Hello Wild Knights!!!! Apologies for the delay, Blaze and I have busy out the wazoo this past week. We have been putting together some project ideas to spread the word and recruit more Wild Knights to change the world. Hopefully I’ll have one of the projects posted within a few weeks 😀 For this post I wanted to highlight a major environmentalism problem that planet Earth faces, and what we are doing to combat it. Nearly all environmental issues are caused by humankind, and it is our duty to protect the world that gave us so much. Since these environmental issues are so expansive, I’m going to focus on one at a time.
Oceans
(By Official Navy Page from United States of America MCSN Eric A. Pastor/U.S. Navy – Sailors clean a beach in Diego Garcia., Public Domain, picture source)
The first battleground I want to address is an ugly one: The Pacific Trash Vortex.
The Problem:
A massive section of the Pacific Ocean, this is characterized by huge amounts of plastics, chemical sludge, and debris that has been trapped by the currents in the area. This disaster is not easy to see because much of the plastic has been broken into tiny pieces and are suspended below the surface of the water. To give you an idea of how serious this is according to a study posted in February 2015 in the journal Science, an estimate of 4.8 MILLION tons of plastic enters the ocean by land each year. And that is the conservative estimate. Plastic from more than 31 miles inland is not included because it’s so difficult to gauge.
Worse, is the effects of this plastic on marine wildlife. Small pellets of plastic look like fish eggs and are eaten by many animals. Plastic bags suffocate animals when ingested. Decomposed bodies of marine animals have shown stomachs filled with assortments of plastics and trash. We as humans tend to forget that plastic sticks around a long time, and can have a massive impact on the Earth.
The Solutions:
1. The first and most basic solution is prevention. Humans need to slow and eventually stop the usage of disposable plastics. Use reusable straws, coffee containers, grocery bags, cutlery, and other easily replaceable items. Ask yourself how much trash you accumulate over a week and then think about how much you make in a year. Then think of how many humans just like you there are. By reducing our waste, we greatly reduce the impact we have on the world around us.
2. Invest in a water filter: 20 million water bottles are thrown away each year. If you are like me and greatly dislike the idea of tap water, a good water filter is an amazing device that pays for itself. This is a small change for ourselves, but when added up it makes a great difference.
3. RECYCLE! An obvious and often stated solution to our waste problem. Only 14% of all plastic garbage is recycled. A major problem where I live is a lack of recycling facilities. If this is the case for you, get in contact with people of the local government, or go even higher to stress the need for recycling services. The directory at Earth911 will help you find a recycling service in your area.
4. The Ocean Cleanup. 19-year old Boyan Slat has developed an amazing ocean cleanup device that could remove 7 millions tons of plastic from the ocean. From the site:
Boyan Slat (1994) is a Dutch entrepreneur and inventor who creates technologies to tackle global issues of sustainability. He is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, where he is responsible for overall strategy and cleanup technology development.
Instead of going after the plastic, Boyan devised a system though which, driven by the ocean currents, the plastic would concentrate itself, reducing the theoretical cleanup time from millennia to mere years. In February 2013 he dropped out of his Aerospace Engineering study to start The Ocean Cleanup.
In June 2014, having lead an international team of 100 scientists and engineers for a year, the concept turned out to be ‘likely a technically feasible and financially viable’ method to clean up half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 10 years’ time. A subsequent crowd funding campaign then raised close to $2.2m, enabling the organization to start the pilot phase. The first prototype system is projected to be deployed in 2016.
Boyan Slat has been recognized as one of the 20 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs Worldwide (Intel EYE50), and was crowned 2014 Champion of the Earth, the United Nations’ highest environmental accolade. In 2015, HM King Harald of Norway awarded Boyan the maritime industry’s Young Entrepreneur Award, and Foreign Policy magazine included Boyan in their 2015 list of Global Thinkers.
The Ocean Cleanup has been recognized as one of the Designs of the Year by the London Design Museum, is recipient of the 2015 INDEX Design Award, won Fast Company’s 2015 Innovation by Design award, and has been chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 25 best inventions of 2015.
This shows how a teenager’s idea can completely change the world when the world stands behind him. Any of us, Wild Knights, teachers, students, etc. All have the potential to be the catalyst for change. Here is a TEDx talk with the creator of the Ocean Cleanup project.
While the issue of pollution in our oceans is a serious one, we have started the first steps to fixing the problem. No one can do it alone though, and we will need everyone to try and make a difference. Even if you only reduce the amount of plastics you use, it will contribute to the global effort to reduce waste. Wild Knights is committed to help save our oceans and the animals who dwell there.
Every journey begins with the first step.
Til next time Wild Knights!!!!
~Emrys
Wild Knights 