World Oceans Day 2016

Posted by Michael Starbuck on 8th Jun 2016

Since starting in 2003, World Oceans Day has become a prominent day for people to learn, understand and take action to help prevent further damage to the Earth's oceans. On top of hundreds of partners, in 2008 World Oceans Day gained United Nations-recognition which has helped it to further gain following and has enabled the day to be recognised globally by millions of people.

The aim of this day is to help spread awareness around the importance of looking after our oceans and the negative impact different types of pollution can have. Each year the day has a different theme to help focus on a specific issue, and the theme this year of “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet” has a focus based around the prevention of plastic ocean pollution; an issue which year on year is becoming more and more serious (especially when it comes to the impact it has on the oceans' wildlife).

Therefore, we will be looking at what we can do to help secure the future of our oceans.

There are a lot of different events being held around the globe including numerous coastal and beach litter clean ups, family fun days to help spread awareness and educate children on the issues facing the oceans and even sustainable seafood cooking classes. If you would like to start an event or perhaps find an event near you, then please do take a look at the World Oceans Day event organising page here and don’t forget to let us know how it goes!

If however, like a lot of people you struggle for time dealing with the stress of everyday life or it is simply too short notice for you to arrange anything then we invite you to take part in the ‘Better Bag Challenge’.

The ‘Better Bag Challenge’ asks you to stop using single use plastic bags and instead stick to re-useable bags only. This is a great way to help reduce the amount of plastic you use in everyday life and believe it or not will make a big difference to helping the world’s oceans. If you do not know how much of a problem plastic has become then please take a look at these facts:

• 88,000 tonnes of plastic is thrown out every day in America alone
• 17 million barrels of oil is used each year to make plastic water bottles, which is enough to fuel 1 million cars for a year
• Plastic pieces in the ocean now outnumber sea life by 6 to 1

If you have already stopped using single use plastic bags then, firstly, fantastic! You are already on your way to helping make a real difference to the oceans, and secondly, we invite you to try some or all of the following:

• Only choose cosmetics and personal care products, like face washes that are free of microbeads. Microbeads are little pieces of plastic that are particularly harmful to the ocean and its animals
• Refuse disposable bottles, utensils, and wrappers, as these items often end up in our ocean
• Only purchase items in sustainable packaging

So what are you waiting for? Go out and join an event, take the ‘Better Bag Challenge’ or simply share this article to help spread the word and you can help make a difference to our oceans today!

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