🌱 Environment & Climate

Every year, it is estimated that about 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans (a 2015 study gave a range of 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes). Coral reefs — which have been called "the rainforests of the sea" — are being bleached by rising water temperatures caused by climate change. Fish and seabirds are being killed by plastic pollution daily.

Plastic in the open ocean was first reported by scientists in the early 1970s. Yet significant global action has not been taken until very recently.

In 2012, an 18-year-old Dutch student named Boyan Slat proposed a radical solution in a TEDx talk: using ocean currents to collect plastic. His idea was doubted by many experts at first. Some said it couldn't work; others argued it might be technically interesting but far too expensive.

His organisation, The Ocean Cleanup, has now been running operations for several years, and hundreds of tonnes of plastic have been removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Whether this approach can solve the problem on a global scale is still being debated.

Experts agree: more renewable energy must be developed, deforestation must be stopped, and plastic must be replaced by sustainable alternatives. The planet cannot be saved by one person — it requires collective action.