Week 3: And Breathe...

I hope you had a nice weekend!  Mine was pretty relaxing.

The last two weeks we have spent time examining all of the wonderful ways that the oceans contribute to our well-being, as well as the ways in which they are being harmed.  You have made excellent posts about the health of the ocean, the serious risks that it faces - like deep-sea trawling, the fears that you have, and your thoughts on our dependence on plastic.

There's been alot of content to digest.

If we've learned one thing though the past two weeks, its that the oxygen from 7 of every 10 breaths that we take comes from our ocean.  That we need healthy oceans to live.  Let's pause this week and take some time to "breathe" as well.  You've had lots of work to do.  You have many classes and deadlines.  You have already seen alot of images of animals tangled in plastic, or drowning in pollution.  That is hard to look at, and affects our mental health.  Let's take a break.

This week, there are no readings, videos to watch, class meetings or assignments to post on Teams for Geography 12. 

TASK:  Your task this week for Geography 12 is to pay attention to the amount of single-use plastics that you use in your daily life.  I'm not talking about the coffee maker that's made of plastic, or your toothbrush (though there are bamboo alternatives =), I"m talking about plastics that are used once.  Wrappers, packaging, containers, straws, etc.


  • Look, observe and record a few notes. What do you use alot of? 
  • If you are feeling motivated, take a few photos of some of the single-use plastic waste so that you have it for later. We will complete an assignment next week on plastic waste solutions, and this could help.  
  • If you want to, investigate microplastics and microbeads, and search some of your cosmetics, soaps and beauty products-- many of these contain plastics.  This might be something to look into. 
  • And then sit back and think about what actions you are willing to take to help minimize the amount of single-use plastic in your life.  
This might be about getting rid of plastic straws, and then leaving it at that.  Or, you might get inspired to re-think the way in which you operate in your life - bringing your own containers to a sushi restaurant to avoid waste, etc.  These decisions are for you and your family to think about, and the solutions don't have to involve spending lots of money.   We will discuss all these ideas next week together.

NEXT CLASS MEETING WILL BE TUESDAY, APRIL 28TH @ 9AM OR 2PM. 

I hope you have a great week! 
You can reach me by email at any time. 





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