Content warning. This email is about marine animals harmed or killed by plastic pollution.
Up to 9 in 10 seabirds, 1 in 3 sea turtles, and more than half of whale and dolphin species have ingested plastic. This deadly threat to ocean life MUST be seen and this email contains images of wildlife harmed or killed by plastic pollution. I understand if images like these are overwhelming, but even if you can't look — especially if you can't look — I know you care about protecting these threatened creatures. Please donate generously right now to make the oceans — and our planet — safe for all.
The image below is why I do the work that I do. It’s a healthy baby sea turtle on a clean beach. All animals deserve a chance to thrive just like this.
 That’s why I was so distressed by the recent news. A baby sea turtle in Florida was found dead after eating 104 pieces of plastic including bottle labels. That’s how bad the ocean plastic crisis is! Microplastic particles are so common, juvenile turtles think they are food and fill up on them.
I know you are doing your part with reusable bags and water bottles — now, I need your help to make corporate executives do their part. Most of the single-use plastic threatening marine life is found in your local grocery and retail stores. Getting retailers like Target, Walmart, and Costco to immediately reduce the amount of single-use plastic packaging in their stores is one of the biggest and quickest impacts our movement can have.
We need the funds to escalate our plastic free supermarkets campaign this holiday season, Jessie. Our records show that you’ve never given to Greenpeace. Quite frankly, marine animals need YOU. This is the perfect time to make your first urgent gift to Greenpeace and all of our campaigns to protect oceans, forests, climate, and people.
This is hard but I need to show you the consequences if we don’t act. On the left is an image of an Albatross chick fed plastic marine debris by its parents.1 On the right is one of at least five sperm whales found in Italy this year with stomachs full of plastic bags and other plastic debris. While the cause of death was unknown, ingesting plastic certainly harmed their ability to feed.
This cruelty is NOT inevitable. Thanks to people like you, the movement to stop plastic pollution is growing explosively, and we’re going for the big win — moving beyond a society where everything comes in throw away plastic used just once, to one where we reuse everything — bottles, containers, and much, much more. That starts when you make a generous donation to Greenpeace.
It ends with thriving, awe inspiring, ocean wildlife.
Greenpeace never takes a dime from corporations or governments. Everything we do is thanks to the generous support of people like you!
Greenpeace
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Showing posts with label ocean plastic pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ocean plastic pollution. Show all posts
Friday, November 8, 2019
Eating plastic
Monday, September 9, 2019
Shocking photo shows Caribbean Sea being 'choked to death by human waste'
A photographer has captured the damage being done to the planet's oceans with a shocking “sea of plastic and styrofoam” image taken near a tranquil Caribbean island.
Caroline Power, who specialises in underwater photography, has dedicated her career to highlighting the damage plastic waste is doing to our oceans.
She said witnessing the plastic blanket of forks, bottles and rubbish between the islands Roatan and Cayos Cochinos, off the coast of Honduras, was “devastating”.
“To see something that I care so deeply for being killed, slowly choked to death by human waste was devastating,” she told The Telegraph.
“Once the trash is in the ocean, it is incredibly difficult and costly to remove. The key is to stop the trash before it enters the ocean.
“In order for that to happen, we need to improve waste management, environmental education and recycling facilities on a global scale. This is a developed nation (first world) problem as well.”
The worst of the rubbish the dive team found was about 15 miles off the coast of Roatan heading towards the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve
“We were on a dive trip to a set of islands that don't quite break the ocean surface. They are one of the most pristine dive sites in this part of the Caribbean,” Ms Power recalled.
“The photo of the diver in the water was actually over one of these seamounts. To see an area that is supposed to be pristine covered in garbage and trash was disheartening.”
She said they passed through floating garbage for “nearly five miles”, adding: “Everywhere we looked, plastic bags of all shapes and sizes: chip bags, ziplocks, grocery, trash, snack bags, other packaging. Some were whole and the rest were just pieces. Sadly, many turtles, fish, whales, and seabirds will mistake those bits of plastic for food.
“We then reached an area about two miles wide that had multiple trash lines that stretched from horizon to horizon
“There was also a seemingly infinite number of plastic forks, spoons, drink bottles, and plates. There were broken soccer balls, toothbrushes, a tv, and so many shoes and flip flops.”
Blue Planet Society, an organisation campaigning to end overfishing and the overexploitation of the world’s ocean, believes the rubbish originated from the Motagua River in Guatemala, washing into the sea during heavy rains.
They said the images were “unbelievable”, adding: “We see a lot of shocking images of environmental destruction. This is right up there with the worst.
“Trash from Motagua River in Guatemala polluting Honduras coast has been an issue in region for some time.”
Conservationists Oceana Europe said the photos had left them “shocked, sad and angry, but not surprised”.
They added: “If we don’t change our behaviour now, we’re going to have more plastic than fish in the ocean.”
Ms Power says she hopes her photos will encourage others to “make changes to their habits and daily lives to help protect and conserve this planet”.
“It was also motivating; I drastically increased efforts to reduce my environmental footprint after seeing that,” she said. “I hope the photos will inspire people to do the same.”
She has asked anyone who wants to help the region's conservation efforts to donate to the Roatan Marine Park, a non-protect organisation working to protect Roatan’s fragile coral reefs.
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Saturday, February 17, 2018
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