Started in 2003, the week has drawn enormous public support with over 150 coastal governors, mayors, and county commissions having now issued proclamations in support of the week.
Humans have been harming the ocean’s ecosystem for hundreds of years with plastics, toxic waste, oil spills, and much more. Land-based waste products end up in seas, oceans, and beaches. Ocean trash affects the health of wildlife, people, and local economies. The trash in the water and on the shore can be ingested by wildlife, or entangle animals with lethal consequences. Plastic also attracts and concentrates other pollutants from surrounding seawater, posing a contamination risk to those species that then eat it. Scientists are studying the impacts of that contamination on fish and shellfish as well as the possible impact it may have on human health.
Plastic has been found in 59% of seabirds such as albatross and pelicans, in 100% of sea turtle species, and more than 25% of fish sampled from seafood markets around the world.
8 million metric tons: that's how much plastic we dump into the oceans each year, and the beach is the ocean's front door! By caring for the beach and keeping it clean, we also care for our oceans, which make up 70% of the planet and are home to over 1 million known species (and maybe up to 9 million unknown ones). The debris has formed five giant garbage patches around the world, the largest being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, with an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of trash covering an area twice the size of Texas. When plastic eventually degrades (which takes 400 years for most plastics), the process releases chemicals that further contaminates the sea. By 2050, ocean plastic is expected to outweigh all the ocean’s fish. In 2017, oceanographers detected a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico nearly the size of New Jersey — the largest dead zone ever measured. (source: nationaltoday.com)
What to do? Help clean the beaches this week and every time you go to a beach.
Leave no trace - what you carry in, carry out.
Stop using plastic! That's the best way to solve this huge mess. There are so many alternatives to plastic, specially to single-use plastics, which must be avoided in every way.
Try our natural reusable eco-friendly products, Say Yes to Life, Earth Thanks!🌿
