Earth Day 2015

22 Apr Earth Day » And why it’s so important

Posted at 00:03h in Lifestyle by Wander-lust 2 Comments

Today it’s Earth Day and as Wanderlusters we feel we have the responsibility to take a minute and think about what we can do to make the Earth better, but more importantly, keep it clean for our future.

One of the big problems planet earth is coping with right now is ocean trash and plastic. Scientists have come up with a new way to measure ocean trash—and the numbers are even worse than thought. We, humans, need to change this as we are the only ones able to do so.

Trash Problems

It’s likely for the tonnage of trash to increase by tenfold in the next 10 years unless we find an effective way of collecting and managing trash. In 2010, eight million tons of plastic trash ended up in the ocean from coastal countries.

Source

These findings were published in Science . It’s the first time that these kind of numbers are shown of how much garbage flows into the world’s oceans every year. The worst offenders were also identified. China is first. The United States is 20th. Other countries include Turkey, five African countries, and Brazil.

Check out this video where the problem of plastic is clearly explained.

So what can WE do?

Apart from the government doing something drastic, we can start by doing the following:

» Bring your own bag whilst going grocery shopping. The good news is that more and more countries are banning plastic bags.

» Stop using bottled water. Buy a filtered bottle like this one.

» Bring your own coffee mug to the coffee shop. There is no reason why they should deny you this.

» Refill your soap dispenser instead of buying a new one every time.

» Be inspired and read this story about the girl who lived without trash for 2 years. If she can do it, we all can!

Swimming with sea turtles in Thailand 2014

This post is focussed on the problem with plastic but let’s not forget that we can to tons more to help mother earth a little.

» Switch off the lights
» Take your charger out of the socket when not charging your phone
» Consume less meat
» Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth

Please take a moment and let’s make a change starting from today.

Love,

Elke