World Ocean Week!

On a beautiful sunny weekend in June, at the Vancouver Aquarium
and in the heart of Stanley Park, Gogo Bonkers once again paid
a musical tribute to the oceans and all the wondrous creatures
that reside therein. Its World Ocean Week!

The belugas, the otters, the dolphins, the sea stars,
the jellyfish, the turtles, the sea lions…………………
these amazing animals never dump garbage in our back yards
and they never dump yucky stuff in our homes, so why do we
do it to them? Why have the oceans become our big watery
garbage can?

We know that as a society we produce too much garbage and that
we waste way too much. And so much of what we consume is either
highly processed or has had to travel thousands of miles to reach
our plate. Eating a diet of unprocessed foods like fresh fruits and
vegetables that are either locally grown or, even better, from your
own garden, is the way to go.

If we continue to make poor and wasteful choices we will only
worsen the already fragile nature of our waterways, coastlines
and oceans. Nature has amazing healing powers but it is we
who must provide her with the healthiest environment we can,
so she begin, or continue, her healing process.

These are the ideas that Mudlee and Seafree pondered as they walked
around the amazing living exhibits at the Aquarium. They saw the
wonders of the ocean up close and marveled at their diversity. If we
talk about saving the oceans it is so important that we have a better
understanding of what it is we are saving. And if we take action,
it all starts with the choices we make everyday as a consumer.

There are so many things you can do to reduce your waste. Please
email us what you are doing. Here are a couple suggestions – many
more to come.

Chopsticks – if you ever eat out – bring your own! It still amazes me
that restaurants are allowed to use disposable chopsticks.

Coffee cups – make a rule for yourself – if you don’t have your reusable
coffee cup with you – don’t buy a coffee. One person who has one coffee
a day will use about 300 coffee cups a year. That’s 3000 cups in ten years!

Batteries – you should use rechargable batteries. Disposable batteries are
very harmful to the environment because of the levels of mercury in them.
Batteries can be taken to these locations for proper disposal:

London Drugs
Future Shop
IKEA
The Source

PS – when you are at any of the above establishments
don’t buy something you don’t need

Go to the Ocean and listen to the waves
Listen to the stories in the waves
Tell your story to the ocean

To a healthy world ocean,

iain