The Ocean Cleanup

You may have thought that I was finished with the environmental posts now that Zero Plastic Week is over...Yeah, I thought so too.  But being a "healer" and an "activist" go hand in hand, and it's who I have been for a long time.  Our planet, this One we call Earth, is a magnificent self regulating Being in her own right, as science is beginning to finally notice.  She will heal with or without us, but we might not be around to see it.  Reverence for our planet and other life forms is a reflection of the reverence we each feel for ourselves individually.  That's where the healing comes into it.  The more you begin to heal, and come into a balanced expression of life, the faster the Earth will come back into balance.  The more toxic stuff you clear from your own psyche/energy field/physical body, the easier it will be for planet Earth to deal with the toxins we have created for her.

Today's post features a young man's solutions to clean the world's oceans of plastic, enlisting the ocean currents.

It's call The Ocean Cleanup and it is the stellar idea of young Boyan Slat. Please visit his website to find out more.  http://www.theoceancleanup.com/

The feasibility study was done, and yielded good results. Now begins phase two: the pilot phase to reduce uncertainties and optimize design for actual implementation.  He is currently in the process of raising 2 million to fund this project, through crowd funding.  He has 88 days to go.  The organization is hosting it's own crowdfunding campaign, so 100% of your donation goes to the project.

We aim to raise two million USD in 100 days.  It will enable us to execute more pilot tests, study the durability of the system, developing and deploying permanent sampling equipment in the gyre, optimize out vertical distribution research and to further develop and build our team.

To hear the inspiration behind this idea, please watch Boyan Slat's TED Talk.




I won't post any gory pictures about what happens to marine life when they mistake plastic for food, and fill their bellies with it, because it isn't pretty.

But I will say that plastic isn't just an external environmental problem.  You are getting your share internally.  What happens to the chemical components of plastic when it begins to break down?  Think soda or water bottles, food containers, and the water supply.

"These chemicals act in a more convoluted and complicated way.  They interfere with our hormones, and they interfere with the endocrine system, which is the network of glands that orchestrate growth and development.  And there's some research showing that DEHP, this chemical that's in vinyl (used in IV bags), has this property.  It interferes with testosterone."  From the book Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel.

So that's the post for today...I think Boyan Slat has come up with a brilliant solution.  I think for the good of the planet, it deserves to be put into application.