Plastic is the real sea monster

The theme for this year’s World Oceans Day (8 June) was “Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean”. The UN is focusing on “the communities, ideas, and solutions that are working together to protect and revitalise the ocean and everything it sustains.”

Sir David Attenborough said during the Blue Planet II TV series that “we dump eight million tonnes of plastic into the sea every year”. It’s killing and harming marine life.

• turtles eat plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish
• seabirds are found with their stomachs full of plastic items
• plastic debris can get lodged in coral and affect the health of reefs
• microplastics are consumed by animals like plankton, passing the problem back up the food chain to humans!

National Geographic wrote about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Many?plastics do not wear down, they break into tinier and tinier pieces i.e. microplastics.

Plastic is found in the deepest reaches of the ocean, and even in remote Arctic sea ice. In recent news, I read that microplastics have been found in freshly fallen Antarctic snow, in meat that we eat, and even in human blood.

We can help by making lifestyle changes, like recycling more or drinking from reusable water bottles and cups. You might think your contribution is small, but together we can make a difference.

Next month is Plastic Free July, with a challenge to refuse single-use plastics. Take this quiz to find out how you can make small changes to help our oceans and our planet.

Pesky Plastics Quiz Tool (thinkfieldpanel.com.au)

#insideiqeq #worldoceansday # environment #saveourocean