What will be our Legacy ?

We say we care about our planet, animals and others, make your actions reflect your words.

I shared the joy’s and unexpected sorrows of our adventure. Everyone loved to here the stories, even the environmentally tragic ones of plastic pollution everywhere.

And then…………… nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. As I shared the atrocities of plastic in the rivers, streams and oceans, someone shared with me a man made disaster of unimaginable proportion. They said there is a place in the North Pacific called a ” Gyre ” pronounced like Gyroscope. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch the media had claimed it, where plastic pollution gathers and stays for 400 to 800 hundred years, ( a scientific estimate ). As they where describing this place twice the Texas with millions of tons of confetti size piece, I could feel my stomach start to Knot up. The ill feeling that came over me as I realized what we as humans are doing to the oceans and the scale of what we are doing. As my head spun in many directions all at the same time, How could I have of not heard of this before? Who was responsible? who is cleaning it up, Why??

I immediately went to the Internet to search this Gyre thing, a word not previously in my vocabulary. It was true, Plastic Pollution outweighs zooplankton 6 lbs to 1, Capt. Charles Moore’s research, in 2002. Capt. Moore was the only source of information at that time, so I contacted him. I sent an email to Algalita Marine Research Foundation ( AMRF, as it was called back then ) addressed to Capt. Moore. My inquiry was two fold, 1. who was cleaning it up ? and 2. could I do a documentary film on it ?. Capt. Moore answered my email said it’s not possible to cleanup, thanked me for my interest and closed with “have a nice day”. WOW… the oceans are filling with Plastic Pollution, nothing can be done, have a nice day!!!, WHAT !!!

My head was spinning even more, I couldn’t sleep, eat or do much but think about how someone or some government must do something. I had some time on my hands, I’d moved to Maui a few years earlier, had planned well and needed to work only 3 days a week. Earth Day Maui was in just a few weeks, I inquired about booth space, made a Gyre Cleanup banner and got as much info on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as could and set up shop for the day. Most people were as shocked as I, and most felt overwhelmed at the size of area. However one person asked me, ” What are you doing about it ? “, then said “How about you starting a nonprofit to address the cleanup. By this time I had imagined that there are many ways to do any one thing, ships netting it, vacuums sucking out plastic, maybe even a bacteria that eats it. It is after all a finite amount of space, get started and we will eventually get to the end.

It took only a few days, the stars where lining up, meeting the right people, asking the right questions and Environmental Cleanup Coalition was conceived. It took a world of people to make this mess, it will take a world of people to clean it up, a Coalition, I imagined.

And then the real work started…………………………..

I will end for today with;

Everyone ” Can Do” something about Plastic Pollution. 1. Pick it up when you see it, 2. Refuse single use plastic at every opportunity, 3. Share with others this Noble Cause, 4. Tithe to the ocean organization of your choice, it will make you feel good.

Who said this is OK ? and how did we get from zero to 4 Billion in less than 150 years ?

In 2006 I traveled to Bali, I was mesmerized by the beauty, the countryside, people, tradition and temples. We did go to and thru larger cities, and preferred the smaller towns, the culture felt more intact. Very friendly people, great food amazing lush jungles and of course SCUBA diving and snorkeling adventures. There was a wreck dive, I haven’t had many opportunities and was very excited about the possibility. What fun, exploring and old freighter that is now home to hundreds of species. As we went through the ship following schools of fish, finding an occasional ray or eel we found it hard to leave, but when your low on air, it’s time to go.

On the surface swim back to shore I had a very disturbing event, I watched a fish poop out a piece of plastic. About the size of a postage stamp, blue-ish translucent. I thought, did I really see that ? I didn’t know it was even possible, I really hadn’t ever considered it, until I saw it.

Looking back I can see that there was something happening deep inside of me, an environmental awakening. A shift in my perspective of the world, a larger view of what we humans are doing here.

A week later we decided to venture over to the Island of Lombok and hike the volcano of Rinjani. A spectacular 3 day hike, we hired a guide and porter ( they had equipment ), knew the terrain and had a lot of experience I would recommend it. As we came down into the crater we could see a pristine lake, and little shelters the local fishermen have build, very picturesque. My legs and feet where feeling the 2 days of hiking, it had been a while since I’d done something like this. I was looking forward to soaking my feet in the cool water, as I stepped in, ahhh, yes. As I looked down I saw what looked like a double A battery, I reached in picked it up, then another and another, in five minutes both of my hands where full. I couldn’t believe this, in what looked very pristine place was decaying batteries everywhere. As I tried to explain to the porter and guide how these decomposing batteries where poison, all they kept saying was that they didn’t do it, and that they couldn’t stop others from doing it. Watching the men fish from the lake, watching the stream run from the mountain top through villages to the sea, again I thought is this really happening ?. How can this be ?. Nowhere could we find a safe place to dispose of the batteries, we brought them back to the US, I just couldn’t leave them there.

Over all a spectacular trip, and one that changed my life, in so many ways. I saw other cultures and traditions that are thousands of years old. And environmental degradation that made me swallow hard, and a view of American made products and packaging that have no places to go.

And I will end for today with;

Everyone ” Can Do” something about Plastic Pollution. 1. Pick it up when you see it, 2. Refuse single use plastic at every opportunity, 3. Share with others this Noble Cause, 4. Tithe to the ocean organization of your choice, it will make you feel good.

I did some international travel, in 2005 spent a month traveling around Thailand. Amazing people, scenery, temples and the oceans teaming with marine life, and of course I went SCUBA Diving. The beauty and wonder had a bit of a shadow, Plastic Pollution everywhere, in the tree, streets, beaches and the oceans. As I toured the country I noticed that they were plenty of USA products in plastic bottles, bags and wrappers, but there are no recycling receptacles, or even facilities.

I walked the beaches, the more I did the more Plastic Pollution I saw. I witnessed some employees of a major hotel cleaning the beach, and was very excited until I saw that they where burying the trash just behind the lounge chairs they had neatly arranged that morning.

Living on Maui at the time, I went home from the experience in awe of nature and the wonders of Thailand. And also a bit dismayed at the human race’s seemingly disregard for nature. Something inside me was calling, it felt like I wanted to contribute to a cause or something that really matters. There are many ocean related organizations doing great work on Maui, signing petitions, new legislation, new beach trash receptacles, guarding baby turtles as they hatch and race to the sea, etc., its all good. I always pick up trash at the beach and under water and more seemed needed.

And I will end for today with;

Everyone ” Can Do” something about Plastic Pollution. 1. Pick it up when you see it, 2. Refuse single use plastic at every opportunity, 3. Share with others this Noble Cause,

This philosophy is exactly how I came to start Environmental Cleanup Coalition. I had what I would call a spiritual awakening, ( actually several ), this one in particular I say is an Environmental Awakening. There where many events that lead to this; I became a SCUBA Instructor, moved from Washington State to Maui, Hawaii and fell in love with the Oceans. Warm water, 100′ of visibility and teaming with marine life, lots of sun, soft breeze, it’s paradise. I have always had an affinity for nature, now with this new underwater play ground to explore, she ( the ocean ) had me in Awe. I couldn’t get enough, I went for a swim, snorkel or SCUBA everyday for a few years. The SCUBA community is amazing, sharing information, cool stories, pictures and the best spots to go explore. As a Dive Instructor I very much enjoyed taking new people diving, I get to live and relive that awe of seeing something very cool for the first time.

Every once and a while I saw a turtle with fishing line or plastic attached or caught up in it and always did what I could to help the marine life out of the tangle. Then there were these growths on the Turtles eyes or mouth or fins and as I inquired about this to Marine Scientist’s they said “it was from the pollution run off of pesticides, fertilizers from golf courses, automotive and industrial chemicals making their way to the reef. Heart breaking to see, and it can impair them from eating and or swimming and eventually cost the Turtle it’s life.

And I will end for today with;

Everyone ” Can Do” something about Plastic Pollution. 1. Pick it up when you see it, 2. Refuse single use plastic at every opportunity, 3. Share with others this Noble Cause,

http://inhabitat.com/19-year-old-student-develops-ocean-cleanup-array-that-could-remove-7250000-tons-of-plastic-from-the-worlds-oceans/

Scientists are bizy saying it’s impossible,

And then there are those who just do it !!!

http://www.designformankind.com/2013/01/the-chair-that-might-solve-the-oceans-biggest-pollution-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-120666

September 29th & 30th, 10am to 6pm at the Felton Farm, in Felton, CA

The report, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, said Olympia oysters, once an integral part of the Native American diet and a staple during the San Francisco Gold Rush, are functionally extinct.

“Essentially, today, the number of oyster reefs is zero,” said Rob Brumbaugh, restoration director for the Nature Conservancy and co-author of the study. “It’s the complete elimination of a key species and habitat on the West Coast.”

The loss of native oysters – not to be confused with the farm-raised Japanese Pacific oysters – is a serious issue, he said, because oysters clean the water by filter feeding. A single oyster can filter up to 30 gallons of water a day, removing nitrogen and other pollutants, Brumbaugh said. The oyster beds, or reefs, they create provide habitat for myriad fish, crabs and other creatures.

“What they do for us is filter water and help remove nitrogen pollution while increasing the growth and survival of other fish,” Brumbaugh said. “Oysters and the reefs that they create are great pollution scrubbers.”

Excerpted from an article by: Peter Fimrite, a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Read the whole story at: sfgate.com