Singin’ the blues for the oceans blue

The blue economy must be a priority to protect the oceans from plastics and waste. Hear how you can help in our climate podcast oceans episode

Blues singers usually wail about a lover who ain’t treatin’ them right, but on this episode of the Climate Solutions podcast we sing the blues for the ocean.

Our climate podcast oceans episode looks at the unexpected ways in which we’re polluting the oceans—and the way that pollution plays a role in climate change. We also give you a checklist of things you can do to hold back the tide of pollution.

Subscribe to the entire series of Climate Solutions from the European Investment Bank, the EU climate bank. Learn what you should do to fight climate change in the oceans, on the road, in your home and even on your digital devices.

In the climate podcast oceans episode you find out:

·        What we need to do on land to save the seas

·        About 40% of the plastic that ends up in the oceans comes from trash discarded in or near rivers by the two billion people who lack waste collection services. Of all the plastic arriving in the oceans from rivers, 90% comes from just 10 rivers, mainly in Africa and Asia.

·        The oceans contain trillions of miniscule pieces of plastic, as well as giant “garbage patches,” the biggest of which, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, covers an area three times the size of France.

·        What are microplastics? Microplastics are tiny plastic pieces polluting the oceans. Microplastics account for the large majority of plastic debris on the oceans’ surfaces. Microplastics include broken-down plastic waste, synthetic fibres and beads found in personal hygiene products. They harm marine life, which mistake them for food, and they’re consumed by humans through seafood and tap water.

·        Which of the following is getting a €214 million clean-up backed by the European Investment Bank? My kitchen drain, or the Kitchener Drain, a 69-kilometre network of canals in Egypt’s Nile Delta.

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