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. Zoë07/08/2020, 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

The limits of the Earth - the planetary boundary model

By
Hi everyone, So today we're talking about a model that was introduced in 2009 and has offered a new perspective to thinking about environmental issues. The planetary boundary model has 9 boundaries, each has a safe zone. Once the safe zone is exceeded, the stable conditions on our planet are considered at risk, and there can be severe and possibly irreversible changes. The nine boundaries are considered separate however, they greatly affect each other. Novel Entities describes the introduction and accumulation of man-made novel chemical compounds. These include pesticides, nuclear waste and microplastics. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion refers to the depletion of the ozone layer which was a major problem in the 90s. Atmospheric Aerosol Loading is air particle pollution.  Ocean Acidification is self-explanatory. The boundary Biochemical Flows is composed of two separate boundaries; nitrogen and phosphorus. Both of the ele...
Post a Comment
Read more

October 2021 Factfile | news, animals and more!

By
Hello, October is over and November is here - let's hope it's a cosy month full of stunning Autumn colours and beautiful rainy days! News Good news Judge postpones wolf hunt in Wisconsin Every year in Wisconsin there is a wolf hunt in autumn. But this year, something amazing happened: A judge halted the season. For years there has been a dispute, on one side environmentalists, and on the other hunters and farmers. The farmers claim that wolves destroy their crops and that killing them is the only solution. Environmentalists argue that wolf populations are too weak and that the animals shouldn't be killed. Let's hope that this is the first step toward stopping the wolf hunt altogether. Bad news Pacific islands are disappearing For many of us, the threat of climate change feels distant. But for the people of the Pacific islands, the terror is all too real. These are their homes, and they are rapidly becoming submerged b...
Post a Comment
Read more

2022 in a nutshell - stats, opinions, updates and goals

By
Happy New Year! We hope you are all enjoying the last day of 2022 (or whatever day you are reading this on). Today we are going to be looking back on 2022 and setting goals for 2023.  2022 in stats 48 posts 3191 views most viewed post: The Amazon Rainforest part 4 best posting month: October worst posting month: March 166% increase in views compared to last year How was it for us? Elsie: I really enjoyed this year from about May. After some behind-the-scenes changes, we managed to get so many more posts out and writing them felt a lot less stressful. I also really enjoyed the experience of having a guest blogger (click here ). My favourite posts to write were the Pride Month post and the ' how trees communicate ' post. They both required quite a bit of background research, which was fun and interesting. Freya: Although I haven't written on here as much as I was hoping this year, I have loved still being a part of this blog ...
Post a Comment
Read more

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

By
Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jane Goodall

By
Born: 1934 When Jane was a little girl, she loved climbing trees and reading books. She dreamed that she could go to Africa and see the wild animals there. So Jane flew to Tanzania determined to study chimpanzees in their natural habitat. When she first arrived, none of the chimpanzees would let her get near them. They would always run away at first sight. Jane kept coming back until they let her come closer. However, Jane wanted to become friends with the chimpanzees.  So she started the "banana club" which meant that she would share bananas with them every time she visited the chimpanzees.  She discovered that chimpanzees have rituals, that they use tools, that their language comprises at least twenty sounds and that they are not vegetarians. Once she rescued an injured chimpanzee and nursed it back to health. When she released it back into the wild, the chimpanzee turned around and hugged her as if to say, "thank you and goodby...
Post a Comment
Read more

November Top Tips | sustainable activities and hobbies

By
Hello everyone, So this week, we are going to be talking about sustainable free time activities. This area can quite big when it comes to environmental impact, so here are some things that you can do in your free time, that are more sustainable. 1. Reading So reading is one of our favourite things to do. However, books are made of paper and the paper industry isn't great. Some ways you can get around this is by reading online (for example, on a kindle), or through borrowing books from a library or using book boxes. If there aren't any in your area then at least try to support independent bookshops! 2. Running If you love being active then this one is for you. Running is probably one of the most sustainable forms of sport. All you need are some running shoes and somewhere to run. There is obviously more high-tech gear but that isn't really necessary if it's just a hobby. 3. Gardening If you've got a small area of land o...
2 comments
Read more

Maldives - the direct impacts of climate change

By
Welcome back, Today we’re looking at the direct impacts of the climate crisis . The main reason why people don’t believe in climate change is that they can’t see it with their own eyes. So, we’re going to have a look at the Maldives where the effects of climate change become more obvious with every passing year. Maldives The full name of the Maldives is The Republic of the Maldives. It is an independent country made up of about 1 200 islands in the North Indian Ocean. The northernmost island is situated 370 miles away from the mainland (India). The islands are actually the tips of an ancient volcanic mountain range that is now almost completely submerged. In fact, the highest point is 1.8m-2.4m above sea level with the average elevation being 1m above sea level. The islands have a large tourism industry, due to the stunning nature found on and around the islands. 500 000 - 1 500 000 tourists visit the islands each year. This is mainly 'nature to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Animals 31-35 in our '50 incredible animals' series

By
Hi Everyone! Welcome back to our blog, today we are sharing another 5 incredible animals. This is part of a series to celebrate our 50th blog post, all about unusual animals! Enjoy! 31. Pangolins These creatures are often mistaken for reptiles but they are in fact mammals. They are covered in scales and use them to defend themselves because similar to a hedgehog, they curl up into a ball. They eat ants, termites and larvae. They eat using their tongue, which is very long- sometimes even longer than their body! Sadly, Pangolins are in high demand as their meat is considered a delicacy their scales are used in traditional folk remedies, which means that there is an illegal trade. Luckily, there have been many initiatives put in place to help these animals by WWF and similar organisations. 32. Macropinna Microstoma This is a species of fish that live at about 600m below sea level. They hang nearly motionless in the water and have a very unusual...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wildfires

By
Welcome back to Green World, In the last few months, wildfires have been raging across the globe. Hawaii, Canada, the USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Tunisia and countless more have been affected. But what are the environmental impacts of such a blaze? The USA has had an average of over 70 000 wildfires a year since 2000. In 2020, Californian wildfires emitted more than 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is more than the state's power industry emits per year. It is estimated that humans start 87% of wildfires. Around the world, 4 million squ. km are hit by wildfires every single year. This emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which fuels climate change . The smoke causes air pollution in the entire surrounding area and can lead to respiratory problems in humans. The air pollution also kills birds, including those migrating through the area. Studies also show that socially vulnerable populations are more at risk of harm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Energy comparison: solar (PV) panels

By
Hi everyone, Today I'm looking into the first on a long list of energy sources: solar (PV) panels. Are they actually sustainable and could they become our main energy source in the near future? After all, enough energy from the sun reaches the earth in 90 minutes to cover the entire world's energy consumption for a whole year! How they work There are a couple of ways to transform energy from the sun into electricity. The one we are looking at today is solar panels also known as solar photovoltaic technology. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is the key to solar panels. A solar panel is made of many PV cells. A single PV cell will produce 1-2 watts of power. They are very thin and are normally protected by glass and/or plastics. This is the best explanation I could find (click here for the source): When the semiconductor is exposed to light, it absorbs the light’s energy and transfers it to negatively charged particles in the material calle...
Post a Comment
Read more