which cover close to three-fourths of our planet, are vitally important to life on Earth. They produce most of the oxygen in our atmosphere (close to 70 percent!) and form the base of food chains that carry onto land! But right now, our oceans are facing a pretty big threat, and it’s plastics.

Maybe you’ve heard of the Pacific Garbage Patch. Now, all that trash didn’t just get dumped in the middle of the ocean; most of it actually started outon land.

Like they said in Finding Nemo: All drains lead to the ocean, and that includes storm drains. As water flows down our streets, it often picks up whatever garbage is in its path, usually things like plastic water bottles or small packages. If the water passes into a treatment facility, these things get filtered out, but in many cases, that runoff gets dumped right into bays or oceans–and the trash goes along for the rise.

Much of the garbage is plastics, and the majority of plastics are made with petroleum. This means that they don’t really break DOWN, but rather break APART. These tiny pieces of plastic can look a lot like food to some small fish, and they may ingest them by mistake. To make matters worse, many of these plastics are made with a chemical called BPA, which is toxic when released.

I know I’m painting a pretty grim picture here, but there is good news! Because humans are the source of these plastics, we are also the solution. If we as individuals can reduce our use of plastics, we can make a difference.

So join me this World Oceans Day by doing any or as many of the following as you are able:

• use a reusable water bottle
• use a reusable shopping bag, or purchase one if you don’t already have one
• reuse a single use shopping bag, if you have one lying around
• skip a straw in your drink (unless it’s a reusable straw)
• consider what single-use plastics you use in your life, and think of ways you can replace them with reusable alternatives
• pick up a piece of trash you see on the ground and throw it away
• tell someone what I’ve told you in this post, either in person or through social media

Remember, a healthy ocean starts here on land! You can make a difference, today and every day!

Happy World Oceans Day!