Thoughts for the Day: Protecting Our Environment

In addition to being a full-time mom, I write science curriculum.
Currently, I’m writing an oceanography course.
My goal for the course is to help students connect with the ocean (even if they are landlocked).

Right now, I’m writing a lesson about how we, humans, can essentially mess up ocean ecosystems.
I am appalled by some of the things that we do (or have done in the past).
I mean, who really thought that dumping sewage right off the coast could ever be an okay idea?
That’s disgusting!  Even if you don’t swim close to the dump site, the sewage can spread out and wash up onto your beach.
Not to mention all of the damage it does to the marine life surrounding the dump site.
They’ve “fixed” this issue by making dump sites farther away from the coast.  We’ll see how that turns out eventually.

What about something seemingly more innocuous?
Trash.
Have you ever thought about the small piece of trash that the wind blew out of your hand?
Where did it go?
Did it get eaten by an animal somewhere?
Did it travel through a storm water drain to the nearest creek, get swept into a river, and end up in the ocean?

Oh, the damage it could do there…especially when all of the pieces of plastic trash add up.
Plastic trash can trap and strangle animals.
Plastic can replace their food and cause the animals to starve.
Plastic can absorb small bits of toxins from the ocean, store and compile them, and give a lethal dose to an animal who ingests the plastic.

You may be asking why should we care?
The ocean is big and it may be far away from you, so how can it affect you?
Well, over 50% of the world’s population lives near the coast.  More than 80% of Americans live within an hour of the ocean or the Great Lakes.
The ocean supplies 70% of the oxygen we breathe.  (That’s right, those tiny little algae floating on the ocean’s surface are quite important.)
About 25% of protein eaten by people comes from fish.
Damage the ocean, damage the food supply.

So what can we do?  It’s the little things really.  The choices we make.
Here’s something to get you started.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!  Heard that one before? Ever really thought about it?

Reduce!  – reduce your imprint on the environment.  Buy less stuff.  Use less plastic.
Put less into the trash.  Bring your own bags to the store.  Do not buy one time use plastics.
Buy items that have less packaging.

Reuse! – Reuse items instead of buying new ones.  Choose items that can be reused. (Bring your lunch in a reusable plastic container instead of a one time use plastic baggie.)
Buy used items whenever possible.
Find ways to repurpose items.
Upcycling is a hot trend right now. Take something tired and worn out and give it a new life.
For example, check out the upcycled t-shirt dress from Cheri at I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar.
She’s got tons of other refashioning and upcycling ideas.  Check them out!
There is a plethora of ideas for repurposing household items like furniture on the web.
Go explore and find a project for that flea market find that needs some updating.
Have fun and be friendly to the environment at the same time!

Recycle! – You are probably most familiar with this one.  It is becoming a way of life for many.
Instead of trashing it, we recycle it!
Just remember to recycle as much as you can as often as you can!
If there are not recycling facilities near you, work to get them.

Before you throw something away, ask yourself,
“Can I recycle this?”  “Can I use this for something else?”

Thank you for reading what was on my mind today.
Thank you for doing your part to protect our environment!

**My facts and figures came from my Oceanography book by Trujillo and Thurman.