Plastic Pollution of our oceans is one of the most devastating problems facing our Earth today. As salt-water beings, OCEAN-CARE is the highest form of SELF-CARE. Just the opposite is true as well. Lack of this care creates an unbalanced system. Discarded plastic by everyday folk is just as damaging as the 4 billion pounds of pollutants that American manufacturers admit to releasing into our environment annually. Many of these toxins attach themselves to the plastic pollution and then are eaten by marine life. These toxins, known as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s), then bio-accumulate up the food chain.
I was invited to be a part of the South Atlantic Gyre Research Voyage Nov 8th thru Dec 9th 2010 to measure the plastic pollution first hand: 31 days at sea, from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa. This was the 1st research voyage of this kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a life shifting experience for me. We collected water samples every 60-miles for over 3200 miles. There was plastic in every sample, with a heavier concentration in the Gyre. It was heart breaking to see the devastation that plastic pollution is causing. This has inspired me even more to continue our work on ocean health.
Education and awareness are the first steps in change.
Environmental Cleanup Coalition is about education, preservation, restoration and taking direct action for the health of our oceans. We call out to the citizens of this water planet to discover what each of us “Can Do” to shift what is happening. It took a world of people to create this mess it will take a world of people to clean it up. “Being of Service” to our oceans and each other is one of the core values of our grass roots organization. We invite you to heighten your awareness, take action and become an active member of ECC. To find out more and get involved visit our web site www.GyreCleanup.org
Many Rivers, One Ocean
Many People, One Planet
Water, Connects Us All