Imagine all people living life in peace. Imagine making a better place to live for you and me. Imagine living surrounded by more lush green valleys, with a large and dependable river where multiple types of fish such as sunfishes, bluegills and catfishes jump and swim.
Imagine more green houses with designed gardens that allow its owners to have tea in the outdoor garden just outside the main door, or to lie down in a scentsy fragrance flower bed.
Imagine living in a town with idyllic architecture supported by huge green areas, where neighbors can enjoy picnics in the outdoor green as well as the energy of sports parks. Imagine having more romantic parks with lakes, boats, recreation areas and restaurants that give several options to relax, to enjoy and to breathe pure oxygen. Imagine looking at the distance and seeing this beautiful landscape protected by rainbow mountains. Immaculate white clouds set on its top with a large waterfall pounding the rocks.
You may say that I am a dreamer, but I don’t mind because I am not the only one. This world needs more dreamers to change it and make it a better place to live. Being a dreamer I love travelling around the world to discover new magical places. The ones that call more my attention are mystery historical cities. I can lose the sense of the time and immerse myself in the magic of a historical city, in its buildings and sculptures, in cities such as Venice or Paris. On the other hand, I dream of paradisiac beaches like The Caribbean where you can enjoy tropical weather. You can feel the sun kissing your skin, refresh yourself with delicious tropical cocktails, and eat exotic fruits that bring to your palate a creamy texture with a rich taste. I mainly like the paradisiac beaches and their pristine water.
It is a pity that people drop pieces of plastic bags in the waters. Some shoppers don’t care about the planet and only care about themselves. It is sad that 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean harming all types of fish and wildlife every year. Birds, fish, marine mammals and turtles often mistake shredded plastic bags for food, filling their stomachs with toxic debris and getting trapped in some plastic trashes. When plastic enters the food chain, it not only affects marine life, it can also harm human health. Have in consideration that fish comes to our plates and fish is part of our daily diets.
Plastic was invented by a Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland in 1907. Since Baekeland’s creation, many new types of plastics have been realised and developed, offering a huge range of desirable goods such as jewelry, elements of vehicles and roads in some countries. Some of these plastic compounds, that factories use to create goods for the public, have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.
The plastic bags we use today when we go shopping were created by the Swedish company Cellopast in 1965 to replace the paper bags that were more expensive to the suppliers and more fragiles for the customers.
Plastic bags have a drastic impact on the environment, rivers, bays and oceans:
-Each year about 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. If some of these plastic bags reach rivers, bays or oceans it will take between 500 and 1,000 years to completely degrade.
-Plastics kill about 100 million marine animals. 100,000 marine animals are killed by being tangled in plastic trash or because of ingesting plastic.
-Chemicals. As supermarket plastic bags, soda rings and bottles decompose they release toxic chemicals into the water. These toxic chemicals are associated with plastics leaching into the water, degrading its quality with toxic compounds and ending up harming human beings and animals’ health. A chemical created when certain plastic decomposes is also suspected of causing cancer.
-Oxygen. Chemical leachates from plastic bags impair the growth of the world’s most important microorganisms. Prochlorococcus microorganisms are a marine bacterium that provides one tenth of the world’s oxygen.
-Cost. The cost of disposable and cleaned up plastic bags increases public spend yearly. It is expensive to clean all the oceans. Amount is over $90 billion per year. That cost includes programs to clean up ocean trash, better manage waste and improve wastewater treatment plants.
-Negative impact in our ecosystem. The impact of microplastics in soils, sediments and freshwater could have a long-term negative effect in our ecosystem.
Another problem that encounters exotic places is overtourism. Due to social media and TV, many idyllic places that offer incredible views to take pictures are now proposed to millions of tourists worldwide. Over tourism creates a major environmental problem of disposal and pollution. An example of unprotecting natural environments are the coral reefs around the world. As global warming and tourists are irreparably ruining them, corals are part of a natural system that is becoming extinct.
People from around the world should convince themselves that the world is in our hands. We need to start respecting nature immediately to save our planet and our lives. So… how should we start cutting down the use of polluted items that endanger our waters including rivers, bays and oceans?
-If you use plastic bags, reuse them and recycle them.
-Use fashionable reusable bags for shopping.
-In case you want to take care of your back, use a shopping trolley.
-Encourage your family members, friends, workmates, neighbors or followers on social media to reduce the use of plastic bags.
-Recycle when you have a picnic on the beach, when you sport running around the river carrying your plastic water bottle, or when walking your doggie. Remember to throw the plastic bottles, soda rings and plastic bags in the proper container.
-Recycle when you are sailing, instead of throwing plastic trash on the ocean, bays or rivers.
As CMO at Ya-Hub Group, I always speak to my business partners and translators about taking care of our planet, recycling, and having a green garden at home. I always compliment my neighbors for having a beautiful garden full of different fruits, for placing seeds in new flowerpots, for using reusable bags for shopping.
I get this chance to remind you of the importance of respecting the oceans, rivers and nature as our lives depend on them. Oceans produce about half of the world’s oxygen, they regulate our climate and weather patterns. Save the Earth and use reusable bags instead of plastic.