I gave the title of this piece a lot of thought. Mostly because I wasn’t sure I was using #tag correctly. Looking at it and knowing what I want it to mean, I’m still not sure….but it is kind of eye catching isn’t it?

And that IS what I was looking for. Something familiar, yet different.

So –

What it’s all about is this:

I have a cause.

Pause here for you all to take a deep breath because today’s world is just too damn full of people with causes. But stay with me here ’cause this cause is just too big to let go.

About a week or so ago I saw a picture of  one of nature’s miracles. A huge whale. A magnificent mammal…and before you rush to judgment, I looked it up and I quote:

“Mammals all are warm-blooded animals, they breathe air, have hair and moms feed their babies milk from mammary glands. Whales actually do all these things”

Sadly this particular whale was no longer magnificent. He would never again rise majestically out of the waters and slam down with a great crash, while boat loads of enthralled tourists stare in disbelief at his size and his agility and – well –magnificence.

This whale was dead. Beached. Brought down by one of mankind’s great achievements.

PLASTIC.

Yep. This whale had swallowed about 1000 pieces of plastic which we thoughtlessly tossed into the waters off our shores. And then he died.

Oh, I am well aware of suffering people. I read, and cringe everyday about injustices done to humans, animals and to our abused world in general. And I would never suggest that Whales replace anyone’s dedication to any of these causes.

What I do suggest is that we do LESS.

Start small. You probably don’t really need to drop those avocados you’re buying into a separate plastic bag. If you buy fancy plastic plates for a next party, wash them and use them for a future occasion.

Currently my big effort is cutting down the number of big plastic trash bags I use everyday.  I normally used one a day. That meant seven very large bags every week, and that is for me, living alone. Families must use many more. Millions of people – billions of bags – all going in to our oceans where they do incalculable harm, including killing all kinds of under water living things. Both plants and beings.

We have now reached the explanation for the title. I have managed to bring my contribution down to two bags a week. I carry the trash out, dump it into the bin and then take the empty bag back into the house, where I wash it and reuse it. I found that the bags were inclined to collapse when I tried to stretch that. The result? I only need two bags a week. Get it?  #Oceans2.

I know. It’s a very small thing. But it is SOMETHING. And if we all do it, it will help. Meantime, there are the shopping bags to reuse and the straws we can do without and, well, just look around you.

There is plastic everywhere.

I’m not sure how many inventive things we can do to cut down on the harm we are doing everyday.  But this is the only world we have (so far) to call our own. Let’s try not to drown it in more plastic.

If you have some practical suggestions of your own for saving our planet, please share them…Let’s work at getting to #Oceans0.

_{Late idea:  I went shopping today and bought those extra heavy duty black bags. It’s my guess that I may be able to get away with using just one each week.} 

_{YAY ME.}