Across the western world, miracles happen when we turn on the taps. Perfectly drinkable water flows out of them.
You probably know where I'm going with this.
Plastic bottles, driven miles across the country is one of the biggest examples of - how shall I put this? - taking a giant, frivolous, plastic shit on the environment.
It's water. You can get it for free from the tap. Admittedly, it doesn't taste as good in the South-East as it does in the rest of the country (probably because it is made of recycled bankers' piss), but you can filter it or shove a lemon in it or even work at acquiring the taste for it like you did with olives or gin.
That's all. It's water. It's free. It's fine. Drink it from the tap.
Life on Earth began in the ocean. Now, billions of years later, nearly 50% of all life can be found in the seas. From the freezing polar regions to the warm waters of the tropics, the oceans hold the greatest diversity of life on the planet.
The survival of humanity is dependent on the health of the seas. They create half of the Earth's oxygen, they drive weather systems, modulate the atmosphere and provide us with vital resources.
We live in a time of environmental crisis and the world's oceans are now under threat. Oceanographer Philippe Cousteau, who like his father before him has committed his life to underwater research, tells us that, 'The effects of climate change, pollution and over-fishing should be making headlines because the ocean and all of us – and I literally mean all humankind – who depend on its resources are facing the very real prospect of the catastrophic collapse of ocean ecosystems if we continue on our current course.'
The reasons for the current fragile state of the seas are many, but they include plastic pollution. Every year, over 8 million tons of plastic enter the sea. Most of this is from rubbish dropped on land which is then blown into waterways that take it into the ocean. The plastic is then caught in the currents and is eventually swept into one of five giant marine patches. The largest of these is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located off the coast of California and estimated to be two or three times the size of Texas.
One million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed each year because of plastic in the oceans.
Clearing plastic from the oceans will be a difficult and expensive task. Many scientists have said it is impossible because the plastic becomes degraded by sunlight, which breaks it down into pieces that are invisible to the naked eye. The particles cannot be seen, but they act as poison to the seas and the creatures that live in them. They also act as poison to those humans whose diets include fish. In 2014, 93% of Americans aged 6 or over tested positive for the plastic chemical BPA.
It is because so much of the plastic cannot be seen that makes it so difficult to clear up. Until now, scientists have argued that there is no way to rid the oceans of plastic. Instead, over the next 100,000 years, it will slowly sink to the sea bed, creating another geological layer and contributing the reasons why the Earth has now entered the geological era known as the Anthropocene.
Recently, a young Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, has developed advanced technology that works with the oceans' currents to try to clear Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 2030. He is the youngest ever recipient of the UN's highest environmental accolade 'Champion of the Earth'. A prototype was launched off the coast of Japan earlier this year and the cleanup proper is due to begin in 2020.
The Ocean Cleanup is expensive and at the moment relies on crowdfunding to keep it going. I am going to spend a month attempting to go plastic-free to raise money to help, and I will write about my experiences on this blog.
If you would like to sponsor me, please visit my JustGiving page.
