Only 13 (thirteen) Percent Of The Worlds Ocean Wilderness Left
This is real, most of our oceans and seas are just about on their last legs.
For those of you that are still in denial about that I suggest you pop down to your nearest beach with a kiddies fishing net and go and have a wiggle around in the mud or look under some rocks..
Depending on the last time it was that you did this, you’ll either be very surprised and or dismayed.
My kids which are now in their early 20’s never really found much wildlife when they were out with their dip nets. But I assure you there is a lot less wildlife now than their was when they were in their early teens – does not bode well.
Pretty Bad To Dire
This means that we’ve gone from a pretty bad situation to a dire one in relation to the wildlife in our seas, and in a very short space of time. Having carried out this exercise both in the UK and on some European beaches – I’ve have noticed that there is a difference between southern Spain and northern Spain in that northern Spain is less built up and the beaches tend to be of better quality with – wait for it – superior quantities of fish and other wildlife.
But down in the south certainly along the Mediterranean the levels of living stuff are pretty low in and around the beaches. Importantly having been to two of the Red Sea resorts I can assure you that these are, in the main full up with rubbish.
What Has Changed?
Quite a lot it seems, us humans are not content with trashing the land we live on are on a course which will destroy the seas as well, well they are already 87% trashed – we have some little way to go, and the task will be complete; how proud we’ll all be?
According to more than one erudite Biology Journal in the last few months, it clear that our once pristine oceans and seas are no more than a shadow of their former self.
There has been a whole catalogue of bad news for all of our oceans and the wildlife that is contained within them, overfishing and pollution are the two most dangerous things for these animals. I guess, if humans just used visited the beaches and then use the sea as a mode of transport things would be easier on them.
Not Only Plastics
Even before the impact of modern plastics all of our seas were overfished with large numbers of bigger fish and mammal mammals collected, leaving those least able to survive, which has just compounded the problem. I certainly think the introduction of fishing quotas have not helped matters – that’s not for here though.
Interesting to note that the BBC reports ‘a war over scallops’ off the coast of France last night.
What I don’t understand about the issue in relation to plastics is this, we pump our shit into the sea, that shit is then eaten by the remaining fish, we then go and catch the fish and eat it. Scallops are filter feeders, this means they hoover up all the shit we dump.
I am sure that if I offered you up a pile of plastic along with your peas and roast potatoes for Sunday lunch you wouldn’t want to tuck in. But, because you can’t see it you think it’s ok to eat. It isn’t, it’s full of plastics and other shit.
Look, even if you don’t believe me just go and do a Google search go and have a look at some of the stuff that Sky News has produced go watch the BBC 4 documentary about the problems with landfill, and you’ll see that we humans are genuinely ruining the only environment we have.
It’s Not Only The Sea
Between you and me, I honestly thought that once people started to die in our capital cities with breathing difficulties just because of our use of cars and lorries. The government of the day I would actually act, the reality is they don’t give a damn.
it’s only recently that the Mayor of London has started to voice some opinions about it, doesn’t mean he’s going to take any action or do anything about it save an increase in taxation.
If you can’t live on the land because of the pollution, and you can’t take from the seas – because there is bugger all there – and…
A Bit Left
It’s estimated the there is a tiny proportion of untouched ocean left and these pockets remain mainly in the north and south poles , which as you know are not currently on protected by any international agreement – you did know that didn’t you.
Some of these non exploited areas are already being abused by a good number of world nations . No one knows how long it’s going to be before these areas are also destroyed .
There’s a bigger picture to be concerned about here and it’s this. We have depleted some 95 percent of all the fish stocks that did exist. This means, that further extinctions can be expected, and of course you fully understand that once a species is extinct it doesn’t come back – got that. It’s gone forever.
Us humans have created a double whammy for all of our ocean wildlife firstly we have completely and utterly overfished it, therefore destroying its ability to recreate itself as a species and bring the numbers back up. And we have pumped all of our s*** into the sea-what we couldn’t bury in the ground we let it float out into the oceans in the hope that it wouldn’t come back and haunt us. Only it is now.
Look, I get there are many issues. Trump, Brexit, no effective politics in the UK, There are lots of issues. Let me tell you this – if you can’t breathe or the water you drink is toxic not a lot else matters – honestly.
Stop Beating Your Mother
If we continue to abuse the only place we have to live, then that abuse is going to come back and haunt us at some point. Sure population is a problem, but the bigger issue is we seem to treat the planet and our environment as a place to collect all of our s***, and then wonder why – there is a rebound, a bounce back. It’s like the smoker that eventually dies of lung cancer – he knew it was going to happen – just hoped it wouldn’t.
So what are the solutions here.
I’ve covered many before but it’s worth going through them again, what you should be doing is focusing on what you can change, the things you can do. That means using less plastic and where you do use plastic make sure it is recycled correctly, and then to consider very carefully the food you eat and how it’s produced. You should also very carefully consider your energy usage and start to change the things you can.
Most of the information you need is never more than a Google search away, so get searching, start to take personal responsibility. And you’ll find that things start to change, you will have an impact and you will start the process of changing the way those people around you think. If we all start to be more mindful then things will change.
Meanwhile if you start to manage your money more effectively, that will free up more time for you to focus on lobbying and educating others. It’s for that reason I created the money trainers product so that we could all learn more about money and start to change the planet one pound at a time.
There’s more on www.moneytrainers.co.uk, come over I’m trying to create a group of like minded souls – it’s gonna be a hoot and we’ll all learn something.