“Why move through the oceans
if the oceans can move through you?”
‘Manta Ray Cleaning Station’ courtesy NOAA’s National Ocean Service
A few months ago I clicked on a YouTube link that said “this film should be seen by the entire world!”
Yeah, right. I thought. Which twerk is it this time?
But, for once, the claim was true. If you haven’t already, please watch it. I don’t care if it gives you nightmares, because WE ALL DID THIS.
The images from that video have been burned in my brain, suffocating me (and no doubt the million other viewers) with despair because I can’t do a thing about it.
Or so I thought.
Luckily, someone much cleverer than I am is working on a solution Right Now.
Watch this TEDx talk and tell me you’re not blown away by the simplicity of an idea that began with one small admission:
“It will be very hard to convince everyone in the world to handle their plastics responsibly, but what we humans are very good at, is inventing technical solutions to our problems.”
What that reads to me is:
Let’s just admit we’re not going to change (this century), and find another way until we do…
‘Why’ courtesy Andrea Zanivan
Inside the shell of memory
I hear
The squalling of the ocean
And the sound of
Hope on our horizon
Washing out to sea.
What’s the message
In the bottle
She would send to me?
She giveth and
She taketh away
And somewhere
Out of sight and mind
There lies an answer
Buried in the bellies
Of our shame.
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
And everything returns
From whence it came.
Follow the current
And we find
The sirens’ call is not
The journey’s end.
What price – Hope?
What cost – Dreams?
Surrender.
Not to what we should be
But to what it is we are.
Nine tenths of reality.
Could change be
As simple as
The turning of the tide
Of what we see?
♦
Sure, there are the critics out there who say this just won’t work. But the best ideas always sound far fetched – until they do. Does that mean we shouldn’t even ask ‘What if’?
“We created this mess. Heck, we even invented this new material [plastic] before we made this mess! So please. Don’t tell me we can’t clean this up. Together.”
~ Boyan Slat
19 yo Aerospace Engineering Student
Tell me, what do you hear? Naivety? Arrogance? Or possibility?
Alarna Rose Gray 