Ocean Cleanup
Donation protected
I have recently spent some time living with the Bajau sea gypsies on Omadal Island and one thing I can't stop thinking about is the hurrendous amount of litter that they are pouring into the ocean. Every single packet they use is thrown directly into the sea without a thought.
As a nomadic group they are stateless and so have no access to education, completely unaware of environmental issues. Consequently, each area they travel to (Philippenes, Malaysia and Indonesia) they leave behind a huge mess in the ocean, destroyed coral and a thick layer of trash over the sea floor. This group is growing rapidly and so it is vital that someone takes action to educate them on these issues and to show them a sustainable means of waste disposal.
Luckily enough I have found the perfect man for the job. Jaafar is a brilliant man I have been fortunate enough to get to know well over the past week and he is truly passionate about educating the sea gypsies and showing them proper waste disposal, so the garbage doesn't end up in our beautiful oceans. We have come up with a project to limit the sea gypsies devastating output of plastic into the sea by paying them 5MYR (£1) to fill a bag of plastic/trash each month which will be put into land fill on the island. On this island alone there are 170 households, think of the impact we could have in preventing this amount of plastic entering the sea and destroying the marine life. This money will also help the sea gypsies greatly as many are living in poverty.
I was shocked by the sheer amount of waste that they are putting into the sea and this project could really make a difference in the fight to clean up the ocean.
Any donation is hugely appreciated as it will make such a difference. The ecosystems in this ocean are absolute gems of our planet and they need protection.
While we visited we spent a couple of hours canoeing around the sea gypsy village and filled our canoe with plastic that had been disposed of by the houses. Once on land we paid the children to dig a hole for this waste. Our aim is for this to become large scale and prevent the litter entering the sea to begin with.
As a nomadic group they are stateless and so have no access to education, completely unaware of environmental issues. Consequently, each area they travel to (Philippenes, Malaysia and Indonesia) they leave behind a huge mess in the ocean, destroyed coral and a thick layer of trash over the sea floor. This group is growing rapidly and so it is vital that someone takes action to educate them on these issues and to show them a sustainable means of waste disposal.
Luckily enough I have found the perfect man for the job. Jaafar is a brilliant man I have been fortunate enough to get to know well over the past week and he is truly passionate about educating the sea gypsies and showing them proper waste disposal, so the garbage doesn't end up in our beautiful oceans. We have come up with a project to limit the sea gypsies devastating output of plastic into the sea by paying them 5MYR (£1) to fill a bag of plastic/trash each month which will be put into land fill on the island. On this island alone there are 170 households, think of the impact we could have in preventing this amount of plastic entering the sea and destroying the marine life. This money will also help the sea gypsies greatly as many are living in poverty.
I was shocked by the sheer amount of waste that they are putting into the sea and this project could really make a difference in the fight to clean up the ocean.
Any donation is hugely appreciated as it will make such a difference. The ecosystems in this ocean are absolute gems of our planet and they need protection.
While we visited we spent a couple of hours canoeing around the sea gypsy village and filled our canoe with plastic that had been disposed of by the houses. Once on land we paid the children to dig a hole for this waste. Our aim is for this to become large scale and prevent the litter entering the sea to begin with.
Organizer
Ellie Selley
Organizer
England
