Ocean Plastic may not be Fantastic, but Candy Medusa sure as heck is!
- Take a deep breath in and out
- Take another deep breath and out
That second breath of life-sustaining oxygen you just filled your lungs with… comes from the ocean! When Candy shared that with me I was Breathless!? 😉
We had a truly fabulous TechBandits session talking with Candy about her Ocean faring ecco warrior plastic grappling adventures!
A little background on the Magnificent Candy Medusa…
Candy Medusa is an artist, illustrator, marine biologist whose inspiration comes from nature and her passion for the environment. I strongly recommend that you check out her amazing Website https://www.candymedusa.com/ to see more about her amazing art and her planet saving outreach!
Here are some of the facts about plastic that Candy told us that stood out to me! By the year 2050 there will be more plastic per weight than fish in our oceans!?
Recycling is a lie we want to believe. We create over 368 million metric tons of plastic produced every year.
Only 2% of plastic is “closed loop” that is, a plastic bottle being recycled into a plastic bottle.
It is still cheaper for companies to make new plastic than recycle existing plastics.
Even so called biodegradable plastics break down into micro plastics that end up in our environment, our food and our water… in fact thanks to all the plastic polluting our environment, we consume the equivalent of a Credit card of plastic every week!
Only 8.7 % of produced plastics are actually recycled.
I’m a huge fan of OurWorldInData.org and so, wanting more numbers to get my head around, I looked at their site to find that they had a whole section dedicated to plastic pollution! Have a look: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
Candy also recommended The John Oliver show’s recent episode on Plastics…but that’s probably going to be more for the grown ups. It’s not kid friendly, but our Bandits can ignore thebut the message is clear…we’re in big trouble if we don’t rethink how we use plastics!
This is the amazing eXXpedition that Candy Medusa took part in. It’s an on-going voyage of rotating, all-female sailing teams exploring the impact of and solutions to plastic and toxic pollution in our ocean….what do you think Noodles, you in? :https://exxpedition.com/
There’s even a short documentary detailing the very voyage that Candy was involved in and as an added bonus you get to see her getting really sea sick! 😉 She also hates the title, so made sure I didn’t let anyone blame her for that!
She’s also recommended a few other sites:
Surfers Against Sewage which began with UK surfers disgusted by having to surf in sewage water!
The Marine Conservation Society that’s been focus on protecting seas, shores and wildlife in the UK for over 30 years.
From my birthplace to my current home, here’s a TedTalk by one of Candy’s eXXpedition friends who is speaking out about the need to love, appreciate and protect your local rivers, lakes and streams!
Here’s an article covering her work sampling plastics in the Great Lakes
Other things that came up…
This EVERYTHING IS not AWESOME Greenpeace video that forced LEGO to end their partnership with Oil and Gas giant Shell:
And a little detour with a piece on Almonds and declining Bee populations:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe
If you’ve got stories or links to add, then be sure to sign up to our Discord and join the discussion!
Cheers,
D!