Plastic Pollution: Taking Action by Howard Klein LRPS
As outdoor photographers, we spend a lot of time in places where plastic pollution is a concern; we have all seen beaches or rivers clogged with plastic waste and heard about its harm to our wildlife, our planet, and our health.
You+2(**) is an initiative for us all to do something about the plastic pollution we see. For example, imagine if every photographer, after their ‘shoot’, not only took away their rubbish but also at least two pieces left behind by others? And what if that photographer quietly, by example, influenced one other person to start doing the same, and so on? It may not seem a great deal, but small steps, both in thought and deed, soon grow.
This initiative is being adopted by an increasing number of professionals/workshop leaders and many individual photographers; we are pleased to say that this is now being promoted by the RPS Landscape Group – you can see it on our website. The message is simple: carry a (biodegradable or reusable) bag and grab the rubbish - and feel good about it. This is not just about plastic bottles, just picking up 2 pieces of any man-made detritus each time can really make a difference.
Plastic pollution is the most visible example of the havoc affecting our planet. From our local beaches to the remote Arctic, it is choking our oceans and killing wildlife; from 90% of seabirds having plastic in their stomachs, to 1 in 2 marine turtles have eaten plastic (Source: WWF). The Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, the world’s only sea without shores, is named due to its sargassum seaweed which attracts a great variety of sea life, including sea turtles, but it has been found to hold extreme concentrations of microplastics (Source: Greenpeace). Meanwhile, closer to home, while visiting Huishnish on Harris’s Atlantic coast I found these bright and faded cords amongst the seaweed on a remote beach, with the potential highly to be damaging to sea life and coastal land animals.
Please take 2 minutes to look at https://www.uplus2.org, then maybe add your voice.
- Tell your friends, share with a camera club etc.
- Download the logo to put on your website (if you have one).
- Share the Landscape Group Facebook post (dated 19th April)
- And, most importantly, #carryabag!
**You+2 is not an NGO, brand, or entity; just a single page with just one idea, that little by little, we can each leave the places that inspire us less polluted than when we arrived.
Images researched and sourced by Howard Klein
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