What's up everyone!
BEACHES BEACHES BEACHES!
We all love beaches don't we?! They're different all over the planet but they attract people locally from all across the country and even internationally from one side of the world to another.
There's something about the sand between our toes and the freshest of fresh sea breeze blowing through our hair and into our bodies that makes us feel AMAZING! Standing on the shoreline looking out into the ocean is like standing on the edge of the Earth!
So why are our beaches so full of trash, human waste and other things that ruin such a wonderful place to relax?
I've seen hundreds of beaches across 4 continents and there is a recurring theme throughout them all - trash. Unnatural materials that don't belong anywhere near nature and if we as a species (The so called "Most Intelligent Species") don't make efforts to reverse the damage we are causing, it's going to be impossible to enjoy it for much longer!
Surfers Against Sewage are a really awesome organisation that was formed in the 90's in the South West of England with one goal in sight - ridding the ocean of sewage and waste!
"Think Global, Act Local".
In 2017, SAS organised 684 beach cleans across the country, driven by over 30,000 volunteers that helped collect 97,000KG of waste!
Yesterday (17/02/18), was the first beach clean of 2018 at one of my favourite local beaches - Croyde Bay Beach! A hugely famous surfing beach in North Devon, England that sees surfers all year round, hosts an annual festival called OceanFest and is generally a wonderful place to walk, relax, hang out and enjoy!
The clean was a great success with over 250 volunteers turning up to help out! Local adults, kids, surfers, bike riders and dogs all made the cleaning team, armed with trash bags and those long grabber things!
Despite it being such a great day in terms of turn out, high spirits and delicious free soup, it was another sad day for the state of the beach!
I was walking around the rockiest area of the beach and I'm shocked with the amount of trash I found in just 2 hours!
Everything from tiny pieces of micro plastic such as corners of food packets, broken toys and zip ties to large pieces of fishing nets, plastic bottles, lobster pots, straws, pipes and plastic bags!
It's unbelievable how much plastic and other toxic materials there were squeezed between the rocks, on rock pools and mixed into the sand.
These photographs that I took make me feel genuinely sad to see the damage that we are doing to our coastlines. I can't even begin to imagine what this is like on global scale!
Here's a quick look at different types of waste and how long they take to biodegrade! These will shock you!
PLASTIC BAGS - 10 to 1000 years
PLASTIC BOTTLES - 450+ years
CIGARETTE BUTTS - 10 to 12 years
FISHING LINE - 600 years
FOAM PLASTIC CUPS - 50 years
MILK CARTONS - 5 years
CARDBOARD - 2 months
TIN CAN - 50 years
ALUMINIUM CANS - 200+ years
BATTERIES - 100 years
SANITARY PADS - 500 to 800 years
STYROFOAM AND TIN FOIL DO NOT BIODEGRADE!
Can you believe that? Something as small and unimportant as a plastic bag can be floating through our oceans or stuck in the earth for as long as 1000 years?
It seems like a big effort to change our habits that we've been used to for so many years, but it is very much doable!
Here are a few SIMPLE ways to reduce your plastic usage and wastage!
1: Say NO to plastic straws!
2: Take your own reusable shopping bags!
3: Get your own reusable drinking cup for water, coffee, fruit juice etc!
4: Use bars of soap instead of bottles of soap!
5: Have your own reusable food containers when you're buying take-out food!
6: Recycle and Reuse your plastics for different things around the house - E.g. Bottles can become storage, containers can be used over and over again!
7: Buy in bulk! - stop buying a small bottle of something weekly and buy a larger container that will last you much much longer!
Do you have any other tips for reducing our plastic waste in everyday life? Let me know in the comments!
The more people who know how easy it is, the more people who will start saving the world!
If you want to know a bit more about Surfers Against Sewage and the amazing work they do, head to their website https://www.sas.org.uk/ for some inspiration! Or go follow them on their Instagram https://www.instagram.com/surfersagainstsewage/
See if you can reduce the amount of plastic that you use in your day-to-day life, it's not as hard as you think!
↓ If you want to see more of my travels and adventures ↓
INSTAGRAM ( https://www.instagram.com/travel_gasm/ )
YOUTUBE ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0dPahL8CprTgtS8XB-z2FA/featured )
WEBSITE ( http://becometheatlas.com/ )
As always, I'd love to hear your feedback and opinions on this matter, let me know what you think! And resteem this post if you think it's something worth sharing to other people!
Love, Joe
x
P.s Remember - Think Global, Act Local!