Sea Monster

-Illustration inspired by pollution in our ocean. This is also the second drawing I drew inspired by this environmental issue. I started this drawing last year but only completed it this week (actually I thought I was done with it last year but I had more ideas for it apparently.) However I've had this idea in my head for the longest now, I thought that the plastic bags could be mistaken as jellyfish (I just found out just a couple of days ago that turtles eat jellyfish and they could mistake plastic bags as jellyfish).

Tools: Traditional pencil and Procreate

All right time for more.  

So last post I talked about how I went on a trip that sailed from Honolulu to San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean, for science. I also mentioned that there is A LOT OF PLASTIC out there, but most of it is considered micro or nanoplastic.  You need a microscope to see a lot of it.  But, every once and while, you’d run across a buoy or some other kind of plastic debris, sometimes fishing nets.  And this plastic is forming the foundation of a NEW KIND OF MICROHABITAT.  Y’all. Hold onto your butts. 

We picked one of these bad boys up, and all that rough bumpy stuff you see around it?  Well, those are colonies of gooseneck barnacles. 

gooseneck barnacles are unlike your normal barnacles in that they have a long neck that allows them to feed out into the water.  You can also see their long tentacles in great detail (all barnacles have these, but it’s REAL obvious on a gooseneck).  They need water movement to assist with feeding, and so they mostly grow on rocky coasts with lots of wave action.  BUT NOW they are growing on anthropogenic garbage, stuff that gets thrown away on the beach or fishing paraphernalia that breaks loose, and they are forming THEIR OWN MICROHABITATS on little floating “islands” like this buoy in the middle of the ocean.  So in addition to goose neck barnacles, other critters start to hang out, including things like this: 

Not sure what species that blue crab is, but the one on the top is a megalops, or a larval stage of a crab (very smol beebee).  And they all hang on to this thing, along with schools of juvenile fish, and drift through the ocean for thousands upon thousands of miles.  And this is something that’s somewhat unprecedented.  Yes, there is natural flotsam in the ocean, but not at the scale of what we are seeing now, and it certainly often breaks down a lot faster.  These animals may be able to colonize ecosystems that they would not have been able to before, as they have shelter that can take them all the way across the world.

here’s a peak at the ecosystem underwater, in an aquarium we had on board. you do you little crab, you do you. 

So I know this is getting a little long, but another interesting tid-bit about this buoy is that it was Japanese, and it’s possible that it broke loose in the tsunami in 2011.  A lot of plastic from this event was winding up in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (where we were) during the year we were out there (2013). It could have just broken loose in a storm I suppose, but odds are it could have just as easily come from the tsunami event in Japan. 

alrighty so we already know that we are fucking up earth and if you don't, well now you do. if you don't believe in climate change and global warming and say it isn't real, you're a fucking idiot. anyway for those that do know we are fucking up earth and want to help, here is a bunch of shit you can do.

websites:

https://www.ecosia.org/ 

ecosia is a search engine, search whatever the fuck you want it works like google, but with every ten searches or something, they plant a tree where it is need, so start using this to search up shit

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1425 

free rice is a vocabulary website, it gives you a word, you pick one of four answers that it the meaning of the word. You got one right? Fantastic! you just donated 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger!

here's some other website that you should check out, I'm just not very good at explaining things but you should definitely look at them

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1425

https://plasticoceans.org/ 

https://plasticoceans.org/ 

https://www.beforetheflood.com/

go, look at them, read them and get a little more educated on problems and how they are helping and how you can help

you can also watch documentaries to get woke, you should watch 

Before the Flood and Plastic Ocean, these are both are on Netflix, so watch them to see how the problems are affecting things and ways you can help.

Zero waste:

one way you can help that makes an everyday difference is to try to have zero waste, or as little waste as possible.

these are websites who sell things that you can buy things from to swap out single use items and/or can be reused, idk, I'm bad at wording things but look at the websites and maybe you’ll understand a bit better.

https://www.lush.com/ 

you’ve heard of lush, if you haven’t, well here it is, they sell makeup, cosmetics and bathroom shit, but zero waste, like bar shampoo and conditioner, even bar deodorant. their makeup containers can be taken back, cleaned and reused. and they are against animal testing and their products are home made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkQmzdoFNw Gabbie Hannah did a video where she didn't use any trash for 24 hours and talks about lush products, honestly watch the whole video its fucking great I love it.

https://earthhero.com/

https://www.ecolateralshop.com.au/ 

https://zerowastestore.com.au/ - I think this one is based in Australia but I'm leaving it here anyway, still go look at it cos it could have global shipping

alright bitches here's your shopping list so you can stop using trash,  ( and seriously, stop using plastic straws, bottle and bags, its 2019, you’ve see the video of the turtle with the plastic straw stuck in its nose)

 reusable straw, reusable water bottle, reusable bags, bar shampoo/ conditioners, bar deodorants, bar soaps, reusable coffee mugs, reusable trash bags, biodegradable tooth brushes, food wraps, tooth tabs and cora microfiber laundry ball.

now at those last two, you may have thought “ what the fuck are those” well here's some pics and an explanation 

tooth tabs, you can get ‘em from lush, instead of getting tubes of tooth paste you get these, put one in you mouth, chew it and brush ya teeth. 

mircro fiber laundry ball. basically when you wash ya clothes, mircro plastics come off them and are washed into water ways, this amazing little fucker catches those plastics before they can escape. 

some other shit you can do

compost

pick up trash when you see it

support originations that are helping

educate people

reblog this so other people can be woke and can help cos we only got like 12 years to do something otherwise we’re fucked

Our Plastic oceans

“If the current trend continues, by 2050 our oceans will have more plastic than fish”  Antonio Guterres UN.

You don’t need to be a water witch for headings like this to scare you. Everyone is aware that our oceans are now clogged with plastic waste as the evidence is everywhere.

Like the sperm whale recently washed up dead on the Australian coast with 30kg (66lb) of plastic waste in its stomach. Humans are also at risk, the world health organisation concluded that 90% of all bottled water now contains some level of microplastics.

Lots of great campaigns have been started to tackle this menace and reduce the 83 Billions tonnes of plastic waste we produce each year, an estimated 8 Million tonnes of which ends up floating in the Oceans.

But only around 4% of the pollution actually comes from the West, around 1% dumping from ships and a massive 95% of all the waste is being delivered down just 10 rivers.

These rivers pass through areas of heavy population where no recycling facilities exist. Throwing the waste into the river and having it swept away by the current is the easiest way of clearing it.

The main culprit is China which has 5 of the 10 rivers Including the Yangtze which on its own is responsible for 55% (Yes over half the plastic in the ocean comes from this one river). Over the last 30 years people in China have moved away from traditions and embraced what they class a “western style” lifestyle unfortunately this requires a great deal of single use Plastic packaging. China uses an estimated 60 million plastic containers a day, this is so high due to the size of the products. In the West you will buy a large bottle of Shampoo that will last for weeks. In China’s poorer regions shampoo comes in single use plastic bubbles to make it affordable.

The Rivers in order of Shame;

The Yangtze in China

The Indus river in Pakistan

Yellow River in China

Hai He River in China

The Nile Egypt

The Ganges India

Pearl River China

Amur River China

The Niger in Ghana

The Mekong in Thailand

What Can we do;

Straws - The main type of plastic being washed up on the beaches of Bali isn’t bottles, its Plastic Straws. Use paper straws when available and consider drinking normally from the rim.

MicroBeads - Cosmetic products around the world use tiny pieces of plastic as exfoliators. Check the packaging before you buy and choose natural alternatives.

4ocean.com - This fantastic company have started making plastic bracelets from the waste. Each bracelet removes 1 pound of plastic waste for $20.

A Bag for Life - Although most of the talk is about the plastic you can see floating on the surface a lot of the plastic actually sinks and its this that has the largest impact on the ecosystem. Simply using a bag for Life and avoiding cheap plastic bags can have a big impact.

Use your buying power - When you choose products choose those using the least packaging.

Join a Campaign - There are lots of active campaigns around find your local one and get involved.

Beachcomb - Next time you are at the beach pick up some waste from the tideline. Some beaches are even provide facilities to help.

Invent - There are a number of prizes available for someone who can develop a viable alternative. Whoever does will become very rich overnight. Even small suggestions are good look at your packaging and make suggestions to the manufacturers, for example manufacturers have only just started making the lids out the same material as the bottle to allow it to be recycled.

Avoid Black plastic - Commonly used in food trays to make food look more appealing the colour makes it worthless.

As you can tell I’m passionate about this issue, please spread the word even if you don’t follow a wet path.  We owe it to tomorrows generation to not ruin the whole eco-system of the Oceans and Seas within the next 30 years.

Credits

Oii! Então, resolvi criar uma conta no instagram a fim de conscientizar as pessoas em relação à poluição nos oceanos (principalmente por causa da grande quantidade de plástico). Lá disponibilizo imagens, frases, infográficos, etc., alguns sendo de minha autoria. Se vocês pudessem dar uma olhadinha e seguir se gostarem eu ficaria muito grata! Faço com muito carinho e com nenhum outro objetivo além de promover mudanças (mesmo que pequenas). Um dos maiores erros que cometemos é pensar que nossas ações são insignificantes. “O que eu faço é uma gota no meio de um oceano. Mas sem ela, o oceano seria menor.” - Madre Teresa de Calcutá. Instagram: @safe.ocean_