March 4th
A bit of a depressing sea day today.
I tend to spend most sea days up at the front of the ship with the onboard naturalist Robin, where I love to spot and photograph all the creatures found in and over the oceans.
Well today we saw a total of one sad little Tern sitting on a block of styrofoam.

Robin told me he was very concerned as the last time he was through the Java Sea there was a lot of life, but now there has been un-regulated fishing and the garbage in the ocean has gotten much worse. Much of the plastic comes from the USA, Canada and Europe, they ship it down here as part of a recycling program but there is nothing here able to process it, so it ends up in the sea. There is plastic floating by the ship all the time. It is horrible. And now little to no birds or other sea life to be seen.
I hope you all can find a way to reduce plastic use, I know we will now that I have seen the affects with my own eyes.
This post saddened me, too. But there are always signs of hope. I was reading through some news stuff today and came across this story which might lift your spirits even though it is just a tiny contribution to such an enormous problem. Uplifting nonetheless…hope this link works for you!
https://apnews.com/article/plastic-pollution-recycling-uganda-lake-victoria-b6b731a484467044e0f020939c9b46e8?user_email=b42411fa6ee6f67722256df840de340422af4b988e91d9e29832e75aa4d36fd8&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=Mar5_MorningWire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for sharing this post – it is so sad. Our impact on this world is so enormous. I say I care .. but then I do little to make the change in my own actions or to impress change upon our government and my community.
It is a helpless feeling. The post from your friend gives some hope.
Tam