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World Ocean Day

Category: Health

World Oceans Day ~ Be a part of the solution

Today is World Oceans Day… Why choose to celebrate World Oceans Day? With social media these days there is a day for everything! Donut day, sibling day, sunglasses day… Today is different, at least I believe that it is more significant, and deserves the attention of having a “day”.

70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by our oceans, and 97 percent of the Earth’s water is within these oceans!* This makes our oceans the largest, most significant part of our Earth! These bodies of water create oxygen for us to breathe and regulate our climate; give life to creatures that feed us and keep our ecosystems healthy and stable.

Being born and living my early childhood years on Kauai, Hawaii the ocean has, is, and always will play a critically important role in my life. There is just something special about the ocean, it truly is the biggest most dominating part of our planet and without our oceans being healthy, we can’t be healthy.

This World Oceans Day is important for so many reasons, the main reason I feel connected to it is the call to action, “creating a solution to plastic pollution and preventing marine litter for a healthier ocean and better future”. Now who can’t get behind that?! A day to recognize, take action, and make personal changes to better protect our planet’s oceans. While we all LOVE donut day, unfortunately donuts aren’t going to change the world, but by spreading awareness and making small changes YOU can.

Elena Hight

According to the World Watch Institute, approximately 10–20 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans each year! A recent study conservatively estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing a total of 268,940 tons are currently floating in the world’s oceans.** THAT is a lot of plastic. PET plastic, plastic that is recyclable, but PETs don’t biodegrade they photodegrade, which means they break down into smaller fragments over time. This plastic ends up on our beaches, damaging the oceans reefs and underwater ecosystems, catching and killing wildlife, and often times ends up INSIDE birds, fish, and all sea life.

How is this possible? About 300 million tons of plastic is produced globally each year. Only about 10 percent of that plastic is recycled, leaving much of it to end up in our oceans.*** One of the largest sources of this PET plastic is single use water bottles. 50 billion plastic water bottles were consumed last year, and about 30 billion from the U.S. alone. SO it seems those little bottles are one of the main issues for the health our oceans, plastic is winning this battle.

ocean plastic pollution

What can we do about it? How can we fight this battle and ultimately win the war? I believe that our purchasing power is one of the largest ways that we can influence change on a daily basis. We can use our dollars to change the world. Today, I challenge you to commit to one small change in honor of World Oceans Day. My challenge, eliminate plastic water bottle purchases.

I will always advocate for everyone to first and foremost choose reusable water bottles. I do my personal best to bring my bottle with me everywhere so that I can just fill it with tap water (that plain tap water goes into big name brand bottled water anyhow!) But what happens when you forget your water bottle, or you are not allowed to bring a water bottle into a secure area, or the countless hiccups that happen on a daily basis. THIS is the time when we must use our purchasing power to help shape our future.
Don’t choose a PET plastic bottle. You have other options! My latest discovery is JUSTwater. JUST has built their business model around alternative and sustainable packaging.
JUSTwater is packaged in a paper bottle (FSC certified paper, guaranteeing the renewing of the trees used for the paper) and uses plant plastic for the needed cap. WINNING! JUSTwater

Not only can you celebrate our oceans today, you can use your dollar to choose an option that protects our oceans tomorrow, AND show other companies that we care! Trends follow dollar signs $$… if everyone commits the trends will follow and companies not as progressive and mindful as JUST will be forced to take the same commitment that we have all taken, to end the plastic pollution problem. With a mindful approach, a little planning, and awareness this is an easy commitment that really will help change the world and save our oceans.

To all the progressive companies out there working to create solutions against plastic, I (we all) applaud you…. And to all of YOU that get to ultimately make a vote with your dollars- let’s join together and refuse to let plastic win!

elena-hight-signature-blk

* http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html
**http://www.worldwatch.org/
*** http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/business/energy-environment/raising-awareness-of-plastic-waste.html

  • Jozefien

    I bring a glass mug everywhere with me. If you don’t have one and you’re in town, go and find a $1 mug in the local Thrift store. BAM, killed two birds with one stone. Saving the environment AND donating for a good cause!

    • elenahight

      Love this! Thanks for being apart of the solution! Something to feel good about for sure :)

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