If you are reading this newsletter means that you are interested in this campaign. The worldwide situation is critical and all over the world are increasing outreach activities and social engagement to tackle Plastic at Sea.
Plastic Islands float in 6 huge gyro vortexes in the Ocean, grinding plastic debris in small particles that are swallowed by bird, turtles and fish. A carelessly discarded plastic bag and bottles can break down in the sea, but the natural biodegradation process releases toxic chemicals that may be digested by fish and end up in the human food chain. Research released a year ago found there were more than 5 tons in pieces of plastic floating in these huge vortexes, many only 5 mm across. These beads have porosities that may inglobe toxins as DDT and other cancerogenous substances. That is the reason why we want to do our part, trying to go from words to actions.
Think, It is not my business, it is Our business in order to give a future to the next generations.
To this end, I have launched this campaign based on three projects:
- Divulgation
- Direct action
- Media
It is not necessary to participate in all three projects. Choose the one or those you find most suitable for your needs and availaibility. There are NO deadlines. You can do it any time you feel comfortable and/or able to do it. In case You share our mission but you are not able to participate, please think to make a small donation by this link (by Gofundme.com with a minimum 5 USD or 5 euro). Thanks to support us.
Remember, more than a simple campaign must be a change of mindset for a better future.
Details of execution as follows
Divulgation
Be aware. Each of you can be a tremendous witness towards your community, workplace, friendships. Education is fundamental to change this evil course to self-destruction.
HOW COULD YOU HELP : Simply by preading the voice about Plastic at Sea problem. You can reach a number of people in your communities and inject more understanding of the problem. To support you, we have provided you the possibility to freely print our articles about this subject, by WWW.ocean4future.org printing option, to be able to properly organize your conferences. The goal is to widely divulgate the problem and act. We need to stress how small gestures, such as “not abandon waste in the environment” or “recycle”, can strongly help to mitigate the plastic impact on the environment. If you will organize conferences in schools, please, be sure to involve the teachers. We are a NO profit community so a kind reference/mention to Ocean4future community is always appreciated.
WHERE: schools, clubs, associations, local communities, friend’s meeting … everywhere you can talk about it. If you need advice we will try to send you more hints.
Direct action
It can be performed by two different activities:
1. environmental monitoring of a beach (individually or in group)
HOW COULD YOU HELP : You can organize yourself as you feel more comfortable .. an easy way is to plant a stick in the sand (point A), connect a long rope and roll stretched for 20 meters, tying the other end to another rod (point B). What you have drawn by this line is technically called a transect. To simplify your life, go parallel to the shoreline of the beach. Then start from A and mark the lines, every five meters or 15 ft, recording the type and amount of waste observed (type and quantity in the right and left of the line). Beach monitoring can be extended to more transects. At the end, please put together all data and send a small report to andy.diver@yahoo.co.uk communicating ONLY this information: WHO made the monitoring / WHEN / WHERE / WHAT WAS RECORDED (i.e. PLASTICS, GLASS, METAL, WOOD in %) / STATUS i.e. RECOVERED OR NOT RECOVERED/ANY PROBLEMS
WHERE: Beaches and coasts including lakes, rivers and high seas
2. collection of waste on beaches or on the seabed.
Be aware, in some countries, this activity needs to be coordinated with local authorities. Also these results (with the same above mentioned information) must be sent by mail at infoocean4future@gmail.com .Data collected will be made to count on December 31st, 2017 and officially presented at the EUROPEAN DIVING SHOW 2018.
Media
Internet is a tremendous source of information but should always be checked to avoid false information. However, it may provide opportunities to inform various players about real and present danger of the environment which can be enhanced by using photos and videos. That is what we do by daily articles on marine sciences education, amazing photos and stunning video. For whom it concerns about our mission, I like to inform you that OCEAN4FUTURE is a worldwide no profit initiative. We are not an association or foundation. We are all volunteers, professionals connected by good will and motivation to save the Blue Planet. By our official site, www.Ocean4future.org, we daily publish articles about marine sciences as well general education in order to get you more informed and make clear to everybody WHY Ocean is so important for our survival and HOW we can save our future. For your convenience an automatic language translation tool is available in 54 languages. Our official site last year (2016) collected more than 5 million of accesses. Besides Ocean education, every year We launch additional media campaigns to inform public opinion about ocean emergencies. They are called SAVE THE OCEAN by Oceandiver campaigns. This year is dedicated to NO PLASTIC AT SEA.
HOW COULD YOU HELP : This year photo campaign is aimed to enhance the danger of PLASTIC AT SEA You are kindly requested to send your photos to infoocean4future@gmail.com preferably by May 1st, 2017 in order to plan further publishing on social network (FB and Twitter) as well on www.ocean4future.org. Please note that everyone can participate and photos should include a message of yours to sensibilize public opinion. Again, you are going to be testimonials for next generation survival. Famous photographers, such as Christian Vizl Mc Gregor, Alberto Balbi, Pietro Cremone and Cristian Coulombe. Last but not the least, we are very grateful to the Foundation for Antarctic research, Inc. strongly supporting us in our media engagement.
Thanks for your help an to be a partner. Be smarter. Keep the future in your hands.
ammiraglio della Marina Militare Italiana (riserva), è laureato in Scienze Marittime della Difesa presso l’Università di Pisa ed in Scienze Politiche cum laude all’Università di Trieste. Analista di Maritime Security, collabora con numerosi Centri di studi e analisi geopolitici italiani ed internazionali. È docente di cartografia e geodesia applicata ai rilievi in mare presso l’I.S.S.D.. Nel 2019, ha ricevuto il Tridente d’oro dell’Accademia delle Scienze e Tecniche Subacquee per la divulgazione della cultura del mare. Fa parte del Comitato scientifico della Fondazione Atlantide e della Scuola internazionale Subacquei scientifici (ISSD – AIOSS).
