Oceans: Part 1, Plastic in our Food

We're starting to see more and more stories of our marine life dying with stomachs full of human trash:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-car-parts-plastics-dead-whales-germany-animals/
http://awesomeocean.com/2016/01/05/youll-be-horrified-at-what-was-found-in-dead-whales-stomach/

While learning that our ocean giants are being harmed by us is devastating, it was also hard for me to understand my role. After all, I'm not dumping my old shoes and car parts in the ocean...

Here's what made it really sink in for me:
Our fish and seafood are now filled with plastic. Foods I considered to be healthy proteins, filled with Omega-3s etc, are filled with plastic.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/31/fish-plastic-pollution-ocean-environment-seafood
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/plastics.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/12/250438904/how-plastic-in-the-ocean-is-contaminating-your-seafood

When you are trying to eat healthy and can't trust your food sources, you start feeling a bit helpless. Here are a couple things we can do to contribute on a daily basis:

• Purchase beauty products without microbeads. While those little beads don't seem like much, multiply it by millions of people, and it adds up. As of summer 2017, the US is banning production of microbeads in many products, but you can start now!
• Purchase clothing made from natural fibers. When you wash your polyester shirts and microfiber fleece jackets, the "lint" that washes down the drain is plastic fibers. Who knew!

Want to make a bigger impact?

The Ocean Conservancy has many tips, tricks, and tools on their website, as well sign-ups for an beach cleanup volunteer project near you.

Spotlight: Clean the World

A couple years ago, I'm on vacation in a hotel, and I'm thinking "Do I take the soaps home or not?" This seems to be a common dilemma: Is taking things from the room that you didn't use OK? Ross from Friends goes hilariously overboard on this very topic.

What I came to was: the hotel staff are going to replace the toiletries for the next guest, so yes, it's cool to take them. But I wondered, what happens to partially-used toiletries left in the room? That's a lot of soap and a lot of plastic. There must be a way to repurpose those.

Well, of course, someone had already thought of that, and was already handling it in the best way possible.

Introducing: Clean the World. Clean the World is a non-profit that was started in 2009 by Shawn Seipler, a traveling business man who also questioned what happened with barely-used soap bars in hotels. From this question came a company that takes these leftovers from the hospitality industry, remanufactures them, and distributes them to homeless shelters and 3rd world countries to prevent disease.

What's most impressive is this current stat on their site:

CLEAN THE WORLD HAS DISTRIBUTED MORE THAN 30 MILLION BARS OF SOAP TO 100 COUNTRIES.

Want to get involved? If you are in Las Vegas or Orlando, you can volunteer in two hour increments. Or, if you work in the hospitality industry, see if you are already partnering with them. 

Get connected: 

https://cleantheworld.org/

https://www.facebook.com/CleanTheWorld/