I want to share some thoughts with you on a topic which is a lot on my mind for some time now. Our planet, the most vulnerable and yet unpredictable, complex and most beautiful thing we know and depend on. I want to talk about the negative impacts plastic has on our earth in several ways and how we manage to increase the severity of the problem day by day without trying hard enough to go into another direction.

Source: CWF – Canadian Wildlife Federation

We are producing more than 300 million tons of plastic and the problem of plastic pollution is growing exponentially every year. Half of this huge amount of plastic is designed for single use, while each year around 8 million tons ends up in our oceans. The crucial part of this problem is to understand the danger of continuing to perceive plastic to be disposable as it is an ultimate threat to human health and our planet. Will it become your personal choice to prevent plastic waste from entering the environment?

#RethinkPlastic

First of all, I recommend you to watch the award-winning documentary called "A Plastic Ocean" which has already contributed to make an impact while creating a global movement to #RethinkPlastic in many different ways. The documentary is featured on Netflix with executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio. Before watching this film I didn't really know about the severity plastic has on our ocean, on our food chain, on us, on our planet. In the following I have put together some short videos on certain topics cut out of the documentary, although I dearly suggest you to watch the whole film.

How does plastic affect our health?

In this video it will be explained what chemicals are released by plastics and what consequences this has on human life. The question remains, how do we do the right thing to protect our children?

How does plastic get in our food?

Plastic pollution is more than just an issue for marine life. As plastic debris breaks down into smaller particles, it's ingested by fish and other animals. When they do so, they are also consuming the chemical toxins attached to the plastic. These toxins pass through the bloodstream, bio-accumulation into the fatty tissue and around organs. When animals use the stored fat, the toxins circulate around the body, interfering with reproduction, metabolism, growth, kidney and liver function. And guess what? As we consume fish and other marine life, those same toxins are absorbed to our system – thus entering the human food chain.

How much plastic are sea animals eating?

In this video you can see some of the horrible damage being done to the beautiful creatures that call the sea home. Plastic pollution is a scourge that is doing damage to our oceans, marine life and humans alike. E.g. 276 pieces of plastic were counted out of a 90 day old bird. This plastic accounted for 15% of the bird's total body mass. If this would be translated into human terms it would be equivalent to about 12 pizzas worth of food inside of your stomach. How shocking is that?

So after watching the documentary "A Plastic Ocean" you will have the facts. Often we are aware of a problem (e.g. climate change, plastic pollution etc.), we know it exists, but we don't really act on it. We don't necessarily change our behaviour even if we know it would be better. Maybe we tend to think it doesn't make a difference if we change a specific behaviour or we might be too lazy, because we're used to the way we did it ever since? I don't know what the problem exactly is, but I am convinced that everyone of us can make a difference! Yes, everyone of us – you can make a difference! The only questions is: do you want to make a difference? Do you want to give up some of your habits which are super comfy? Are you willing to walk the extra mile although you don't have to? Are you willing to be part of the solution to fight the plastic pollution in our oceans? Actually, you are already part of the problem, why shouldn't you be part of the solution?

If we all make small changes, together we can make a huge difference in the fight against single-use plastic. plasticoceans.org has put together seven different possibilities that are super easy to implement immediately, such as:

How you can help: 7 easy things you can do to reduce plastic pollution

1. Stop using plastic straws: in the US and UK 550 million plastic straws are thrown away every day.

2. Skip the plastic bottle. Drink beverages from reusable bottles or mugs. Worldwide, over 500 million plastic bottles are being used every day.

3. Take your groceries home in reusable bags, not plastic. Worldwide, up to 1 trillion plastic bags are discarded every year.

4. Use cloth diapers instead of disposables. In the US, over 27.4 billion disposables are thrown away every year.

5. Ditch the disposable razor. In the US, over 2 billion are thrown away every year.

6. Give up gum. It's made of synthetic rubber, which is a plastic. Worldwide, over 100'000 tons are discarded every year.

7. Get the plastic off your face. Over 300'000 plastic beads can be found in a tube of facewash.

Make a difference: think reusable – not disposable, refuse single-use plastics!

This topic really touches my heart and I'm trying my best to think and act reusable and to refuse single-use plastics. It's not always easy, but I'm convinced that if we try hard ourselves and start educate others about the topic, we can make a difference. In my opinion, next to lots of individual actions more efficient and effective political actions and cooperation throughout the globe need to increase in order to fight plastic pollution.

What do you think on this topic? Let me know in the comments below.

Lots of love, Fabienne.

Facts: plasticoceans.org