Today is World Oceans Day and images of polluted seas will be plastered all over social media and rightly so.
This year the focus is on plastic pollution. One estimate is of 5.25 trillion particles, weighing nearly 270,000 tonnes of plastic are polluting the world’s oceans today.
Singapore Art Museum’s Imaginarium features an installation entitled Plastic Ocean by artist-illustrator Tan Zi Xi and is made from more than 20,000 pieces of discarded plastic and brilliantly portrays the feeling of being under the water in a polluted sea (pictured); Ellen Degeneres is campaigning for Great Barrier Reef protection on the Ellen Show and beach cleans, festivals and lectures are happening all over the world as published by the official World Oceans Day website
The world’s oceans cover about 70% of the planet and produce more than half its oxygen. About 90% of the world's trade is seaborne, and about half the people on the planet rely every day on their surrounding seas.
All marine creatures are suffering from ocean pollution, either from ingesting microplastics or from entanglement in debris which particularly effect; whales, seals, turtles, dolphins and sea brids. This is extremely concerning, especially when it comes to species that are threatened or near threatened, such as the Hawaiian monk seal, loggerhead turtle and sooty shearwater (see the IUCN Red List)
One really simple and great way to support World Oceans Day today, is to take the #BetterBagChallenge and pledge not to use any disposable plastic bags for the next year! I'm going to do it.
So, get back on social media and check out Twitter for some inspiration!