ALL ABOUT CLEANING UP OUR OCEANS PLASTIC & MORE
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YOUTH PROJECT - What is green and blue at the same time? The Elizabeth Swann. This proof of concept model is under construction in the Cleaner Ocean Foundation's workshops. Copyright © picture, November 2023. The vessel is hydrogen powered, with solar assistance. The team hope to test it in their own water tank and in open water trials in 2024. It was the famous French science fiction writer, Jules Verne, who in 1874, predicted that hydrogen would be the fuel of the future. We think he was right, but it has been a long time coming. A big thumbs up to this innovative concept, unsupported by government grants in any way, a team of students are pushing the boat out on this sovereign project. Reliant on goodwill of philanthropic backers and volunteers.
PLASTIC FREE SHIP - This is, probably, the cleanest ship in the world. It runs on hydrogen with solar assistance, and uses no GRP in the construction, being made of 100% recyclable 5083 marine alloy. GRP boats are held to be a major pollution issue, when they are illegally dumped in rivers and at sea. The ship also carries no single use plastic, with disposable items like toothbrushes, being made of wood. It's enough to make humpback whales broach for joy, as in this artists impression. KULO LUNA - Supports the UN's World Environment Day, June 5th, on beating plastic pollution. Thankyou UNEP. Love, KuloLuna
There are reports and studies about humpback whales being caught up, drowning or otherwise being killed in ghost fishing nets or ropes. Ghost fishing is the term used to describe the entanglement or trapping of marine animals by lost or abandoned fishing gear. Ghost fishing can cause serious injuries, infections, starvation, suffocation, drowning, or predation to the affected animals. Humpback whales are just one of the species that are vulnerable to ghost fishing, especially in their migration and breeding grounds. They have been waffling about the problem for years, without any action. Perhaps there should be fines for trawler and other large fishing vessels who discard nets without reporting the loss. If such ghosting of nets was policed, such as with mandatory tagging of nets. Boats could be confiscated, along with other assets as proceeds of crime. About a million tons of fishing gear enters the ocean every year. Baleen whales (filter feeders) ingest around a million pieces of microplastic every day. By shopping for food and other goods wrapped in plastic. You are killing whales, turtles and seals by strangulation. Governments that refuse to take action against trawler skippers who discard nets, are guilty of nothing less than murder. When next you vote for a politician, make sure they agree to take action to stop the slaughter at sea.
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HELP
US LOBBY FOR A CHANGE IN THE LAW - WITH OUR 7SEVEN POINT PLASTIC PLAN Lobbying for preventative change where existing plastic policies are damaging our oceans, is as important as the development of after-event clean up technology - and cheaper. Plastic is at present an environmental justice issue looking for disinfecting reckoning.
The oceans cover 71% of Earth's surface, yet fisheries (including farmed fish) contributes only 2% to the world's food supply on a caloric basis. Fish consumption is projected to rise 58% between 2010 and 2050, but according to the FAO 33% of fish stocks were over-fished in 2015 and 60% fished at maximum sustainable levels. With micro plastics contaminating this valuable resource, is it possible to increase the food supply from the oceans in a sustainable way, to be able to feed a rapidly growing population?
CORN EXCHANGE, BRIGHTON DOME - Leo Perrin (Youth Project Lead) of the Cleaner Ocean Foundation gives a short presentation on the 13th of June 2024 about the hydrogen powered Elizabeth Swann. This talk was given at the launch of the Sussex Bay re-wilding project, a brilliant initiative to conserve around 100 miles of Sussex coastline, supported by many authorities and like minded concerns. Please visit their website for more details.
Governments may also wish to factor in the fertilizer world shortage, and cost of living crisis into their thinking. And the industrial cocktail of heavy metals and nitrates, leaching from factories into the sea.
Seafood is becoming more poisonous as it becomes more carcinogenic, from ingesting carcinogenic plastics raising cancer rates in humans and overburdening our health services. Whaling will have to be re-instated to make up for lost fish protein. Or, we could eat each other! Perhaps starting with the leaders who engendered the climate crisis, bankers, corrupt civil servants, and finally irresponsible industrialists. The electorate would be (literally) living off the fat of the land.
Where it appears too late to prevent the mess we have created, we desperately need an International Agreement like MARPOL, to stop the flow of plastic from rivers into the sea.
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Please write to your MP,
Senator, Prime
Minister, President,
Queen
or King,
to ask them to agree to introduce laws that make it illegal in their
countries to allow river
waste (including microplastics) into territorial waters - and from there
into international waters. A law like this is sure to trigger the introduction
of monitoring, barriers and cleaning operations with equitable rewards for
any organization providing such services. Make your leaders care as
an election issue, where votes count.
1. Supermarket packaging transformation (back) to paper predominantly We must encourage and help such endeavours until equilibrium is reached. THIS WILL BE A BEGINNING.
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CREATIVE CAMPAIGN S - The Cleaner Ocean Foundation are backing a trilogy of ocean awareness scripts, featuring a hydrogen powered ship as part of the adventures of conservationist: John Storm.
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POPULAR TITLES - From the Amazon to the Nile, the adventures of John Storm promote zero emission sailing, with an underwater theme, based on real historical events, mixed with cutting edge advances in science. |
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A study by the University of Exeter, the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Jacobs University and Making Oceans Plastic Free – focuses on floating plastic, as sunk waste is difficult or impossible to remove depending on size and location.
The study analysed the impact of deploying 200 floating tubes, running without downtime for 130 years – from 2020 to 2150. In this scenario, global floating plastic debris would be reduced by 44,900 metric tonnes – just over 5% of the estimated global total by the end of that period. The authors estimate that the amount of plastic reaching the ocean will peak in 2029, and surface plastic will hit more than 860,000 metric tonnes - more than double the current estimated 399,000 - by 2052.
Surface patrols don't exist at present and funding is not available, for solutions on the table, where UN member nations bank on abusing nature to nurture profits, always taking us to the brink.
We should be aiming for at least 99% recycling to achieve a sustainable society. Better still: stop using plastic.
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TOMORROW IS NO MORE THAN THE CHOICES WE MAKE TODAY - ADAPT OR PERISH
We would urge those who do care about out planet to lobby politicians for common sense, starting with your local MP, ending with the G20. A growing number of corporations are now pushing for a sustainable economy.
We all need to think about changing to a circular economy with food security and sustainable recycling of waste as hard points, but also cleaning up the mess we have created.
If you are not going to stop buying food in plastic packaging. Why not stop buying clothes made of plastic. We doubt that will happen either. If you are not going to stop buying clothes made of plastic. Then you deserve what is coming to you, your children and grand children. Those of us who do care are being condemned to watch as the oceans become more plastic than fish by volume - powerless to do anything other than remind you of the consequences of your inaction.
Those of you who did nothing, will have their great grand children look back in wonder at the complete lack of concern that their forebears demonstrated - as they do what they can to survive in the ruins you - as a non-caring citizen of planet earth - have left behind.
AUGUST 2022 - Climate change is causing misery in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, with the Sargasso Sea producing colossal sargassum blooms of 22 millions tons this year, an increase over 18 million tons in 2021. It would take a fleet of 300 specially adapted SeaVax machines, operating at a speed of one load per hour, to deal with such quantities. Clearly, that is not going to happen, where the world would not pay to clean the ocean of plastic, using the similar fleet logistics. The only sparkle on the brown tinged horizon is that sargassum can be a cash crop. Even so, the sums being bandied about don't come close to managing this crisis. We would though recommend a study, to see if a commercial business plan may be an equitable proposition.
INDUSTRY
Supermarkets should look for alternative packaging if it
would not detract from the quality of produce or make them
uncompetitive. They might support a
plastic-oil circular economy with recycling depositories at their stores.
In a climate emergency, growth represents rising temperatures. Industry
should be looking for cooling stability.
BE
MORE CAREFUL -
Although there may be solutions on the horizon, it pays to dispose of your
plastic waste responsibly.
"Be the solution, not the pollution."
GOVERNMENTS
Governments might revise their policies, to accept responsibility for their dumping of waste in the ocean. It is illegal for ships to dump waste at sea. How then is it legal for countries to dump waste in rivers that ends up in the sea? Countries should be fined for river waste, with the fines going to ocean cleaning projects or services in mitigation, like these bad boys below.
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ASIA APRIL 2022 - The Clearbot-Neo is a harbour boat that cleans up to 1 ton of trash a day, using onboard AI and Microsoft's Aure cloud based software. The team hope to expand from one catamaran to many thousands, to operate in fleets, to keep oceans clean.
OCEAN CLEANING PROJECTS - [Left] The Cleaner Ocean Foundation was developing this versatile plastic filtrating vessel as a solution until 2020, hitting a funding brick-wall - now lobbying for a common sense ban on plastics via a 7 Point Plan. [Center] The Baltimore river skimmer has collected hundreds of tons of litter since 2014 - nice one! [Right] The Ocean Cleanup Project founded by Boyan Slat in 2012, was aiming to float 60 giant floating booms to scoop the plastic poop in the Pacific Garbage Patch. In 2019 he began operating Interceptor river skimmers. Well done Boyan!
INSHORE CLEANING PROJECTS - [Left] In the US Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper moved offshore with their Ocean Plastic Recovery Vessel in 2019. [Centre left] Hugo Tagholm is the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, a British charity aimed at improving water quality. [Centre right] SeaBin is being installed in marinas all over the world helping stop litter entering the oceans. [Right] 18 year old scientist Fionn Ferreira has a method for extracting microplastics from water using magnetite, winner of a Google science prize in July 2019. Well done all!
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ABS - BIOMAGNIFICATION - CANCER - CARRIER BAGS - COTTON BUDS - DDT - FISHING NETS - HEAVY METALS - MARINE LITTER - MICROBEADS MICRO PLASTICS - NYLON - OCEAN GYRES - OCEAN WASTE - PACKAGING - PCBS - PET - PETROLEUM - PLASTIC - PLASTICS - POLYCARBONATE POLYOLEFINS - POLYPROPYLENE - POLYSTYRENE - POLYTHENE - POPS - PVC - SHOES - SINGLE USE - SOUP - STRAWS - WATER
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This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. copyright © Cleaner Oceans Foundation Ltd (COFL) (Company No: 4674774) 2023. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom. COFL is a company without share capital whose founding objects are charitable, being not-for-profit.
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