Skip to main content

Some info, resources & solutions to the plastic crisis

Image
By
Hello Everyone,

Plastic was once a miracle material but now it is the enemy. And we are the last generations who can do anything about it. If we want future generations to experience the world in all its amazing beauty like we have: we have to make a difference. We have the power to change the world for the better or for the worst. There will always be people who don't care about the environment but we do and so we need to do what we think is right. So join the campaign and fight for a better future. For our planet to return to its natural way with incredible biodiversity and amazing ecosystems. We have to make a difference now because all around the world animals are suffocating, drowning, and dying because of humans. You may think it isn't your problem but ultimately you are human and humans make plastic.

Honestly, I can't believe that it has gotten to this point. We just have to change something because there is obviously something we aren't doing right.

You may or may not have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. And I guess you don't want to know because to be honest, it is pretty depressing. The simple fact that it is made up of purely plastic and is 3 times the size of France is a shocking discovery. It's estimated (meaning it could be much more) size is about 1.6 million square kilometres. There are 5 other garbage patches, across the world. Although the Great Pacific garbage patch is the largest of them all. It does contain 46% fishing net and has a lot of fishing gear in it but also has consumer plastics mainly in the form of micro-plastics. It is estimated to contain 200 pieces of plastic per person. That is a lot because there are a lot of people in the world! Especially when that is just in that patch let alone the other patches and the rest of the ocean!

The patch is so big it is called Trash Island with its own currency and flag!

This is appalling and I really believe we can do something about it.
A scheme I really like is Refill. Why do you need a plastic bottle of water? It is much more expensive than simple tap water and if you think it is better for you then you have another thought coming because a recent study shows that it may contain plastic fibres from the bottle. If you are worried about the quality of your tap water you can cheaply buy a water purifier but you probably don't need one as the UK's tap water is one of the cleanest in the world. If you need to travel, buy a reusable metal bottle and download the refill app. it tells you where nearby places you can refill your bottle for free! It's a no-brainer! Surely no one needs a plastic bottle now. And if everyone in the UK did it, it would be 7.7 billion plastic bottles a year no longer thrown out!


An experiment was carried out as part of the program War On Plastic, which is available on BBC IPlayer. In the experiment, Hugh pulled a trolley of bottles of tap water around a town and when people bought it they said it was really nice and were shocked to find out it wasn't industrially processed water but water straight out the tap!

This proves that there really is no need for plastic bottles and that we can find alternatives.


I am going to tell you about an amazing book that might help you get to grips with going as plastic-free as you can. It emphasizes how small gestures can build up to something bigger than just you picking up a plastic bottle from outside your house and putting it in the bin, it focuses on the fact that that plastic bottle won't become poisonous micro-plastic in a Garbage Patch or the stomach of a seabird or even a not so good new home for a fish who then becomes trapped. I like to think about this idea in the form of a tree - the actions start small like a seed but grow big and the branches reach out to more and more people, and the tree grows taller and taller, each leaf an action.

The book is, of course, No. More. Plastic. by Martin Dorey: the founder of the #2minutesolution. I think his principle is great: if everyone spent 2 minutes picking up litter it would add up to make a huge difference. This book is really handy: it covers everything you need to know from different types of plastic to easy changes you can make in your home.  He talks about how important it is to protect the environment and what the worst offenders are as well as facts and statistics. This is a must-have book for every budding environmentalist who is determined to find a plastic-free path in life.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown05/08/2020, 20:50

    Hello Elsie, Zoe and Freya. Thank you for your note about your blog. There are so many interesting ideas here. We would love to encourage hedgehogs into our garden. Sometimes a barn owl flies around near our house; it's lovely to watch as it criss-crosses the field looking for food. Good luck with your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zoƫ07/08/2020, 10:00

    Thank you! I hope you can get some hedgehog visitors! The barn owl sounds amazing. Thanks again, we really appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beavers and their dams: what effects do they have?

By
Hi everyone, Today we're talking about beavers and their effects on the surrounding ecosystems and environments. 'Beaver' referres to two species in the genus Castor . They are found in North America, Europe and Asia and are the largest rodents in those places and the second largest rodents in the world. Beavers grow up to 80 cm long with a flat, paddle-shaped tail up to 45 cm. They have a small head, large incisor teeth and fur lined lips to avoid inhaling water while cutting and transporting branches underwater. They weigh 16-30kg and are nocturnal. Beavers live in streams, rivers, marshes, ponds and lakes where they construct dams. These have earned them the title 'ecosystem engineers' but we'll talk about that later. The dams are constructed with branches, sticks and rocks. They create a calm pool with a higher water level on one side. Beavers make their homes (lodges) in these calm pools. Beaver dams are both have bot...
Post a Comment
Read more

April Top Tips: ten tips for environmentally friendly travel

By
Hi Everyone! We haven't been very present on the blog again recently but we are back today with ten top tips for environmentally friendly travel. Most forms of travel over long distances (unless you are willing to put in a lot of physical effort) use fossil fuels and are generally not good for our planet. So today we will be giving you a few tips which although won't mean that your travel is 100% planet friendly, will be a good start to doing as much as you can.  Your Green World Blog TeamšŸ’š 1. Use trains and boats rather than planes where possible Planes are awful for the environment. They are, however, extremely practical and so easy to use, cheap...It's hard to avoid them! They are so quick too so you don't have to spend as much time travelling. However, they are really bad for the environment. For example, you could fly once to Edinburgh from Heathrow for the same carbon dioxide levels as driving to Edinburgh 336 times! 2. Fly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deforestation and why it’s a problem

By
Hi everyone, Welcome back to another post. Today we’ll be talking about deforestation and its impacts on our earth. Deforestation, the widespread clearance of natural forests, has been happening for thousands of years. One example is Western Europe, where, two millennia ago, 80% of the land was cloaked in dense forest cover. However, over time, a significant portion of this green expanse was sacrificed to create room for crops, livestock grazing, and as a source of fuel and building materials. Presently, a mere 34% of Western Europe retains its woodland. Today, the tropics deal with the brunt of deforestation. Activities such as mining, agriculture, road construction, and the establishment of vast cattle ranches drive the mass clearance of tropical rainforests. This results in the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating the global climate crisis. The consequences come in two waves: first, the reduced number of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Evolution

By
Hi, So today, I am going to talk about evolution. We have mentioned this before in our Galapagos Ecosystem series but we’ve never gone over exactly what it is. So before Charles Darwin thought of his theory of evolution, the majority of people in Europe thought that all species were unrelated and that humans were not related to animals. This was mostly based on Christianity. Darwin studied hundreds of different species and on the GalĆ”pagos Islands , he first started to form his theory of evolution. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, as it was later called, is best explained by the example of the giraffe. Let's assume that giraffes have short necks (as they did many centuries ago). Now a mother has two children. By chance, one has a slightly longer neck. This is a coincidence. As the giraffes feed on the lower leaves of the trees, these slower disappear. There aren't enough leaves for the giraffes. Thus the giraffe wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The life of ... Atlantic salmon

By
Hello everyone, Today we're talking about Atlantic salmon. Atlantic salmon are found in the north Atlantic and the rivers that flow into it. They can grow up to a meter long and are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN . Atlantic salmon start their lives in rivers. The pea-sized eggs are laid in autumn and hatch in April or May. The tiny salmon are called alevins. They feed on aquatic invertabrates and eventually devolop into parr. Parr are easily recognised by destinictive patterns and markings on their flanks. After up to several years, the parr develop a silvery sheen. These replace those characteristic parr markings. Their bodies change in preparation for the salt water and they are now called smolts. They swim downstream with the current all the way to the ocean. In the deep sea waters, the smolts feed on crustaceans and small fish for 15-50 months. However they are hunted by a number of predators including, sharks, seals and of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

10 Animals on the edge of extinction, You did not know about no.1 - Yangtze Finless Porpoise

By Anonymous
The first animal of this series is the Yangtze finless porpoise, a dolphin living in fresh water in southern China in the Yangtze river. It is one of the very few dolphins living in fresh water and the only species left in the Yangtze river. Unfortunately, the porpoise is facing extinction. What is it? The Yangtze finless porpoise is a dolphin species living in the Yangtze River in southern China. It is one of the very few dolphin species that live in freshwater, and the only one that survived in the Yangtze river after the Baiji Dolphin was declared functionally extinct in 2006. It characteristically is about 2 meters long, has no fins -as the name suggests- and no beak. Its mouth however is curved upwards like a smile, giving the Porpoise and cute and friendly face. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Sadly, the Yangtze finless Porpoise is considered "critically endangered" as there are only about 1000 of them left.  Why i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Didn't People Act Sooner On The Climate Crisis?

By
Hi Everyone! Welcome back to Green World, where today I wanted to talk about why people didn't act sooner about the climate crisis , when we have known about this issue for decades. I asked myself this too, and it wasn't until I read the chapter about it in Greta Thunberg's book that I started to understand the reasons behind why action was not taken sooner, and why this crisis has been allowed to escalate as far as it has. As someone who has only been on the planet for 14 years, a part of me does resent people around long before I was for not having acted on an issue that they knew would continue to affect people around the world. They knew it was not an issue that would go away, so why didn't they act, when it was easier to do so? Changing our now very ingrained habits is so difficult, whereas fifty years ago, ways of life could have been more easily influenced. Well, there are a few reasons why action was not taken to combat cl...
Post a Comment
Read more

13.12.2020 Animal Of The Week: Lark

By
Hello, Today's post is all about a rather interesting bird I don't know much about and so I can't wait to discover more! Habitat There are many different species of Lark so they are quite widespread. Different websites say different figures but most agree that there are between 90 and 100 different species of Lark. They live in open countryside from deserts to mountains. Their colour is adapted to their environment and so they can vary in appearance. Diet Larks are omnivorous animals and eat many species of insects as well as seeds, leaves, grasses and fruits, especially in Winter as insects are scarce. Some species will also eat snails which they break open on rocks. Lark Song The lark is reputed for its song, especially when it is in flight. This is the reason that they are sometimes represented in poetry. I love poetry and I haven't read any Lark themed poetry yet but writing this has made me want to. However, the wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Animals 11-15 in our '50 incredible animals' series

By
Hello, We have another five amazing animals for you today. Enjoy! 11. Dhole This is a dog species which looks rather like a red fox . They are difficult to put into any of the dog subfamilies. They aren't foxes, nor wolves, nor domestic dogs. Dholes are fast runners and live in packs of 5-12 individuals. Although sometimes, different packs will join forces to become a pack of 30 or more individuals! However, these super packs are broken up after a successful hunt. The different packs rarely attack each other as neighbouring packs are often closely related. Dhole packs live in burrows with multiple entrances. They can be found in eastern and southern Asia. They eat wild berries, insects and lizards and as a pack hunt deer, rodents and other wild mammals. Interestingly, unlike other dogs, they rarely kill by biting at the throat. They are also good swimmers! 12. Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin can be found in coastal areas of south a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Metamorphosis

By
Hello! Today we thought it would be good to explain exactly how metamorphosis works. It's a term that we often use when talking about frogs, butterflies or other animals, but we've never actually explained what it is or how it works. What is metamorphosis? Metamorphosis is the term used to describe the changes that some animals undergo when turning into adults. It is a physical change that happens after birth/hatching. There is a brilliant quote from the website a-z animals that I just couldn't put any better:  unlike the typical subtle developments in animals, metamorphosis is dramatic. It’s controlled by a release of hormones in the cells. Mammals usually move from adolescence to adulthood and old age gradually, maintaining their form and shape. However, in metamorphosis, an animal moves through those stages and changes from one form or shape to another. How does metamorphosis work? Let's take the classic butterfly example./d...
Post a Comment
Read more