“Sea Change” – a change wrought by the sea
— from William Shakespeare’s “The Temptest”

I am so proud to introduce our goherethereandeverywhere community to Sea Change. Our daughter Juliane started this support group five months ago, and has already organized beach cleanup events in Thailand that are truly making a difference. She was moved (and pretty pissed off – not a good thing to do, if you know her) by a tragic image of a dead sea turtle washed ashore on a local beach. This inspired her to organize a group to take action and actually clean the beach. From there, she has launched the support group on Facebook, which you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1646054452391755/

A Growing Problem
as published in Scientific American

‘Plastic can be detected in the bodies of more than 50 percent of the world’s sea turtles. Scientists estimate 90 percent of all seabirds have ingested plastic at some time in their lives. Fish, too, contain plastic and appear to consume it in large quantities when it is available.

Although there is a huge amount of plastic trash that has accumulated on land, much of the world’s plastic resides in the oceans, where it is deposited after being whisked there by the wind from land, being dumped at sea or on the shore or being carried there in runoff from rivers and streams. Scientists predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.

Current estimates put the oceans’ total plastic load at 165 million tons. But that is just based on plastic samples collected from surface trawling. More microplastic found at greater depths in the oceans means scientists might be greatly underestimating the total amount of plastic in the ocean—and its total effect.’

Sea Change at Work

Juliane writes: ‘…we did a great job! I want to thank everyone for coming all the way to Pattaya and supporting this little nugget in her endeavors. It really means the world to me to have such a great support group….we got to hang out with old friends make some new friends and spend a great day together. And we still got so much done! It only takes one person to make a difference.

Support Sea Change 

Here are a few things YOU can do!

1) Start using Reusable bags! (it’s a lot easier and more fashionable than you think!).

2) Take the time and actually sort out your recycling.

3) If you see garbage, just pick it up!

4) Join/Share our FB group to help us get more exposure –Sea Change .

5) Set up a clean up with a few friends! (then share your stories with us, we aren’t keeping it to just one location, the beauty of cleaning…. you can do it anywhere).

6) While you’re at it.. go compliment someone today too because the world needs a lot more of those as well.

Juliane writes: ‘And now an update about how going plastic-less in Thailand is going… Surprisingly a lot easier than I thought it would! However, I’m sadly still finding myself buying things with plastic, or forgetting my tote bag and picking up a straw/bag here and there. BUT, as promised… I’m keeping all the plastic I use and I will make a donation to non-profit in Bangkok. I think the most surprising thing is that some people here really can’t wrap their head around not using a bag.’

We hope you’ll all click the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/1646054452391755/ to follow Juliane and her amazing group, and do your part, in however small or large a way you can, to make a difference.

We (and our Oceans and Sea Life) thank you!