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Newsletters >
June 2023 Celebrating World Oceans’ Day
June 2023 Celebrating World Oceans’ Day
Jun 11, 2023
Hello friends of the environment. This month at the Spruce Initiative we celebrate World Oceans’ Day which is June 8 th by addressing how the Spruce Initiative keeps our oceans safe.
Are you aware that every piece of rubbish on our streets, on our beaches and in our parks that is not picked up eventually finds its way to our lakes, streams and oceans? Our lakes and oceans become collectors of rubbish. It is immediately obvious that this is unhealthy.
Our waterways become polluted. This is hazardous to our health and to the health of our planet. It is both ugly and unhealthy. By picking up one piece of rubbish a day while you are out on your daily walk and disposing of it appropriately you are helping to contain the problem of rubbish in our oceans, streams and lakes.
As you are probably aware some types of rubbish are more dangerous to the health of our oceans than others. Plastic waste is particularly dangerous and accumulates in the waterways causing lasting harm to our environment.
Plastic bags and sandwich wrappers are amongst the worse culprits. In addition to the pollution problem they can be mistaken for food by marine creatures and cause their death. Foil candy wrappers, chip and cookie bags can also be mistaken for fish by marine creatures and cause their death. They too degenerate slowly and cause much of the lasting pollution.
Plastics accumulate in vast masses in our oceans and degenerate slowly over time, leeching out into the water. Recently we have become aware that plastics when they degenerate become micro polluters and end up in our food chain. When we pick up plastic bags and dispose of them appropriately we are helping to contain the problem.
Plastics can be harmful to marine creatures in other ways as well. The plastic packaging that holds six packs of beer together for example can become attached to a marine creature and cause its death. Plastic nets and lines are also dangerous to marine life entangling them and leading to their death.
It all comes down to individual responsibility. Be prepared to do your bit for our environment and your community by picking up one piece of rubbish a day while you are out on your daily walk. When you become a custodian of the environment by engaging in the practice of picking up these types of rubbish you are helping in more ways than you realised. Picking up rubbish is a self righting strategy. The cleaner the environment gets the more incentive there is to go the extra mile and clean it up completely. The rubbish looks out of place in a clean environment and we tend to keep clean environments even cleaner. It takes less effort to clean what is already a clean environment. A clean environment is a beautiful and healthy environment and brings us joy.
Where there is a mass of pollution we need professionals to clean it up. We need to take responsibility as a community to keep our environment and hence our oceans clear of rubbish. We are getting there.
Why not celebrate World Oceans’ Day by helping to pick up some plastic or foil waste. Help keep our oceans clean and safe. Remember one piece a day sends the rubbish away. Don’t just clean let’s Spruce!
Cheers,
Felicity
Clean and green is our motto. Remember: one piece a day sends the rubbish away! Don’t just clean let’s Spruce.
www.thespruceinitiative.info
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