‘Be part of the solution, not the pollution…’
Global pollution levels are down, the Himalayan peaks can be seen through the lack of smog for the first time in a while, the Venice canals have clear water, nature is rebounding over the world and the ozone holes are said to be closing. Undoubtedly, there have been some positives for Mother Nature as we continue to stay home and stay onboard throughout our global current pandemic but what about our other pandemic continuing in the background?
Whilst we aren’t trying to cloud the positive effects this slowdown from Covid-19 has had on our environment, we cant forget about our other pandemic; global plastic pollution. Our plastic issue has temporarily been forgotten about and put on the back burner overshadowed by our current pandemic.
Before Covid-19, plastic pollution reached global pandemic levels and we were producing a colossal amount of plastic waste throughout every industry. Now, combine temporary rollbacks to plastic bans, coffee shops no longer honouring reusable cups, some shopping chains not allowing reusable bags, products wrapped in an extra layer of plastic for sanitation and the huge increase in disposable PPE and hospital waste. Whilst the priority is the health of our world and this increase in plastic waste is hard to overcome at the moment, we cannot let public health become an excuse for bad environmental policies as this will only create further issues in the future.
Whilst its not specifically coming from the actions of our yachting industry, it is a global problem that is negatively impacting everywhere and in particular, a lot of it eventually ending up in our oceans. Below are 3 simple steps you can action today to be part of the solution and not the problem.
3 simple steps that you can action today:
1. Reduce your personal (and your yachts) plastic footprint: Think, reusable and refillable, everything. Replace all items which are single use and find plastic alternatives.
2. Donate & support plastic clean up efforts: The Ocean Clean up. Plastic soup Foundation. Plastic Oceans. 5 Gyres. The Clean Ocean Pact.
3. Be accountable with where your money goes: Do your research into companies, for example, Coke, Nestle & Pepsi are among the top most recorded plastic polluters.
At Seastainable Yachting we wanted to take this time to simply reiterate our plastic problem and how we should continue to be aware of it. Plastic is a huge issue and not only a huge risk to our marine environments but through microplastic waste, whereby it is ending up on our plates, in our food.