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.

Environmentalist writer shocked to find his book wrapped in plastic

We live in a world covered in plastic. Plastic packaging, shrink-wrap, containers, even our garbage dumps -- all smothered in plastic. Walt has considerable sympathy with the environmentalists and eco-wienies who say this has got to stop. One such is British writer Martin Dorey, author of No. More. Plastic.: What You Can Do to Make a Difference – the #2minutesolution (Penguin, 2018).

In 2009, Mr Dorey launched the "2 Minute Beach Clean campaign" to encourage people to pick up marine litter. He also maintains the No More Plastic website, encouraging people to find ways to use less plastic. On the landing page we read, "We call on our favorite brands to find innovative alternatives." Who could argue with that?

Well... the US distributors of No. More. Plastic. seem to have a problem with that statement. According to a recent report in The Telegraph, Mr Dorey was not just dismayed but furious to find that his book is being sold in the Excited States of America nicely wrapped in shrink-wrap!

In an Instagram post, Mr Dorey called the distributor's decision an "absolute shambles", adding, "It undoes all our hard work and proves once again that we are using plastic with our eyes closed. We toiled hard on this. We worked with the printer to make it one of the most environmentally friendly books this year. And then this!"

Mr Dorey told The Telegraph, "I know my publishers are working hard to stop this in future but it still happens further down the line. It makes me very sad indeed that we are so clever, but so stupid." The publishing house, Penguin, said "We hope this image makes people stop and think as we head into a busy Christmas period." They promised to contact the US distributors to get them to stop using the plastic covering.

The final word goes to Mr Dorey. "The point is that this book is about no more plastic and some idiot shrink-wrapped it in plastic without thinking. We're sleep-walking into oblivion with plastic and we need to change everything from the bottom up. We need to understand that this is not good enough."

Further reading (added 9/6/19): "Oops! Missed World Oceans Day", WWW 9/6/19.