Peeing in the ocean is okay but tossing your rubbish in there is not.
I know, you’re probably thinking “ew, you pee in the ocean?” but this isn’t about me, it’s about the world.
This year alone, 3,891,408 tonnes of plastic waste has been dumped in the ocean globally. That number is growing by the second. Literally.
Wow.
The amount of general waste dumped into our oceans is much higher than that and growing much faster.
WOW.
There’s something about watching the numbers tick higher at live-speed that is unnerving.
You know what else is unnerving? This:
This young whale was found dead on a beach in Italy with its stomach full of plastic pic.twitter.com/lGkkZXK4wY
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 22, 2019
There have been five sperm whales in the last five months found beached on the Italian coast. In March, a pregnant whale was found with 22 kg of plastic in its stomach.
And that’s just in Italy. In March a whale also washed up in the Phillipines with 40kg of plastic bags in its stomach. In November last year a whale was found dead on the coast of Indonesia with 1,000 pieces of plastic in its stomach.
5,9 kg sampah plastik ditemukan di dlm perut paus malang ini! Sampah plastik yaitu: plastik keras (19 pcs, 140 gr), botol plastik (4 pcs, 150 gr), kantong plastik (25 pcs, 260 gr), sandal jepit (2 pcs, 270 gr), didominasi o/ tali rafia (3,26 kg) & gelas plastik (115 pcs, 750 gr). pic.twitter.com/ZFWZgkbnzu
— WWF-Indonesia (@WWF_ID) November 19, 2018
In 2016-17 Australia generated an estimated 67 million tonnes of waste, which is huge. Especially when you realise that we’re a developed country with a developed government and waste disposal system.
Other countries, like some African and Asian countries, have no rubbish system at all. There are no bins and no systemised way to dispose of any waste. To put it in perspective, Eastern and Central Asia generate at least 93 million tonnes of waste per year and South Asia has 70 million tonnes of waste.
The onus falls primarily on large companies and our governments- they’re the ones who can make big change. They’re the ones who can implement proper waste disposal systems.
So governments, consider this your wakeup call.
Unless we clean up our act, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) by 2050.
Despite the shocking numbers, we ALL still live in a state of denial. “One person can’t save the world” etc etc.
But denial is the death of motivation. The longer we live in denial, the less likely we are to want change let alone make tangible change. This is everyone’s wakeup call.
Stop being lazy. Throw your rubbish in the bin. If you do that then there’s no way it will end up in the ocean.
Individuals are as much to blame for waste production as big companies and corporations. Yes, factories produce a lot MORE of it but we all have a part to play.
If you throw rubbish out the window of your car you’re a dickhead
— Yared Ivans (@yared_ivans) May 14, 2019
It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed with environment situations like this- they feel so much bigger than us. So what ends up happening is people don’t try at all.
A friend of mine once told me that it just takes three items to change how much waste we produces as individuals: a tote bag, a re-usable coffee cup and a metal straw.
If you always have these items handy you can cut your personal plastic waste dramatically. Which means you can’t leave your rubbish on the ocean foreshore because you won’t have any rubbish to leave there.
Basically, if you don’t trust yourself to do the right thing, then eliminate the issue to start with. No plastic = no pollution.
It’s not an easy change to make. I admit, I’m not the most environmentally friendly person myself. But I try. I bought a keep cup which I use every single day for my coffee and I keep a tote bags in my care for when I go grocery shopping (yes, I am still guilty of forgetting them and buying a plastic one at the register).
If every single person in the world tried a little bit that 7.5 billion times more effort than we currently have.
And a lot less whales that are going to die because we were too lazy to care.