Category Archives: Get involved

An Ocean Friendly Christmas

Ok, so you’ve reduced, reused, recycled this year; said “no” to plastic straws; diligently dragged cloth shopping bags to the checkout for your groceries, and generally tried to be an environmentally sensitive global citizen…

But with the Christmas season upon us, do all our good intentions disappear under a feast of festive food and generosity of gift giving?  Is it possible to still revel in this time of goodwill and excess while still caring for our impact on the planet?

The answer is a resounding “yes” – with a little forward thought and planning.

Websites such as www.4ocean.com lead the way in thoughtful presents that benefit the world around us.  Every product purchased funds the removal of half a kilogram of rubbish from our oceans.  Many of their items are made from recycled plastic or glass bottles and can be returned to them to be re-purposed into other gifts down the track.

www.oceanandcompany.com donate money from every sale to support research and awareness campaigns centred around ocean pollution.

For the more practically minded person on your shopping list, www.floraandfauna.com.au  has many great household items that will still be used long after Christmas becomes a distant memory.

The fashion conscious might enjoy something from www.biome.com.au that has ethically produced choices in its clothing line – along with 100% recycled gift wrap – which will help save the estimated 50,000 trees cut down every year to decorate our presents.

Experiences are of course a wonderful gift that don’t need to cost the earth – and they may even help save it.  Ocean Life Education runs Marine Biologist for a Day Programs which help inspire children to care for our oceans and the creatures that live in it.  They’re fun, educational and might just set them on a career path that helps the planet.  Find out more details at

https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/marine-biologist-for-a-day/

For many of us, the festive season will involve time at the beach, enjoying our coveted coastline.  But when the celebrations are over, and the focus turns to the New Year, what resolutions will you make to help preserve the part of the planet we value so much?

The donation of a little time and energy can help make a world of difference to our waterways. There are a number of community groups that run clean-up campaigns dedicated to removing rubbish from our foreshores.  Check out organisations such as www.seashepherd.org.au www.surfrider.org.au or www.cleanup.org.au

It’s all about finding balance – enjoying the things we love while ensuring our good times don’t devastate the watery world around us.  Have a wonderful ocean friendly summer from the team at Ocean Life Education.

Saving Our Seas

save our seasAs World Ocean Day approaches, it’s timely do a health check on the biggest part of our planet – and the prognosis isn’t promising. It’s estimated there are 5 and a quarter TRILLION pieces of plastic in our waterways – or put simply 15 grocery bags of garbage for every metre of coastline in the world! Take a moment to consider that – enough rubbish to completely cover the shoreline of our planet, several times over.

Even more frightening is the prediction that the volume of plastic will out-weigh fish in our seas in the next 30 years – is this the legacy we want to leave our children? It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the problem, but it is possible to turn the tide on plastic waste, one piece at a time.

Education is a big part of the solution – making the connection between rubbish on the ground and the state of our oceans. Wind and rain carry plastic bags, lids, straws and packaging into rivers and our drainage system, sending them on a one way journey to the sea. We don’t have to live within coo-ee of the coast to be making the situation worse.

Removing rubbish from public areas is certainly a step in the right direction but long term, we need to change our disposable lifestyle. Convenience has cost our planet dearly and while re-usable requires more planning, effort, and often expense, can we really afford not to?

The ocean produces more than 70% of the oxygen we breath and absorbs carbon dioxide to help keep the planet healthy. At Ocean Life Education we make it our mission to help the youngest members of community understand and respect our oceans by connecting with our ocean ambassadors. Older children have the opportunity to study the ocean environment in more depth in our Marine Biologist for a Day programs.

We are always blown away by the passion and dedication of many of our younger generation towards marine conservation – but to really make a difference, we all have to get on board with the need to save our seas.

 

Choose to refuse plastic in July

Choose to Refuse Plastic Free July

July is ‘Plastic Free July’

Did you know Australians use around 100 kilograms of plastic packaging per household each year? Choose to refuse single use plastic this July by signing up for the Plastic Free July challenge at www.plasticfreejuly.org. You will receive tips and support through a weekly e-newsletter during the month and you won’t be alone. You’ll be joining a million+ people world-wide in making a difference.

It is so simple to be part of Plastic Free July. Firstly, remember your reusables! Being plastic free means you always need your trusty reusable water bottles, reusable coffee cups and reusable bags handy.

Secondly, spread the word – grab your friends or co-workers and spread the plastic free love.

Go plastic free and make a differenceplastic-free-july-logo-straight-lge

The more people that choose to refuse, the greater impact we can make in reducing landfill and saving our oceans! We encourage you to help people share the challenge in your workplace, community, school and other groups.

What can you do?

From hosting a plastic free morning tea to giving your local cafe posters to encourage reusable coffee cups there are lots of materials to share and are all free to use.

Here’s some ideas we put together specifically for schools and childcare centres:

  • Plastic free morning tea: Use it as a healthy and fun way to introduce children to the problems of single-use plastic in an easy way. Plan a plastic free morning tea
  • Plastic free living workshops: give children and people skills and alternatives to plastic. This could be sewing reusable bags or making preserves. Plan a plastic free workshop
  • Bid Audit – what’s in your bin? A bin audit is a great way to see how much plastic you dispose in your school or workplace. You can opt for a comprehensive audit, weighing all the rubbish or go for a simple audit and just count the number of plastic items.
  • Have a school cleanup day: cleanup the school grounds or surrounding areas and work on ways to target plastic litter.
  • Have a ‘nude food’ day: nude food lunch days are days when students (and parents!) try their best to pack a lunch box without single-use disposable plastic.
  • Start a plastic free initiative. Get inspired by these great case studies.
  • Encourage others to refuse plastic: share these freely available posters & flyers with your local cafe, school or group to encourage people to use reusable coffee cups and bags.

All the tools and resources you need for your Plastic Free July are at www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Share with us

We’d love to see what your doing in your Plastic Free July. Post your pics on Facebook and tag @oceanlifeeducation so we can share them and inspire others to go plastic free. Let’s all do our bit to keep our waterways and oceans plastic free!

Plastic Free July – take the challenge

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Ocean Life Education is encouraging local households, businesses and schools to accept the Plastic Free July Challenge. The challenge is quiet simple: attempt to consume no single-use plastic during July.

Single-use plastic is anything that is intended to be used once then thrown away. If all single-use plastic sounds a bit daunting, just try the “big four” single-use plastic items are plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic straws and plastic containers.

“Single use plastic is one of the most concerning issues facing our oceans and its inhabitants and it won’t go away by itself. Join us in reducing and ridding single use plastic from our every day use to protect the future of our ocean animals – and us.”

Read more about the problem with plastics in our oceans.

Will you accept the challenge?

Plastic free July is a fun challenge that gets us thinking about the amount of plastic packaging in our lives.

Why participate?

  • Australians send 1 million tonnes of plastic to landfill each year. And too much plastic ends up as litter.
  • Chemicals in plastics can have harmful effects on our health.
  • You’re not alone! Join the PFJ network and join us at events, workshops and online discussion forums.

The Challenge

  • Attempt to consume no single-use plastic during July.
  • Collect any plastic packaging you do buy. Keep it in a ‘dilemma bag’.

Choose your challenge and Register!

People can register for the challenge; and share their experiences, ideas and tips at www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Deplastify your life

Use this plastic detox mind map for ideas on how to deplastify your life!

Plastic Detox Mind Map A4

Plastic Free July started as a local initiative in Perth, Western Australia and has grown into a global initiative.

If you’re interested in this topic and would like us to host a workshop for your students or early learners, check out our programs.