Let's Do Something BIG.
A COMMUNITY DEDICATED TO TELLING THE STORIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES WORKING TOWARDS MAKING THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE.
Do you want the world's oceans to become cleaner? You can start by creating your first one clean meter right now! 'One Clean Meter' is a project that encourages people all around the globe to make a difference together by cleaning one square meter of contaminated coastline. It's a great way to share all our love to the sea, the ocean, lakes and rivers all over planet Earth! What is One Clean Meter? One Clean Meter is a global non-profit volunteering project that was created to motivate people to look after the world’s beaches. The project works as a link between tourism and ocean-cleanup. Anyone, anytime and anywhere can join our community and support the idea. The project started in March in 2015, and now it is truly developing a wonderful community of people all around the world. The project is primarily based in social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. One Clean Meter is absolutely certain that just a small step forward will help the oceans! One Clean Meter is an active community that is raising awareness around the global problem of ocean pollution. The organization posts facts, motivational pictures, videos and other people’s 'clean meters' to encourage people take action. The community is very responsive and it has more than 960 people involved with the project already. The ‘One Clean Meter’ page has been translated to three languages: English, Russian and Chinese. This supports people from different parts of the word and makes the information more accessible so that everyone can join in and understand the concept of the idea. From the very beginning, One Clean Meter has received massive support from all around the world that was absolutely amazing. Now there are more than ten new clean meters from different places in the world and we are looking forward to get many more in the future! How to make a One Clean Meter? 1. Go to the nearest beach. 2. Measure 1 meter of any contaminated area. Outline the area using your foot or a wooden stick. 3. Take a picture of the place “before” and “after” cleanup. 4. Send a photo to us, to inspire others! 5. Specify the location where you did your cleanup. Done! You've joined the game. Get Involved with the project: Official hashtag: #onecleanmeter Email: [email protected] This is a really exciting project in which you can get involved wherever you are in the world! Join the community now, and let's start cleaning this planet up together. And always remember that, together, we can do something big. Kate SKate is from Minsk, Belarus and is currently studying at Durham University in the UK. She enjoys travelling around the world and exploring new cultures. She is the founder of the One Clean Meter project.
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Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s hard to care so much and feel so connected to the environment. Sometimes convenience almost wins over doing the 'right' thing. Sometimes, it sadly does win over. But ultimately, it is worth it to be a mostly-plastic-free, minimalist, vegan. It’s worth it for the EARTH, for the animals, for the future human generations (if you’re into that sort of thing), it’s worth not generating new trash that sits around for eons. But I have to admit, sometimes I just really want a cup of coffee, or a scoop of ice cream and the shop may not have reusable dishware and utensils, and I may have forgotten my cup or my bamboo utensils and I may may get bummed that I cannot (or rather choose not) to get the food. Sometimes I crack and I get a plastic-wrapped sandwich. But at these times I have to remember: It. Is. Worth. It. For the sea turtles that eat plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish. For the piglet who has a canine best friend. For the oceans. The oceans that are choking with plastic. It’s worth it to choose love and compassion. Sometimes I get annoyed that people leave trash literally everywhere, and I get annoyed that I feel obligated to clean up after them. But it’s worth it. Worth it to have clean natural spaces. Worth it to remove plastic so that wildlife won’t eat it mistakenly. It’s worth it to choose love and compassion. Because Love Trumps Hate. MahaliaMahalia is a college student living in Portland, OR and enjoys eating vegan food, wandering the wild and petting ALL the animals. She is going to save the oceans. For the past year I have been learning more and more about the negative impacts plastic has on the environment and our oceans, about 'zero waste' lifestyles and people who put their values into action. Following this gradual process of environmental education I decided that I wanted to live according to my values. In order to do this, I resolved to live for a month with limited plastic consumption, especially reducing my intake of single-use plastics. As I began I was met with a challenge much more difficult than I had expected, and started to notice plastic everywhere. There is plastic on our food (milk, pasta, grains, pre-packaged foods, lots of vegetables, produce stickers). There is plastic on our parcels. We put our trash in plastic bags. We put our groceries in plastic bags. We eat our food with plastic utensils. We get our plastic utensils wrapped in plastic. We chew plastic in chewing gum. And we love to throw plastic away. As I plod along on my daily runs I see it in the river, on the river banks and in the streets. I see recyclable bottles tossed aside and I see a large majority of people who don't care. Many of us don't think twice about it, this normalized part of our society. But would we think twice if we knew that birds and fish eat our plastic--filling their stomachs and leading them to starve? Would we think twice if we knew that the plastic we consume breaks down into tiny, tiny pieces in the ocean, making it nearly impossible to clean up? Would we think twice if we knew it was created from fossil fuels, feeding even further into the problem of out-of-hand CO2 emissions? There are sources of plastic I didn't consider the difficulty of avoiding: gifts of plastic-wrapped chocolate from friends, plastic linings inside milk cartons and the packaging of online orders. I didn't expect that asking for the things you buy to be put in alternative packagings (i.e. bringing your own mug for coffee, your own cloth bags to put bread into, your own jars in which to put coffee beans), would be met with skepticism and sometimes outright refusal. But I also didn't expect the moments of recognition by others of an issue, and interactions with people that left me glowing with hope for the future. Change will only come when we stand for what we believe in, and I believe in the benefits to our planet of adopting a plastic-free lifestyle. If we believe in reducing our plastic intake, we need to approach skeptics with confidence and explain why adopting this lifestyle matters. After all, why feel embarrassed to be saving the oceans and reducing our environmental impact? That's right, we shouldn't. Over the course of the past month I wasn't entirely successful in my attempt at a plastic-free me, but I have learned a lot and plan to implement plastic-free habits into my everyday lifestyle. Some simple things I've found that each of us can do to reduce our plastic intake are:
In conclusion, plastic has many negative effects on our oceans and the wider the environment, and it will only be when we collectively stop using it that positive change will begin to occur. Sometimes it is difficult to remain positive about the state of the environment, especially as we find ourselves living in a world seemingly so oblivious to the negative impacts we are inflicting upon our natural resources. However, there are people out there that care, and positive changes actions are being implemented every day. For example, very recently France banned plastic cups, plates and cutlery. In order to work towards similar positive actions, get involved and write to your local government representative about why banning single use-plastics is important to you, your country and the planet. Stay positive and determined, and remember that together we can do something BIG. MariamaMariama lives in the UK whilst studying ice and other earthy things. She enjoys running through wild places, going on adventures and learning stuff. |
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