I’m here for the ocean clean up and yoga!
As much as I can, I’m doing my part to help save the environment by joining today’s clean up in Anilao, Batangas, organized by Casa Escondida to reduce our plastic footprint in ocean.
It’s important that we participate in ocean clean ups because trash, especially plastic, gets mistaken as food by fish. Early this year, a dead juvenile whale (a Cuvier beaked whale) drifted on the shores of Davao, and 40 kilograms of plastic waste was found in his stomach. The animal had died from “gastric shock” after ingesting so much plastic.
The dangers of plastic
Source: Sustainability Times
Ocean Crusaders report that, “[There are] 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. 269,000 tons of which float on the surface and some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer, lay the deep sea.” UNESCO estimates that 100,000 marine mammals die because of plastic pollution each year.
Plastics are already in the seafood we eat, though it is not yet known how our body processes plastic after it’s swallowed. A study by researchers at the University of Ghent found that the average person who eats seafood swallows up to 11,000 pieces of microplastic every year. The chemicals found in the microplastic are considered ‘endorphins disruptors’ and may cause cancer and birth defects.
There were 30 of us divers in six boats. We were each given a netted bag and deployed into teams of two boats per site.
Our dive was in Caban cove, a favorite surface interval and training site. It has patches of corals and a progression of drop-offs. Our boat collected two sacks, a total of 80 kilos of trash. Most were plastic sachets of coffee, shampoo and drinks, and candy wrappers and chips.
Two sacks of plastic waste
Kundalini Yoga founder in the west, Yogi Bhajan was a committed supporter of protecting the environment.
He said in a lecture in 1991, “I hope and pray that you will be conscious and protect the Earth, the Mother Earth, and that you will teach your children certain do’s and don’ts to save tomorrow.”
Sharing my personal do’s and don’ts to reduce our plastic footprint in our planet:
1. Stop buying water in plastic bottles. Bring a water container with you and fill it with water instead.
2. If you love coffee and get your fix at coffee shops, have it served in their porcelain mugs instead of their disposable cups or bring your own flask if you want your coffee to go.
3. Take your own shopping bag with you at all times to the store, grocery, supermarket or whenever you shop.
4. Say ‘no’ to single use plastics – straws, utensils, take out containers, etc.
5. And… do make it a conscious effort to pick up trash whenever you can.
Plastic gained popularity for being cheap and disposable. Let’s now concentrate on investing in sustainability. After all, as I’ve said in a previous mailer, nature is healing. It would be good of us to do our part to allow her to heal.
in loving service,
Rosan
