The Ocean

Let’s talk about the ocean. Cause let’s face it: our oceans are filled with trash – our trash.

Our oceans have more plastic in them than fish. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into the ocean, and 17.6 billion pounds go into the ocean EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Around 94% of earth’s living species live in the ocean, and they ingest or get entangled by plastic debris, which causes severe injuries and deaths. In the Pacific Ocean, there’s an island of trash twice the size of Texas.

Paul Watson once said: The reality is that if the ocean dies, we die – because the ocean provides all of those things which make it possible for us to live on the planet. If phytoplankton disappears, we disappear also; we can’t live on this planet without phytoplankton.

(Phytoplankton are tiny microscopic organisms that float in the ocean. Lots of animals eat phytoplankton, including whale sharks, who swim along with their mouth open, sucking in plankton.)

Why can’t we live without phytoplankton? Because they generate around half of the atmosphere’s oxygen, and the ocean produces over 70% of earth’s oxygen. If plankton disappeared it would increase the amount of carbon in the air, making it difficult for us to breathe. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it would also accelerate climate change.

And that’s why I’m about to tell you this:

A month or two before Christmas in 2019 (I think), we were in a store and I noticed this small rack of beautiful beaded bracelets. The company was called 4Ocean, and I learned that when you buy one of their products, it pulls a pound of trash from the ocean. So I bought one of their bracelets for $20.

I later realized that they had a website (please go check it out after reading this!): https://www.4ocean.com

I wanted to help more. I bought another bracelet, and my brother got me another one last Christmas. Right now, I have a long Christmas list of 4Ocean products!

4Ocean’s current goal is to reach 20 million pounds of trash by 2022, and they already have 17 million pulled!

I encourage you to check out their website – and maybe buy a bracelet or two! (Yes, their bracelets aren’t the cheapest, but they have great quality and are gorgeous! And, bonus, you help save the ocean when you buy one!)

The ocean – and the animals in the ocean – needs help. And if we do nothing about it, one day, there might not be an ocean to swim in or to surf the waves.

So go buy a bracelet. Wear it. And when people ask you about it, tell them that it’s made from trash. And that it’s helping save the ocean. Then maybe they’ll go buy one, too.