Begin with the face in the mirror and keep our oceans clean

The cover photo is of a breathtaking, beautiful blue ocean. Not long ago a different image on a body of water was given to the world. The organization Parley For The Oceans released a video that shocked everyone who viewed it because it gave us a glimpse of how humans are destroying our natural wonders. . The video depicted a ginormous wave of plastic pollution and garbage that had washed up in the Dominican Republic on the shores of Santo Domingo after a storm. You literally could not see any water, but only trash flowing just like a normal wave and it was pretty disgusting.

Volunteers descended on the beach in order to clean it up and in only nine days, they had collected more than 520 tons of trash. This should be a wake up call for every one of us to do our part to prevent such a travesty from happening again. This video is only part of the story as everyday animals and oceans suffer from the wrongful disposal of trash and plastic as well as the overuse of plastic products.

A disturbing report from The world Society Protection of Animals (WSPA) indicates that every year between 57,000 and 135,000 whales become entangled by plastic marine debris. This does not even take into account the numerous fish, birds, turtles, and other species that are affected by the overload of plastic in our seas. There are simple steps we all can take that will remedy this disturbing turn of events and I am willing to do my part. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. If everyone starts with the reflection that looks back from the mirror we can make much progress.

Michael Jackson sang:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways

And no message could've been any clearer

If you want to make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make that

Change!

I'm gonna make a change

For once in my life

It's gonna feel real good

Gonna make a difference

Gonna make it right

Following are the changes that I intend to make.

1. Responsible disposal of waste

Research reveals that the average humans dispose of 4.4 pounds of trash every day. We probably do not think about the volume of waste products we utilize or where all of that garbage is going. The problem is that when the landfill becomes full, a lot of the debris ends up in the ocean. I'm going to pay more attention to the packaging of the products I purchase from now on and make sure I am not overloading on plastic containers. I will also check to see if there is anyone who can wear my old gently worn clothing. If not I will donate these items to Goodwill or a church clothing pantry so I don't have to put them in the trash.

2. Consuming Sustainable Seafood

Sustainable seafood is fish that are caught in a manner that focuses on the protection of the environment. I'm going to only eat sustainable seafood, from now on because this helps stop practices like bottom trawling which takes place when boats drag nets along the ocean floor and scoop up and kill everything in its path. Eating sustainable seafood also prevents the use of explosives that cause paralyzed or dead fish to float to the top of the ocean. I am going to look for terms like "diver caught" “line caught,” “diver caught,” “sustainably harvested,” or “sustainably caught,” when I purchase seafood from a restaurant or grocery store.

3. Plastic Microbeads

I will also check product labels and discontinue cosmetic items that have plastic microbeads because they negatively affect hundreds of marine species. If the words polypropylene and “polythyelene” are on the ingredient label of your cosmetic products then they have plastic microbeads. I am searching now for better choices.

There are many ways we can save our oceans and the wildlife and these are the 3 I am starting with. As time goes on I will add other methods that ensure situations like the one on the beach in the Dominican Republic do not happen again.