I Heart the Big Blue

Vacation by the coast? Yes. Love to surf or wakeboard? Someday soon, I hope. Ever gone whale watching? On my bucket list. Swim with the dolphins? Also, on my bucket list. Fancy snorkeling or scuba? I am a huge fan.

Yes, I love to lose myself in the Big Blue.

In fact, while speaking of color, I lean to blue more than red and lean-to green more than blue. I’m a registered Green Party follower. Which level of green do you say? Well, I’d say medium green – like a cheery green blade of grass. My dream is to someday move towards a medium grey-green – like the muted green rolling hills before the sun rises. Yes, this sounds good to me. Ten-year life goals: Be a deeper shade of proud green and embrace my love of stewardship.

How did I become so environmentally conscious? Nature and nurture. My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. Several of their lifestyle tips rubbed off on me. Once at camp, environmental science grabbed my attention. It helped me become more aware of conservation – the sustainable relationship between people and the earth while valuable resources continue to be used. People will continue to take necessary steps to monitor these resources so long as they remain convenient. For example, replace an old water heater with a new sustainable one that uses less water and is more energy-efficient. A tax deduction is an incentive for people to continue practicing sustainability.

Preservation was another topic taught at camp. This idea has more to do with keeping animal habitats and national parks free from people's use – sectioned off and unreachable. This concept includes keeping commercial developers from industrializing these pristine areas of land and space. In college, the environment was my focus. Post-college, I watched documentary films about more pressing issues. These shows left me with a sense of personal responsibility.

Let’s move from green back to blue.

Ocean pollution is at an all-time high – plastics, plastics everywhere. Water bottles, grocery bags, and even broken-down debris is washing up onshore on small islands in the South Pacific and larger continents like Asia. One of the larger areas where waste is seen is the ocean space between Hawaii and California.

According to the Ocean Clean Up website (theoceancleanup.com), “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or GPGP, is 1.6 million square kilometers large and twice the size of Texas. By conversion, 1.6 million square kilometers is 617,763.4537 square miles. The weight at press time online was 80,000 tons or a better image – the weight of 500 jumbo jets.” These numbers were as current as the website and are growing daily.

Another pressing issue is marine life or, more accurately, marine death. Online news sources often report as much as monthly of dying or decomposing sea life washing up ashore. Many of these beautiful beings have plastic waste lodged in their intestinal linings. The poisoning of our oceans requires action now to curb our carbon footprint.

Yes. Right. Now.

According to the Ocean Conservancy’s Blog Ocean Currents, “The United States generates the most plastic waste of any country in the world. While we have just 4% of the world’s population, we create 17% of the world’s plastic waste. And this production of plastic waste has far too long outpaced our ability to manage it.” This is disheartening, and we as a nation must be more proactive about changing this sobering reality.

What can we do? How can we help?

First, we, the 17% of waste creators, create global warming by increased levels of greenhouse gases. These gasses result from our carbon footprint – simply put, our energy expenditure over the course of a lifetime. Everyday changes in our lifestyle habits and purchasing behavior can make a lasting difference not only in our lifetime but in total as a population.

Good news … our EPA’s Clean Air Act enacted by President Joe Biden, effective March 2021, will help to reduce our levels of greenhouse emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Director, Michael Reagan's, greenhouse gas emissions reduction will help slow ocean warming, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification.

Yes, the oceans help with climate regulation.

We enjoy the ocean’s various species. Valuable plant resources like spirulina are revered for their edible green energy. Tasty marine life resources like salmon are enjoyed for their animal protein nutrients. But when it comes to climate regulation, the ocean works in many ways. Phytoplankton, right below the ocean’s water level, work to capture CO2 and turn it into oxygen through photosynthesis. A small amount of carbon is released during the reaction and falls to the ocean floor. This carbon is buried in sediment for millions of years and will someday become oil. This process, in turn, helps regulate the climate.

Secondly, marine animals create their shells out of this CO2. When these animals die, they will release their shell-like exterior to the ocean floor. Their shell will become sediment and sit on the bottom of the ocean floor for several million years. This sediment continues today to help regulate climate change.

Lastly, the air-sea interface helps capture CO2. Coldwater dissolves CO2 and pushes it farther down into deep waters. After many, many years, these dissolved elements return to the surface, are heated by the sun, and become CO2 again. This is called the biological pump, where the ocean’s temperature regulates the amount of CO2 released.

Ocean warming begins with global warming. If the polar ice caps shrink from rising temperatures, there are less viable habitats available for animals living in sub-zero conditions, like polar bears and baby seals. Rising sea levels mean polar bears swim more than twenty miles to find the next large pieces of ice to rest. Sooner or later, they will drown.

Rising sea levels result in land erosion in coastal cities and towns. People’s property size will shrink because of the rising water table. Marginalized areas with low-income families may be subject to flash floods from storms or repeated flooding from low levies.

Ocean acidification – stemming again from global warming – creates a higher pH in the water, killing off sea life and plant life that exists in more optimal water temperatures. Rising sea levels mean that designated farming areas on Earth with shriveling vegetation will be forced to relocate to more fertile places with temperate weather. Climate regulation is huge, and we are an active variable in the bigger equation. As a species, we are stewards of the Earth. As a nation, we can all do a better job.

Sustainability is our today and our tomorrow. It is a non-stop 24/7 job where we all have to take responsibility. Imparting higher rates or scheduled use times for utilities may become our new reality. Steeper fees and less availability of resources may be closer than we think.

These sustainability hacks are simple ways we as Americans can learn to curb our use of plastics, reduce our carbon footprint, and treat Mother Nature like a lady. In return, we can produce a more beautiful planet full of clean ocean water, viable sea life, and fertile habitats for all of our species.

Recycling:

Recycling plastic waste, metal cans, and tins, paper and cardboard help our planet. Look for a triangular recycling logo number on each item. If the number is on the approved recycling list, toss it in on your blue recycling bin located in your garage or basement, apartment dwelling, or dorm.

Recycling also encompasses bio-degradable items. Have leftover food scraps? Start a composting pile in your backyard. YouTube has some tutorials for beginners. Remember to order worms online and to rotate your pile with a shovel every other day. Place dirt on top of your pile to prevent rodents from showing. Worms, oxygen, and maintenance will help shrink the pile and turn your green waste into black gold for your garden.

Recycling can also include food waste. Don’t have a backyard? Raw veggie scraps can make great vegetable stock. Place a bag in your freezer for vegetable scraps. Every day place new scraps inside until the bag is full. Place the scraps in a pot, add water and seasoning, simmer for one hour, and veggie stock is your friend. Place meat and bones in your pot with water, add seasoning, simmer, and it's now beef, chicken, or pork broth. Boil down just the bones on low heat with water, and it's bone broth. All broths can be set aside, cooled, and frozen for future use.

Reducing:

Reduction is a state of mind. Living life from abundance means that people tread lightly on our planet. Reduction is about leaving the smallest mark in life. Operating from a place of scarcity is an unhealthy mindset. This leads to hoarding behaviors, like hoarding toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or even food during the pandemic. There’s enough for everyone: jobs, money, food, mobility, time, space, and love.

Reduction is a decision that can be made at any time. Try intermittent fasting – reduce your food window to six or eight hours, and you’re left with more time and money. Try the (8:16) plan – 8 hours on and 16 hours off plan every day or maybe the (6:18) plan – 6 hours on and 18 hours off, which might work better for you. With one less meal, there are fewer things to juggle daily. Fewer meals mean fewer calories in and more calories out. Add some daily exercise and you will feel amazing.

Reduction of plastic bottles for me meant a commitment to drop my soda habit. Water or tea is now my go-to beverage. It was easily a two/day habit. Doing the math, a 20oz soda at CVS is $1.99. Add the CRV fee of five cents, which comes to $2.04. Now add the soda tax, which is two cents per ounce equaling forty cents, and we are now at $2.44. No, we are not finished. The sales tax in my city is 8.5% multiplied by $2.44 equals twenty-one cents. We are at $2.65. Now multiply that by two (a day), and we are at $5.30. Take $5.30 and multiply that by 30 days, and we have $159/month. Take $159 and multiply that by 12 months, and we are at $1908.00/year. That amount of money is a nice vacation for two at a three- or four-star hotel in a sweet city somewhere in the 48 states for three days and two nights – including airfare! The number of bottles saved … two bottles/day times 365 days/year is 730. Take 730 and multiply it by, let’s say, five years is 3,650. Ten years is 7,300 bottles saved from the landfill or the ocean.

Reduction of goods is my final theme in this section. Minimalism is something I’ve been practicing since the beginning of 2017. Little by little, I donated most of my belongings. By the end of 2019, I had donated 85 percent. I gave my 18-year-old car to a friend since I was no longer using it. I wasn’t interested in purchasing a new one. Car payments are not sexy, neither are insurance payments – no more maintenance, gas, tickets, or tolls. I now live in a better location and (pre-pandemic) worked nearby with a twenty-minute commute on foot: no more stressful traffic jams or crowded mass transit. No, minimalism isn’t about living a lean life. It’s about living a simple life and filling it full of meaning: relationships, family, friendships, creative endeavors, dreams, goals, realities. Vanish the clutter standing in your way, and your dream life will follow.

Reusing:

Reusing is the third component to living a better life. I recently joined a Facebook Group called Buy Nothing. This awesome site where everything you no longer want can be gifted to another person in the group. It’s not barter or a money exchange site. It’s merely gifting your stuff to others. Place a notice on the group’s wall and wait for folks to answer, direct message them back to arrange a time for pickup, and poof, it’s gone. Even better… trips to Goodwill will never be needed again. And best, landfill averted. When you let go of something in your life, the universe rewards you with more. In doing so, you’re making room for new energy to show up: friends, jobs, lovers, etc.

Reusing can mean rejecting clothing trends. Keep your clothes and use them until you cannot. Thrift, share, trade, or repurpose if you know how to sew or even make your own. The fashion industry is one of the most wasteful. Retail stores are known for destroying new clothes and throwing these items in dumpsters once the season is over. Employees are not allowed by corporate to give away clothes to the homeless or people in need. This happens every season, meaning four times a year.

Reusing at donation stores, sometimes run by non-profit agencies, take measures to keep landfills cleaner. How? They send clothing overflow to third-world countries for people in need. This operation helps those people that have next to nothing. So #cancelfashion and dress to the beat of your own drum. Become an anti-consumer. Think of all of the clothes averted from the landfill. Consider the leather and silk and all the animals you saved. Think of all the forced labor in third-world countries you did not support. Over the course of your life, you will have spared thousands of animals and will have chosen to treat tens of thousands of people with more respect.

Final thoughts ...

Reducing means making choices financial decisions. Materialism works for people with money to burn. I’d rather spend my green on adventures, or trips, or on something I’ve never before experienced. People and places, not things. Believe that the dollar you didn’t spend on possessions can be spent on other interests that matter more to you. Your dollar represents your voice. Several million voices can change the world for social justice or vegan investing or starting a small nonprofit business that promotes saving the Earth and all of its beautiful creatures. Leave your money to charity, leave a legacy, and you will have left your mark on the world.

These are only a few ideas that can be a great starting place. I like to spend my time tidying up my world in my thoughts. Looking at real-world challenges and being thankful for coming up with possible solutions. I’ve been at this self-discovery thing for quite a while. What works for me may not work for you, so take what works and leave the rest. Life is what you make of it. What’s my motivation? I’m going to continue being green – that way – I can enjoy the Big Blue.

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