As a Nation, viewing the hugely successful series the Blue Planet 2, left many of us at the end, acutely aware of the devastating effect plastic is having on our oceans and sea life.

It has been suggested that every year, around 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean, where it can prove fatal to marine life.

This plastic not only pollutes the oceans, but it also contaminates and kills many of the creatures that live in and around it.

Whether its sea birds getting caught in plastic bags and drowning or ingesting plastic mistaking it for food, to whales and dolphins getting caught in fishing nets and dying, the massive variation of plastic waste in our seas is what some scientist say to be ‘the most significant welfare threat of human origin in the ocean’.

The good news is people have not only been made aware of these facts, but are actively doing something about it as a result.

Its been very apparent to me visiting Pembrokeshire this time around that people are becoming much more individually proactive in helping resolve this issue, by actively picking up plastic waste that has been washed up on shore during their coastal walks along the beaches.

Now, I recognise in the great scheme of a global issue, it may appear a pointless exercise to pick up rubbish that tomorrow will be replaced with an equal, if not larger amount of plastic waste.

I for one was one of those who felt these coastal housekeepers where fighting a losing battle and wasting their time.

Because it’s easy to think of the sea as divided up into oceans, but really its one mass of water interconnected and what we do here in the UK effects all the oceans globally.

Likewise anything we can do to help combat this issue will also help globally rather than just locally.

And even if it doesn’t make a dent in the overall issue, it can certainly make a difference to the immediate wildlife and conservation of our local areas.

For someone like myself who loves being by the sea, I want to get involved with helping with this clear up project, however small and insignificant that may appear on the surface.

I recognise that until we work as a collective it will be impossible to resolve the overall issue, but as an individual I’ve come to understand I can still stand for something that I believe is important and in the process make a difference to maybe some sea creatures that may otherwise have needlessly perished had I not picked up that bag or that fishing net.

And it doesn’t have to mean going out of our way or being a Eco martyr.

We can even combine the process with something we are doing anyway, whether that’s walking the dog or getting the kids out of the house.

And it maybe we just collect one piece of rubbish up on a particular day, because that one piece may make the difference between the life and death of one of our ocean creatures.

And this can also serve as a symbiotic relationship.

Not just in the obvious environmental relationship, but one of a more personal nature.

Much of the mental health issues we see today like anxiety, depression, self confidence and self-esteem issues just to mention just a few, stems a lot from thinking about ourselves, what we have and what we do not have. What we are doing with our lives compared to others, or what we had and what we have lost.

We spend hours in self or therapeutic analysis looking at ourselves and where it all went wrong and what interventions or methods we can use to try and become someone we would rather be.

And much of it just seems to keep us stuck. Going round and round in circles jumping from one panacea to the next guru for a solution to being who we think we should, or rather be.

But sometimes the answer is out there and not with us.

Sometimes we can find the solutions we have been searching for for years, not inside our heads, but out there helping to solve even bigger problems than who we believe we are – which at times seems all encompassing!

It may seem like avoidance and distraction therapy and counter intuitive but what many of us lack is a feeling of purpose, of growth and of contribution in our everyday lives that is often a route cause of so many mental health issues today.

And being part of a bigger problem doesn’t have to be an epic event, where we give up all our worldly belongings and join Green Peace.

We can start by just being part of a ‘micro bigger problem movement’!

For me for example, I decided to combine my normal beach combing and rock hoping antics, but this time, along the way I collected bits of plastic on route.

And it doesn’t have to be a chore.

Make it fun and personal to you. This is about personal development, not personal degradation!

On one trip, I came across a lobster pot with ropes and plastic netting trailing off it which served no end of entertainment for someone like me who loves a little physical and mental challenge.

Just cutting it all free from the rocks was an operation, then man handling the surprisingly heavy weight of a lobster pot pull of netting and ropes over the rocks proved an interesting and logistical feat.

Then I used some of the rope to create a tow rope to drag my beach bounty up the beach like a weighted sledge.

And the cherry on the cake……I later used the lobster pot as a grill which my dad and I spent some quality father and son time foraging, making fires and then cooking bacon and sausages on!

 

Again I appreciate this is my idea of fun is not yours, but you get the idea.

And as the saying goes, one person’s rubbish is another one treasure.

When I got to the area where the rubbish is deposited on one of my trips, I got talking to a couple of ladies about what I was doing and my excitement regarding my Lobster pot BBQ and the opportunity for upcycling this oceanic rubbish, meant it wasn’t long before I was cutting free a large fishing net down for them to use as a Hammock or alternatively a plant trellis for their new garden nursery.

And funny enough it made me feel good, because it had all the ingredients I mentioned early – a personal purpose, a sense of growth and contribution to an area that is so important to me to preserve.

We can all make a small difference to a pandemic issue and even have fun doing it.

(And if it all seems pointless read this little starfish story.)
https://eventsforchange.wordpress.com/…/the-starfish-story…/

Maybe being part of a bigger problem could be the therapeutic intervention you are searching for, or maybe not, but for me these little excursion definitely prove to be environ-mentally friendly.