Plastic death

Occasionally issues pop up that force me to cover other topics than financial markets and commodities.

This time the issue is PLASTIC and I am not talking about plastic surgery! 

As a commodity specialist, I feel that I have even more responsibility to ensure that commodities are produced and used in an eco friendly manner. This goes for all man made commodities but clearly plastic is a major problem.

In the last few days the story of the dead whale with 30 plastic bags in its stomach re-surfaced:

Norway whale starves to death after swallowing 30 plastic bags

Link to a two minute video about the discovery: Norway whale death

On the 3rd of February 2017 a whale came to die in a small Norwegian harbour. Locals attempted to push it back out to sea but the animal refuses to leave and eventually was put down by a marksman.

This was the beginning of a journey that was going to reveal and confirm the extent of the current damage to our seas and oceans. A post-mortem on the animal showed that it had ingested 30 plastic bags and therefore could no longer feed itself.

This week a follow up program was run. During the program viewers were shown beaches and enclaves around the coast of Norway covered in different forms of plastic.

It was and is a sickening sight and it forces us to ask ourselves what we as a race are doing to this planet. Is this truly what we wan to leave for our children and future generations to come? I hope not!

Plastic is destroying the world

In the late 80s, I sailed the Norwegian coast whilst working on a ship. From a distance the coast looked beautiful, wonderful and even magical. Today the Norwegian coast, and by definition many other coasts, are all drowning under tons of plastic that then break up into micro-plastics thus infiltrating and polluting the entire eco system.

A few months ago a couple of young free divers discovered that the ocean floor next to pebble beach was covered in golf balls that were also breaking up and polluting the environment. In the grand scheme of things it was a minor incident but it was also a reminder of our responsibilities towards avoiding such situations. I am an avid golfer and one of my aim is always to come back from a round with more golf balls than when I started as by doing so I know I will have helped to clean up nature. I am always disappointed when I fail that mission. Why? Because it is unacceptable to let this plastic pollute and we have a responsibility to protect the environment.

We have all heard of the island of plastic that has grown and developed in the Pacific Ocean. This behaviour of dumping plastics and other pollutants into the world, may it be oceans, forests or other places, cannot be allowed to continue.

Will you start doing something about this situation when one member of your family develops cancer due to micro plastics or are you willing to do something now?

Because NOW is exactly when this should start!

We cannot wait on future generations to clean up our mess.

1. All businesses involved in potential pollutants must have far greater responsibility for their products and how they produce them.
2. Governments must increase real and proper re-cycling and make it easy for the population to do so.
3. The population must be taught to use less plastic and to re-cycle.
4. Regular clean up actions must take place.
5. Influential business leaders must fight this cause to preserve and improve our planet.

On that last point, the Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke has committed to giving the majority of his fortune away to clean up oceans. He joins other billionaires who have committed in similar ways to philanthropy. Amongst them:

• Bill and Melinda Gates
• Warren Buffet
• Mark Zuckerberg

All threes people have pledge to give 95% or more of their fortune away for philanthropic causes. These last three have mainly focused on health care and building strong communities, which are admirable causes.

However before worrying about health care, humanity needs to deal with some of the issues that cause us to use healthcare. Cleaning up the environment is a major priority as prevention is always the best cure.

In June 2017 climate minister Vidar Helgesen of Norway chaired a UN-led meeting on plastic collection. He made a statement:

“In addition to climate change, plastic collection is the fastest growing environmental problem in the world. The extent is enormous”.

The meeting in New York was part of a major oceanic conference. The problem is that these actions are all too little and too slow.

The story of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been in the newspapers for several years. The full scale of plastic pollution was revealed in 2014. A study found more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. That year, 311million tonnes of plastic were produced around the world. This was a 20-fold increase since the early sixties. This number is expected to quadruple by 2050.

The Ocean Cleanup, a foundation part-funded by the Dutch government to rid the oceans of plastics, did another survey in 2016:

The concentration of plastic was several times higher than what the researchers expected to find. Scientists were also surprised to discover that most of the debris was large. This information was clearly confirmed by the film about the Norwegian coast. Large pieces of plastic could be seen lying on the beaches.

What is certain is that today we urgently need to clean up this mess. We also need to take preventive action to ensure that plastic does not get dumped into and enter our waterways, seas, oceans and the environment as a whole.

There is a need for

1. Better recycling,
2. Better product design
3. More legislation to stop this type and other types of pollution

So this weekend when you go shopping think twice about what you buy and how you take it home. Here are a few suggestions about actions you can take:

• Ask yourself whether the packaging is to your satisfaction and if not do something about it or consider buying another product with more satisfactory wrapping.
• Do not go to shops without your own carrier bags. This will avoid using plastic bags to come home with your goods.
• Recycle and recycle well and when doing so do not see it as a chore but as a responsible act protecting your family and friends. 
• Last but not least spread the word: Help make people aware and responsible.

If we all make an effort we can dramatically speed up the cleanup effort that is so desperately necessary.

Below is a link for anyone interested in find out more about this issue

Plastic facts:

Wishing you all a great healthy weekend!