FIGHTING FOR THE OCEAN DURING A PANDEMIC
There is a tiny creek near where I live in California. Although the creek often has shopping carts and other garbage in it, there are also animals who enjoy it, such as ducks, turtles, and egrets, as well as kitties who love to hide in the cotton willows. It is typically a muddy color; however, when the State of California issued a shelter-in-place order, something remarkable happened to our creek: we could see the bottom of it! It was beautiful! We could see life swimming around — it was so clear.
Many of us took a glimpse at our world when there were fewer people on the roads. We liked what we saw and hoped that maybe the world could take a collective look and realize the damage we are doing to our planet.
But as we all know, nothing of the sort has taken place, and now that more and more people are spending time outdoors and driving, our little creek is back to being a thick brown color, almost like motor oil.
Even though the world around us seems to have unfortunately gone back to its consumptive ways, I feel that many of us were able to see, very clearly, what Earth wanted us to see. We have it in our power to make this world cleaner and healthier for everyone. A world where water is clean enough to see not only the sandy bottom of a humble little creek but jellyfish in the canals of Venice, Italy. A world in which the air above cities plagued by a thick layer of choking smog is breathable again. A world in which humpback whales and other marine life are less threatened by noise pollution.
It is important to me to acknowledge that in some areas impacted by environmental racism, like Flint, MI, and Kettleman City, CA, the solution to the brown and toxic water that goes through their pipes is not going to be solved by sheltering in place. The type of cleaning that needs to happen in those communities would involve clearing out the corporations, politicians, and other policymakers whose racism will always place money ahead of the health of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples.
Many of us can and should use our voices to speak out against these injustices and vote out those responsible while supporting these communities.
For the past couple of years, Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) has encouraged individuals and groups to go out and help with cleanups along waterways in honor of Dr. Sylvia Earle, whose birthday on August 30 inspired our Fight for the Ocean (FFTO) efforts.
However, when you consider that the majority of people impacted by COVID-19 are Black, Brown, and Indigenous, and older folks, who are some of the most vulnerable in our society, we want people to wear their masks, keep a six-foot social distance, and shelter in place as much as possible. It would be irresponsible for us to encourage anything else.
So, we have come up with a list of seven things you can do to help celebrate Fight for the Ocean Day from your own home with our new website!
I hope you love the site as much as we do! As many of you know, I love sea creatures, especially sharks, and so I hope you appreciate all of the little touches to help you feel like you are on the beach!
Here are the ideas from our list and the why:
#1 Watching documentaries: Learn. We want you to really listen and learn from these documentaries. I imagine that many of you will be as excited as I was to learn that Dr. Sylvia Earle doesn’t eat fish! Many of these documentaries are going to be hard to watch, but continue to listen when you need to close your eyes.
#2 Cooking: Taste and try. We offer some great vegan recipes, including some from VeganMexicanFood.com and VeganFilipinoFood.com.
One of the best ways to help the ocean is stop eating animals, and if you have access to healthy foods, to go vegan. It is truly that simple! Humans’ insatiable desire to consume creatures from the ocean is why some of the most destructive devices used in our ocean have been created — they kill while being used, and they kill even when they are no longer being used. You can learn more on our factsheet.
If you are like me, you follow a number of organizations, and every time I get a subject line like these …
YOU CAN HELP: Save humpback whales from being entangled
We just submitted comments to stop longlines in California
Entangled sea turtle anchored to the seafloor. Not again
… I am eager to see their solutions. And more than not, they are not only asking for donations, but they are also not encouraging people to stop consuming the fish and other animals from the sea!
It is frustrating that these organizations do not simply tell people:
You can help the humpback whale not get entangled in nets by not eating sea creatures.
We submitted comments to stop longlines and are asking you to stop eating fish so there are no need for longlines.
Entangled sea turtle caught in a fishing net and anchored to the seafloor so that you can eat sea “food.” Stop eating ocean life!
#3 Get active! We made our information cards on how people can FFTO by cleaning up our waterways and stopping the consumption of creatures a perfect size to keep with you and share with establishments that serve these majestic creatures as food.
It is one thing to make these choices as individuals, but like we always say, it is also important to take a step further and share your compassion with others so that we can collectively make an even bigger difference.
#4 Widen your circle of knowledge and compassion. This section is up and coming (we have more on the way), but we think it is important for everyone to continue to learn about how workers are treated and continue to consider the human impact of what we consume.
#5 Learn about animals themselves! I remember taking a marine biology class in high school, and we went on a trip to Corpus Christi (in Texas). I was already vegetarian then, and part of the program was to go on a boat. It was incredible to see dolphins swimming alongside the boat. Apparently, when we were out in the ocean, a huge net had been pulling up whatever and whoever was in its path. Eventually, they dropped the net, and everything and everyone it had caught was dropped on the deck of the boat. I guess they felt this was for “education,” though for me it just showed their disregard for life. While my teacher was trying to explain about the animals, a friend and I started to pick up the animals and put them back into the ocean.
I feel too many times we learn about animals in terms of their suffering and not about them as individuals. And that is so important for everyone to remember: that the industry might want to define these animals en mass (counting them as tonnage), but each one is an individual.
Take some time to learn about these remarkable animals with whom we share our planet and for whom many of us are protecting the ocean.
#6 Creative: Color and make art! When you have spectacular coloring pages from Sharktopia, it is a perfect way to use your imagination and even de-stress a bit!
#7 Bask in their Beauty: Immerse yourself in their world! We felt it was important to just feel how relaxing it can be when you enter their world. So take a few minutes or 10 hours and see just what phenomenal animals live under the waves and with whom we share our planet.
Before I sign off, as many of you know, we at F.E.P. find language to be important, and I just wanted to share why we are using particular words as a part of this effort:
We use the word “her” to describe the ocean because the ocean takes care of everyone she houses and sustains, but our choices are impacting her ability to do so.
We use the word “ocean” vs. “oceans” because there is really only one large body of water surrounding the Earth. Using the word “oceans” would imply there are actual barriers and various oceans where there are not — they are all connected. That is not to say we would not call them by their names such as the South Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, but we just want to remind people these are arbitrary barriers as there is only one large body of water on our beautiful planet.
