Earth Month

Every year on 22nd April, the world celebrates Earth Day. As the climate and environmental crisis we face has deepened, one day of advocating for our planet hasn’t felt like nearly enough, so the concept has expanded to encompass a whole month.

Earth Month is a chance to highlight a multitude of environmental challenges that we face, but it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the progress we’ve made.

What we love about Earth Day is that it started with one person’s courage to stand up and say, “We need to do something to protect our planet from environmental harm.” That person was Senator Gaylord Nelson.

In 1969, he saw the devastating consequences of an oil spill off the California coast in Santa Barbara. Senator Nelson wanted to take action, so he focused on setting up teach-ins at American universities, recruiting activist Denis Hayes to help with this mission.

The first Earth Day took place in 1970, with millions of Americans demonstrating against environmental harm. It took another 20 years for the movement to go global, but Earth Day is now recognised as the largest secular day of protest in the world. 

Since 1970, we have become even more aware of the many threats facing our planet’s ecosystems. That makes it more important than ever for us to support events like Earth Day and Earth Month that both draw attention to these threats and encourage action.

Cal recently spoke to Wayne Peters, who heads up For One Ocean, a team of adventurers, sailors and ocean advocates, on the Our Ocean Podcast. He has been involved in a variety of marine science projects, including one measuring levels of microplastic pollution in our seas.

Wayne sails on the science vessel Nazca, a fully electric, renewable-energy powered sailing boat. As part of this work, he uses what are known as manta trawl nets in various locations in the Bristol Channel and along the South Coast of the UK. These nets catch the plastic in the water, helping to build up a picture of what types of plastics are reaching our seas and where.

Just as importantly, this work measures microplastics in the water as well as removing larger plastic debris. 

“What has been really apparent is that you can’t even begin to comprehend the effort in regards to cleaning up the ocean. People are looking at it, but it’s a gargantuan task. There are stats out there to show what we think is in the ocean, but the cause is the source.

“And the source is inland, up rivers. You know, our overflowing bins. What happens to our recycling? How is our waste managed? And how do you go shopping?” Wayne said.

He also pointed out that, sadly, much of our recycling isn’t handled and managed effectively, which contributes to ocean plastic pollution. That means making simple choices when you’re shopping – like choosing to buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of produce wrapped in plastic – can make a difference to the plastic entering our waste streams and send a message to retailers. 

While large pieces of plastic are a problem, the bigger issue is with the microplastics and nanoplastics that are released as plastic waste breaks down. These tiny pieces of plastic find their way into the food chain, which affects all of us.

That might sound like an issue that you, as one person or household, can’t do anything about, but the reality is we can all make small choices and these add up over time. 

Educating yourself about the issue is the first step. In doing so, you ensure you can make more informed choices in your everyday life, whether that is avoiding items wrapped in plastic when you do your grocery shopping or finding a local zero-waste store where you can refill containers you already have at home.

You can learn more about the work Wayne and his team do by listening to The Mad Scientist of Electric Boats – Sailing For One Ocean episode of the Our Ocean Podcast – and if you want to learn more about life in our oceans and the challenges the oceans are facing, you’ll find plenty more amazing insights across all the Our Ocean Podcast episodes!

Photo credit: Gabe Hearnshaw Photography