September 2019

Page 4 VOLUME 114 | ISSUE 120 | SEPTEMBER 2019 Established by H.H. Dr. Syedna Environment Wellness & Lifestyle Monthly Newsletter Mohammed Burhanuddin (RA) The International Coastal Cleanup in 1992 began more than 30 years ago when communities rallied together with the Covering more than 70% of our planet, oceans are among the earth’s most valuable common goal of collecting and natural resources. They govern the weather, clean the air, help feed the world and documenting the trash littering their provide a living for millions. They also are home to most of the life on earth, from coastline. microscopic algae to the blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. The movement was catalyzed by the Yet we are bombarding them with pollution! passion and spirit of two committed individuals. Back in 1986 Linda Maraniss moved to Texas from Washington, DC, where she had been working for Ocean Conservancy. She had been inspired by the work, her Ocean Conservancy colleague Kathy O’Hara was doing on a groundbreaking report called : Plastics in the Ocean: More than a Litter Problem that would be published the next year. Linda and Kathy reached out to the Texas General Land Office, local businesses and other dedicated ocean-lovers and planned what would become Ocean Conservancy’s First Cleanup. They asked volunteers to go beyond picking up trash and record each item collected on a standardized data card in order to identify ways to eliminate ocean trash in the future. The Cleanup has grown immensely in the 30 years since By their very nature—with all streams flowing to rivers, all rivers leading to the sea—the oceans are the end point for so much of the pollution we produce on land, Linda and Kathy’s first cleanup. Volunteers from states and territories throughout the however far from the coasts we may be. And from dangerous carbon emissions to choking plastic to leaking oil to constant noise, the types of ocean pollution humans U.S. and more than 100 countries come together each year and participate in a generate are vast. As a result, collectively, our impact on the seas is degrading their health at an alarming rate. Cleanup event near them. Source : Ocean Conservancy Website The Oceans are so vast and deep that until recently, it was widely assumed that no BURHANI FOUNDATION (INDIA) matter how much trash and chemicals humans dumped into them, the effects would Amatullah Manzil, 65 Bazargate Street, Fort, Mumbai-1. be negligible. Today, we need look no further than the New Jersey-size dead zone Recycled Paper Used that forms each summer in the Gulf of Mexico, to see how once flourishing ocean Recycled Paper Used ecosystem is on the brink of collapse. Many of these pollutants sink to the ocean's Phone: 22678480 / 22634326 Youtube: Burhani Foundation India Channel depths or float far distances from their original source, where they are consumed by Website: burhanifoundationindia.org Facebook: Burhani-Foundation-India small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain. Email: [email protected] Twitter: BFI_environment Instagram: burhani.foundation [email protected]

Page 2 Page 3 Plastic pollution seeps into the ocean through run-off and even purposeful dumping. Raging forest fires in the Amazon rainforests of The garbage patch floating in the Pacific Ocean, almost 620,000 square miles- twice Brazil have made international headlines in the last the size of Texas- is a powerful image of our plastic problem. few weeks. Some reports suggest there were more than 50000 incidents of forest fires in the Amazon A huge culprit is single-use plastics, used once, before tossed into trash or directly since January this year, along with an alarming into the ocean. These single-use items are accidentally consumed by many marine increase in deforestation. The forest fires have been mammals. Plastic bags resemble jellyfish, a common food for sea turtles, while some spotted even by satellites in space and have led to seabirds eat plastic because it releases a chemical that makes it smell like its natural worries over a rise in greenhouse gas emissions food. Discarded fishing nets drift for years ensnaring fish and mammals. because of the reduced absorption of carbon dioxide. Bits of plastic swirl throughout the water column, even sinking to the deepest depths Record heat in parts of Alaska, Greenland, and of the ocean. Scientists found plastic fibers in corals in the Atlantic Ocean—and more Russia have converted a region associated with icy concerning, they found that the corals readily ate plastic over food. Dying marine tundra to an inferno. Experts say the problem is mammals, washing up on shore, also contain plastic inside their stomachs. rooted in illegal logging and criminal networks exploiting the forests for its natural resources and Is there a “fix” to marine pollution? agricultural potential. Many national laws as well as international So why does the Amazon matter to an average agreements now forbid dumping of harmful person? Here is a synopsis of reasons listed by materials into the ocean. Many pollutants World Wildlife Federation (WWF) still persist in the environment difficult to fully remove. Chemical pollutants often ♦ Amazonia and its trees are a significant source for oxygen and major sink for cannot be broken down for long periods of absorbing carbon dioxide. The process of photosynthesis is important for life on time. They increase in concentration as Earth and all of those trees in the Amazon are deterrents to the growing they move up the food chain. Because problem of increased greenhouse gases. plastic is thought to take hundreds of years to break down, it poses a threat for ♦ It is too early to determine how much carbon will be released because of current centuries. Amazon fires. Georgia Institute of Technology climate scientist Kim Cobb said on social media, \"record 1997 fires in Borneo alone released 1-3 billion tons” We can also play small role in limiting this pollution. Changing a few of our habits and ♦ Amazon region has often been called \"The Green Ocean\" because evapo- completely stopping use of Single Use transpiration from vegetation provides water vapor to the atmosphere. Such Plastics will go a long way. Nature has its water vapor is critical for South America as well as for global weather patterns own ways of healing and the minute and ocean currents. The atmosphere is a large fluid system so processes and particles that will last in the water bodies moisture sources have global connections. for years will someday breakdown and we can get a much better environment. ♦ Many scientists believe that the Amazon is an untapped region of potential Recycled Paper Used medical cures. According to WWF, \"less than half of 1% of flowering plant Recycled Paper Used species have been studied in detail for their medicinal potential.\" Items in yellow could soon be banned as non- plastic alternatives are now available. ♦ There are numerous other benefits of rainforests related to biodiversity, fire control, water resources, transportation, and pollution. Marine life can breathe and live a healthy life instead of death by choking on plastic.