Decline, decline, decline

I saw a comment on a discussion forum about a charity wristband that they writer had accepted, but he didn't think it was a good thing to be making stuff out of plastic. He realised it was just more stuff.

My answer is to not accept it. Or, worst case, if you've taken it without thinking go back, and tell them you don't want it, and why. It's difficult with charities, especially those you admire and support, but they still have email to get in touch.

I decline stuff all the time, and I feel better for it. Flyers, catalogues, whatever they're handing out. There was a couple of guys handing out plastic bottles of water at my local train station recently. They gave me some weird looks because I turned them down. They took a step or two to follow me, thinking I had mis-heard, "It's free!" - "I don't want it, thanks."

Don't take it, decline it, say "No thanks."

Newport Beach - Balloons

Here's a stock photo of Newport beach...similar blowy conditions to yesterday.

And here's a bunch of litter pulled off the beach, including a spoon, toy gun caps, the ubiquitous soy sauce fish lid, and the remains of four balloons.

Here's why I picked up what was left of the balloons, and why you shouldn't buy them:

Aloysius the talking dolphin tells us why he doesn't like balloons

This link has ten things to do to save the ocean, including not releasing balloons

Newport Beach - fishing line

Not sure why, but the beach was way busier than it was, say, three months ago.  Perhaps it is something to do with the weather. Anyway, regular readers will know the form by now.  Here's a picture of the beautiful beach...

 and here's a picture of trash I picked up from it.  This is not all the trash I saw - I was on an R&R trip - but I picked up what looked like the most dangerous. Fishing line, and what looks like a used chemical light, and a golf ball. Oh and some kind of plastic bracket.

Here's another shot - of the dune this time.

Here's more line that I had to wade into the sea to get.  It was in a big clump of seaweed.  Easy to spot because of its turquoise colour.  It got me to thinking that all line should be a hideous colour that would be easier to find, and less likely for creatures to eat or become entangled in.

We were lucky enough to see from the beach a pair of humpbacks cavorting and breaching. How privileged I felt, and of course sorry that their ocean was full of fishing line, chemical lights, bottles, bottle tops, chupa chup sticks and lids from plastic soy sauce fish.

More Plastic Trash on Newport Beach

Here's the north end of Newport Beach.

On this trip there was plastic trash everywhere I looked. lots of the trash was in fragments - small pieces of plastic or polystyrene.  So much I couldn't take a pic of it all at the time - but here are some example pieces.  How someone could lose that pink toy, I don't know.  Fishing line, as usual, very dangerous for animals.  Lollipop sticks from Chupa Chups and the like.  And do you recognise the little red plastic lid?  Every eaten take-away sushi?

Here's the bag of trash - too windy, and the pieces too small to photograph on the day...

...but here is the whole haul.  How many lollipop sticks can you count (see bottom of pic), and how many sushi fish tops can you count (see left of pic).  There is even a whole plastic fish - kind of ironic.

Plastic Trash on Wyrrabalong Beach

Barely scratched the surface - I had nothing to carry it all in.

Plastic Trash on Newport Beach

Three steps to help reverse "shocking decline seen in oceans"

International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) recommendations for immediate action include:

• stopping exploitative fishing now, with special emphasis on the high seas where currently there is little effective regulation
• mapping and then reducing the input of pollutants including plastics, agricultural fertilisers and human waste
• making sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, with mass extinction of marine species looming, according to a panel of scientists.
BBC article on shocking decline of oceans

International Program on the State of the Ocean