Hello Kat Kid Adventurers!
Get ready to start an eco amazing journey as we dive together into an underwater world. Did you know our ocean has superpowers? That’s right, it is home to millions of species. It absorbs carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and even helps regulate our weather and climate. It even gives us half the oxygen we need to breathe.
Awesome right?!!
But today, the ocean needs YOUR help. Around 199 million tons of plastic are currently in our oceans. That’s like two garbage trucks of plastic dumped into the ocean every minute! I know, that’s a LOT of plastic!
You see, when we don’t properly sort and dispose of our trash, they find their way into rivers and streams and eventually end up in the ocean. Once trash enters the ocean, it’s almost impossible to clean up and it causes a whole lot of problems!
Here are a few…
- To eat or not to eat? You’ve probably seen photos of sea birds, dolphins and turtles entangled in plastic nets and trash. That’s pretty awful cause very often they choke and die! Did you know sea animals and birds accidentally eat plastic too? That’s right! Turtles often confuse plastic bags for their favorite meal: Jellyfish. The plastic clogs their stomach and prevents them from eating real food. Sea Birds unknowingly feed their young chicks small pieces of plastic, which has led to a new disease scientists have named plasticosis! As the name rightly suggests, it is a plastic-based disease that hurts the stomachs of baby seabirds. Ouch!
- What goes around comes around! If you think only animals and birds eat plastic, think again! Hoooomans like you and me eat plastic too! If you’re wondering how… let us tell you: When plastic enters the ocean it breaks down into teeny tiny little pieces called microplastics which float around in the ocean. These are eaten by tiny plankton. The shrimp eat the plankton. The fish eat the shrimp and then humans eat the fish! EW! You see what goes around comes around as the food we eat! And you don’t get to escape eating plastic even if you’re vegan or vegetarian: scientists say that humans (little kids and big kids!) eat a credit card size worth of plastic every week! Microplastics are found in the soil that grows our fruits and vegetables!
- Trash-er Islands. Did you know, plastic build up in the ocean can make GINORMOUS garbage patches? Think of islands made of floating garbage!! Awful, right! There are 5 patches all over the world and the biggest one is off the coast of California and it’s called The Great Garbage Patch. It is more than double the size of France and growing bigger everyday!!!
So now you see why we need to be careful with our trash and make sure it doesn’t end up where it doesn’t belong. But don’t worry, small actions can make a BIG difference in keeping our oceans clean and safe for all the cool creatures that live on our planet.
Together to help save the ocean! It all starts with the simple 5Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Rethink, and Recycle. Don’t worry if these words sound confusing right now. Sign up for our newsletter and together we’ll explore each one. So, fellow Adventurers, are you ready to join the mission to help our planet?
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