Happy Eco Monday, Team Earth! We bring you good news. The Plastiki has landed.
If you haven’t heard, the Plastiki is a boat made up of plastic bottles – an astounding 12,500 of them. The ship’s crew set sail from San Francisco four months ago on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
Plastiki’s crew had been at sea for nearly 130 days, traveling 8,000 nautical miles, but they’re finally at the end of their journey. The crew landed today in Sydney, Australia.
What’s at Stake
Why build a boat out of plastic and sail it halfway around the world? To highlight how humans are at risk from actions that have also imperiled the oceans.
Plastic is a good example. It’s an amazing substance – light, strong, and flexible. But that strength also means that plastic doesn’t ever fully go away.
What does happen is that when plastic gets into the sea – say, after a plastic bag floats into the sewer system – it just breaks down into tiny pieces. Fish then eat those tiny pieces of plastic. That can tamper with entire food chains … not good when, in many places around the world, humans are at the top of that food chain.
And that’s just one of many ways in which people are hurt when the ocean gets hurt.
What the crew of the Plastiki realize is this: We’re at a crossroads. We can either choose action to protect human health and well-being by protecting the oceans. Or we can take the easy way out and do nothing – at serious risk to humanity.
What You Can Do
It’s a saying as old as this blog post: When the going gets tough, the tough sign petitions!
- Visit the Plastiki’s website and pledge to reduce your own use of plastic.
- If you’re not too petitioned out, sign this petition from Team Earth’s parent organization, Conservation International, to make ocean health a global priority.
Other steps you can take:
- Consider buying Pearl Jam’s “Amongst the Waves” video on iTunes. Proceeds go to the Conservation International marine program.
- Explore the seas with CI’s interactive “Save a Mile” experience, where you can learn about our oceans, the threats facing them, and why the seas matters for humans around the world.
