Is the Food Industry the Next Frontier in Ocean Plastic?

Ocean Conservancy headquarters is buzzing with excitement this week as we prepare to release the results of our 2018 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) next Tuesday. Last year, we showed that 2017 was the first ICC where all of the top ten items collected by volunteers around the world were made of plastic. Without giving away all the details, one pattern that you’ll notice in the 2018 report is just how much plastic waste relates to food.

Food wrappers, plastic straws and stirrers, takeout containers, beverage bottles, bottle caps…all are always among the top ten items collected by ICC volunteers around the world. There are other, non-food-related items, too, of course—cigarette butts and plastic bags, for example; but there’s no denying that when it comes to plastic waste found on beaches and waterways, the way we eat and drink is having an impact.

It won’t be easy changing this status quo. It doesn’t take long at a grocery store to realize that almost everything—even some fresh produce items—are wrapped in plastic. Meanwhile, restaurants are increasingly relying on delivery and take-out sales, sending off meals ordered through a growing roster of mobile apps, often in single-use containers (like plastic or foam clamshells) with a side of plastic-wrapped plastic cutlery.

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And this is exactly why we need the food and restaurant industries to innovate and change course. Luckily, some already are. Earlier this summer, Trash Free Seas Alliance® member Starbucks released a new lid that eliminates the need for a straw, uses about 9% less plastic than the original model (lid + straw), and is recyclable. With this innovation, Starbucks is removing more than 1 billion straws from their business model. Recently, Red Lobster became a member of the Alliance and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, working towards evolving the use of single-use plastics and seek alternatives in their restaurants, and encouraging its suppliers to support projects that reduce, remove and recycle the upwards of 800,000 tons of fishing gear lost or abandoned (known as “ghost gear”) in our ocean each year. And local businesses are taking action, too. Last week, the LA Times published an op-ed by Mikey Knab, a San Diego restaurant owner who decided to reduce his business’s environmental footprint by cutting out single-use plastics. It wasn’t cheap, he said; but “we have a responsibility to do what we can to see that San Diego remains a viable place to live, work and eat tacos.”

We couldn’t agree more.

So watch this space. The full ICC report will be released on Tuesday, September 3^rd and we hope to see you all out at your local beach or waterway on September 21^st for the 2019 International Coastal Cleanup.  Find your local cleanup here: www.signuptocleanup.

The post Is the Food Industry the Next Frontier in Ocean Plastic? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Celebrating 47 Years of Protecting the Ocean

Next week is our anniversary—47 years of advocating for our ocean. The occasion serves as an opportunity to reflect on how much we have done, and how much we have left to do.

It is no secret that these are trying times for our country, our ocean and our world. Every day we are confronted with new stories of the effects climate change, sea level rise, algal blooms and more, and how they are altering marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. Some days it can be overwhelming. Feeling like you’re fighting an uphill battle can be an occupational hazard of the conservation world.

But here at Ocean Conservancy, we never back down from a challenge.

We work every single day to protect our ocean in a changing world. I am grateful to Ocean Conservancy’s staff, partners, volunteers and supporters who refuse to let the magnitude of the problem stop them from fighting relentlessly to keep our ocean healthy for generations to come.

I could not be more proud of the work we’ve accomplished over the last 47 years. In the early years, our work focused on species like whales, seals and sea turtles. While we were a part of many success stories, we realized we couldn’t protect species without protecting their habitat. So we thought bigger and shifted to more ecosystem- and systems-based approaches. Today we tackle the greatest global challenges facing our ocean. And partnerships have always been a major component of our work. We engage people who rely on the ocean and make a living from the ocean to develop long-term solutions for the ocean. We also bring businesses to the table for long-term, durable solutions that benefit not just the ocean, but coastal communities and the economies dependent on it—a key part of our mission to this day.

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Since those early days, we’ve expanded our vision quite a bit, and now have nine programs ranging from Sustainable Fisheries and Trash Free Seas to Ocean Climate and Arctic Conservation, and more. We will continue to grow and change as new threats to our ocean emerge. While the problems facing our ocean may change, our mission will not. We remain dedicated to creating science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. We also continue to value diversity, inclusion and integrity, and are committed to bringing everyone to the table—including indigenous peoples and people of color who may have historically been excluded from conservation conversations.

I want to thank all of our supporters, near and far, who make our work possible. I say without exaggeration that we could not do what we do without your help. But in honor of our anniversary, I want to ask just a little more of you. Think of it as a birthday wish, if you will:

Next time you feel discouraged about the magnitude of problems facing our ocean, take a minute to think of us. Know that we are working for you, and for our ocean, every day. You are part of a global community of ocean advocates who are here for you and depend on your support. And together, we will continue to tackle the ocean’s biggest problems, one day at a time.

The post Celebrating 47 Years of Protecting the Ocean appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Ocean Observations for Climate Science with the SY Malizia

Racing yacht delivers important data from remote ocean regionsAfter about three thousand nautical miles across the Atlantic, racing yacht Malizia with skipper Boris Herrmann reaches New York this week. This ocean crossing attracted a lot of attention because of a special passenger: The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and her father are on board Malizia. At the same time, sensors that have been installed in the yacht more than a year ago, provide important data for oceanography and climate research. The project is a joint initiative of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the Kiel research network "The Future Ocean" and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg.

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