Octopus’ Post

Today, Earth Day 2024, the League to Save Lake Tahoe stands proudly behind the groundbreaking single-use plastic water bottle ban in South Lake Tahoe and Truckee—a significant step in our ongoing mission to protect and preserve our beloved Lake. This transformative policy wasn't an overnight accomplishment; it is the fruit of a decade's worth of litter data collection, community engagement, and science-led initiatives.    The League's approach has always been data-driven. From 2014 to 2023, through countless cleanup events, our volunteers have gathered substantial evidence of the plastic problem in the Basin, collecting over 20,100 plastic bottles, 31,300 plastic caps, and 163,800 pieces of unidentifiable plastic debris. Armed with this compelling data, we have raised awareness and crafted a narrative that spurred action and policy change.     The League prepared for this transition by focusing on education and readiness. Our incredible Community Engagement team hit the streets, ensuring residents, visitors, and commercial vendors were prepared for the switch. Their hard work encouraged the adoption of sustainable alternatives and amplified the League's message that small changes in our daily habits can have a profound impact on our environment.     Let's raise a glass (of clear and delicious Tahoe tap water) and join us in celebrating this pivotal movement. Support the cause, spread the word, and embrace the alternatives.  #EarthDay2024 #PlasticFreeTahoe #DataDrivenChange #EnvironmentalEducation #KeepTahoeBlue #TahoevsPlastics

Circular Materials Month – Working Towards A Litter-Free Peterborough! Let's join hands for a cleaner-greener Peterborough! Here are some simple steps to make a big impact: - Carry a reusable bag for all your trash, dispose of it properly at home, or in designated waste areas. - Embrace the 3 R's – Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Say no to single-use plastics, opt for reusable items, and recycle correctly. - Adopt-A-Spot to keep our local areas litter-free. Join volunteer cleanup events or start one yourself with support from Public Works. - Leave No Trace in Peterborough's parks by carrying out what you bring in. - Properly dispose of cigarette butts to prevent environmental harm. Kudos to Clean Up Peterborough and Steve Paul for their remarkable efforts in 2024! Let's strive for a litter-free community in 2025 and beyond. Together, we can make a difference! #LitterActionPlan #PublicWorks #Peterborough #AdoptASpot #CleanerGreenerPeterborough #TeamPtbo #ImaginePeterborough2080 #MakeThisDreamAReality #Unsmoke #CircularMaterialsMonth #CircularMaterials

In 2023 we partnered with Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation Plastic@Bay to create a video marketing campaign that champions the ethos behind Plastic@Bay and highlights the impact of the Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation funding on grassroots environmental organisations all around Scotland. In November, we headed to the Hebrides to spend a few days with Joan and Julien at their home on Lewis and document their Cutting Down project. The Cutting Down Project aims to capture waste-cutting before it hits the ground and could potentially be lost and dispersed in the ocean by installing designated collection stations in participating harbours across Lewis and Harris. For Plastic@bay, data collection has always been at the heart of what they do. Their data shows that 30% of plastic collected from beach cleans on the NW coast of Scotland were waste-cuttings – rope and net cuttings generated through mending fishing gear. The overall response has been amazing; many cuttings have been diverted and will be recycled locally. They are now trying to establish a local waste stream to stop cuttings from being lost and instead recycle them. In the absence of an end-of-life fishing gear waste stream, it is evident that the stakeholders need to work together to find a solution that guarantees efficient fishing activities, satisfies recycling standards established by different governmental bodies, and efficiently protects the quality of the ocean. We created this project as part of our 2023 1% for the Planet contribution, in which we donate 1% of our annual turnover to Scottish Environmental organisations. The environment is at the heart of everything we do as a company, without the spectacular locations we get to film in every year we wouldn't be able to do what we do, so naturally we feel very strongly that we need to do all we can to protect it. We’ll continue to support local environmental causes where we can, so if you know of someone who may be interested in getting their story out to the world, please get in touch. #environment #conservation #plasticpollution #filmmaking #environmentalproduction

A recent piece by Mississippi Today sheds light on a pressing environmental issue: the alarming accumulation of trash in the Mississippi River. As one of America's most iconic waterways, the river's health is crucial for its ecological diversity and the millions who rely on it. The article highlights efforts to clean up and preserve the river, underscoring the need for sustainable solutions to prevent pollution. Every step counts in protecting this vital natural resource, from grassroots cleanups to more extensive legislative actions. At ATLAS-SSI, we're deeply committed to this cause. Our traveling water screens and trash rake systems are designed to intercept and remove debris from waterways, playing a vital role in keeping rivers like the Mississippi clean and healthy. Our technology not only aids in current clean-up efforts but also offers a proactive approach to preventing future pollution. As we reflect on the state of our rivers, ATLAS-SSI stands ready to support and collaborate on initiatives to preserve these precious ecosystems. Together, we can significantly impact safeguarding our natural water resources for generations to come. Learn more about the challenges and ongoing efforts to clean the Mississippi River: https://lnkd.in/gpaAquze #MississippiRiver #EnvironmentalProtection #WaterConservation #ATLASSSI

Our reckless #overconsumption of #singleuseplastic (etcetera!) comes at the expense of poor, exploited, and #marginalized communities on the receiving end of this ever-growing mess, who are the least responsible for the #climatecrisis: 🌊 ocean currents dump our plastics on their shores ☠️ incinerated trash pollutes their air 🛢️ fossil fuel infrastructure destroys their ecosystems (plastics are made with #fossilfuels) Just because this pile will be gone in the morning (handled by wildly underpaid park staff or volunteers), doesn’t mean it disappears completely. 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 ♹ Would love to see McCarren Park House stop serving their drinks in single use plastics (my petition is still live!) 🥗 Would really love to see ~progressive Brooklynites~* walk their talk and picnic with #reusables or do takeaway with programs like DeliverZero 🌏 Would really, really love to see more local #policies making plastics an exception, not the norm. 💁♀️ Because this is just one night at one corner of one park in one neighborhood! What are we doing, y’all? This look is sooooooo so basic, embarrassing, exhausting, entitled. Yikes. #plasticorplanet #zerowasteliving #brooklynparks #mccarrenpark #mccarrenparkhouse #plasticsarekillingus #plasticsareforever #divestfromfossilfuels #greenpointers #leavenotrace #carryincarryout #environmentaljustice #climatejusticenow NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Beyond Plastics rePurpose Global

𝗦𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗗𝗔𝗬 Millions of tons of plastic and litter enter the environment every year, causing harm to wildlife and human infrastructure. This year, do your part to reduce pollution in Tampa Bay by taking an individual or business pledge at https://lnkd.in/ebJZYRi

Against the backdrop of INC-4 in Ottawa next week, The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund are convening U.S. policy leaders, recycling practitioners, private industry, NGOs, and local community leaders at an Earth Day event to mobilize support for scalable solutions to the biggest recycling challenges in the United States. Together, we can build a better recycling system! Interested in learning more? Check out the press release linked below! #INC4 #EPR #WWF #Recycling #PlasticsTreaty

Everyday is Earth Day. With that in mind, I love seeing automation put to good use with shoreline clean-ups bots like the BeBot and PixieDrone – in Wisconsin. We do need remediation solutions like this AND we also need to tackle plastic pollution by designing out waste. Imagine if instead of a variety of plastic containers we standardised a few models - offered them in glass / metal and introduced a deposit return program and system for collecting, washing, and reusing these. #plasticpollution #EarthDay #cleanups #GreatLakes

CLEANUP GROUP SAYS IT'S ON TRACK TO ELIMINATE THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH Trash Hunters Nonprofit environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup has announced that it's on track to eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 2034. If it can get the necessary funds, that is. In a press release (https://lnkd.in/e6w6Nt5x), the organization claimed that eliminating the patch once and for all would cost a whopping $7.5 billion — the "first time both a cost and a timeline has been placed on ridding the Pacific Ocean of the environmental hazard." The #GreatPacificGarbagePatch is a name given to an estimated 79,000 metric tons of #plasticwaste floating in the #ocean in an area roughly twice the size of Texas. The Ocean Cleanup has made it its mission to fish it out of the water piece by piece. "Today’s announcement is clear: clean oceans can be achieved in a manageable time and for a clear cost," said founder and CEO Boyan Slat in a statement. "Through the hard work of the past ten years, humanity has the tools needed to clean up the ocean." Plastic Beach Researchers have found that the patch is growing rapidly, making it a massively difficult problem to deal with. To make a dent, the Ocean Cleanup has been developing new technologies to fish this plastic out of the water. Its latest iteration, called System 03 consists of a floating barrier roughly 1.4 miles long, which is towed between two vessels. So far, the nonprofit claims it has fished out a million pounds of trash from the patch, a mere 0.5 percent of its total. But within a decade, it says, it could ramp up its operations to get rid of it in its entirety. Next year, the company will focus its efforts on establishing a "hotspot" map of areas in the ocean with "intense plastic accumulation." While $7.5 billion may sound like a lot, it's less than one month's worth of Apple's profits last year, or a sixth of the bonus Tesla shareholders awarded to CEO Elon Musk. The Ocean Cleanup also put that price tag into perspective, pointing out that the annual spend on Halloween decorations in the US alone was $10.6 billion. A mere one percent of the "annual net profits of the world's #plasticproducers" is also just $7.2 billion. Better yet, if the nonprofit's latest technological ideas come to fruition, Slat suggests we could even clear the patch in just five years at a cost of just $4 billion. "We call upon the world to relegate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the history books," said Slat in the press release. "This environmental catastrophe has been allowed to exist, unresolved, for too long, and for the first time, we can tell the world what it costs, what is needed and how long it could take." "The only thing standing between us and clean oceans is money," he added. From Futurism

Every piece of trash carelessly discarded poses a grave threat to all the species; it contaminates water, is ingested by wildlife, pollutes the environment and affects the climate. Recognizing the urgent need for action, #HCLTechCanada volunteers, in partnership with A Greener Future, undertook a mission to clean up the shoreline at Jack Darling Memorial Park, Mississauga. We cleaned the shores, picking up litter and other pollutants to safeguard and support local marine life and ecosystems.  🐟🌱   Here are some numbers that reflect our collective effort: 👉 36 volunteers, dedicated 72 volunteer hours, collected 3,020 pieces of litter, including cigarette butts, plastic pieces, food wrappers, plastic and metal bottle caps, paper pieces and hygiene items. Impact: ✅ Cigarette butts we collected helped protect 703K liters of water from contamination.  ✅ Plastic pieces we collected prevent 6.6 pounds of plastic from being ingested by wildlife. ✅ Food wrappers we collected divert 7.6 pounds of plastic waste from Lake Ontario.    Thanks to our volunteers and #AGreenerFuture for organizing and supporting this initiative. Let's make a difference one piece at a time and build a sustainable environment.   #SuperchargingProgress #CSRatHCLTech