Ocean Health: The Time is Now to Make Change
As the weather starts to get warmer and flowers are starting to bloom, we count down the days until we get to soak in those much needed summer rays!
For many, these moments are best spent at the beautiful sandy beaches around the globe, taking in long-standing views of the coastline. Can you imagine if this was no longer a given luxury?
Unfortunately, we’re on the track of destroying the very nature of what makes our ocean ecosystem thrive with unaccounted for plastic trash that’s continuing to fill our oceans. The misplaced trash is collecting in whirlwind vortexes located in all five of the planet’s major ocean systems. For some, you might remember that we reported last year about the North Pacific Gyre (NPG). This was the first gyre deemed ‘plastic soup’ and is estimated to be twice the size of Texas.
Well, now it seems the NPG is not alone in this challenge. It has just been confirmed through a 20-year study by the Sea Education Association that the same plastic challenge is affecting the Atlantic Ocean as well. As you might expect, this wasn’t the news we wanted to hear.
“We know that many marine organisms are consuming these plastics and we know this has a bad effect on seabirds in particular.”—Dr Kara Lavender Law, Sea Education Association told BBC.
With the growing problem of plastic debris and chemicals that are entering the food chain, the fish are mistaking the plastic debris for food and digesting it. As they consume plastic pieces instead of traditional food, it raises the risk that the fish we eat are ingesting high quantities of plastic. It’s just part of what happens in a food chain, when one part is affected it naturally will impact the whole.
A new organization, called the 5 Gyres has currently launched a mission to explore the growing impact of plastic on our own health. It seems the Atlantic Gyre is now gaining much attention, and will be joined by the Sea Education Association and will be continuing their study on the impacts of plastics on the food chain. If you’d like to learn more, please visit their websites at 5gyres.org or sea.edu to stay up to date on these matters.
The reason we bring this to your attention is that LadyLUX stands for the ‘good for the sake of good’ and one way we can help to clean and restore our Oceans is to first care for our own garbage and plastic trash. We believe that one person can make a difference and if we want to keep our beaches healthy we must all be willing to do our part.
So if you happen to see a piece of plastic on the beach or in a gutter, please be a part of the difference and pick it up. Plastic found in gutters and on beaches is how over 80% of the trash ends up in the gyres in the first place. You can know that when you stop to pick up that piece of litter you’ll be truly making a difference not just in your neighborhood, but also the planet.
Be sure to stay informed and stay connected. You can also always volunteer your time and energy to help support organizations who are making a difference for our oceans as well as donate to such amazing causes like the Ocean Foundation, The Gyre Cleanup Project and many, many more.
So how do you feel LUXies, is this something you can commit to? What might be some other ways you can be of service to our oceans?
