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- International: Navigating Plastics
International: Navigating Plastics
What is at issue:
The Water People Expedition is a global ocean quest with the mission of creating and sharing original multimedia to advocate for the protection of marine and coastal environments. In its first year the expedition catamaran would traverse much of the Mediterranean Sea from east to west and it therefore offered an ideal storytelling platform for such a pressing issue as plastics pollution. Captain and crew, Tim Burgess and Mitchelle Nieuwenhuizen, are a professional filmmaker and photographer respectively, and the aim of this project was to create a short film for online social platforms which communicated the issue. Additionally, a dedicated project web page would offer an achievable action plan for the audience and more clarification on typical questions such as:
- what are microplastics, and what danger do they pose?
- where does plastic pollution come from?
- what sort of solutions are suggested by science?
visit Water People World
What's happening now:
Sailing west in the Mediterranean the expedition crew Tim and Mitch come across a lot of plastic pollution. Concerned and eager to understand it better they reach out to marine biologist Sergio Ruiz- Halpern of Save The Med foundation. He confirms the severity of the problem, and says that there is much more going unseen. Using a manta trawl device towed behind expedition vessel, the water is filtered and Sergio allows the crew to witness microplastics firsthand. Tim and Mitch are shaken into action — forced to consider the situation in the environment around them and to question their own lifestyle practices. "Are we doing enough to minimise the amount of plastic we are using? Are we recycling everything that can be recycled? And our clothes, are they made from natural fibres? And, most of all, are we making our voices heard to government and industry?"
Sources of plastic pollution particularly affecting the Mediterranean are outlined, including unprotected landfill sites, tourism zones, use of synthetic clothing, tyre dust, degraded plastics from agriculture, ghost fishing gear, and spills of plastic pellets.
What we have achieved:
The project results will be distributed for impact through the social channels of the Water People Expedition and various third-party media platforms.
The audience is encouraged to take action by signing a petition for a strong Global Plastic Treaty and to undertake an action plan such as that created on the accompanying web page.
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