Why you should care about World Oceans Day

Walt is aware that WWW is hardly a clarion voice for environmentalism. But that doesn't mean we're unaware of the mess we humans [Speaking for yourself? Ed.] are making of the world in which we live. I speak not of "global warming" and CO2 emissions and so-called "climate change", about which I remain skeptical. What I am not skeptical about, because I see it everywhere, every day, is the pollution of our habitat by discarded garbage. Especially plastic.

In a recent episode of Family Guy, Brian and Stewie discover "Garbage Island", a huge floating mass of debris so solid that castaways have been able to live there, quite comfortably, amidst the filth and debris. It looked something like this.

That there actually are islands of garbage, approaching the size of small continents, floating in our oceans is old news. But is anyone doing anything about it? The answer is yes! At least, some folks are trying. Amy Taylor sent us an e-mail reminder that June 8th was World Oceans Day. Hoping that I'd post something on that date -- sorry! -- she sent along info on SLOactive, a "social enterprise" [??? Ed.] dedicated to cleaning up our oceans.

SLOactive recently published a guide, titled Plastic Pollution: Single Use Plastic Impact on our Oceans, which I recommend to all WWW readers concerned about putting a stop to the excessive use of plastics. It details the facts and figures of plastic pollution, the impact on our oceans and marine life, and much more. Click here to get the PDF and find out more.

To answer the question posed by the headline... you should care because some of that plastic garbage may be yours!

Do I have your attention yet? Browsing the SLOactive website, I notice they also have a line of "sustainable swimwear and wetsuits". Need I say more? Tell `em Walt sent you!

Further reading: "Environmentalist writer shocked to find his book wrapped in plastic", WWW 3/12/18.