Ocean pollution + Fine art & Eco choice = shared value
Updated: Apr 26, 2022
Ethical PARTNERSHIP's
- where every little bit counts
Today I’ll be exploring the connection between fine art, eco choice, and shared value. I have been looking for a business that has the same mindset as Driftntides, that resonates with my work and who can help strengthen and build my art presence in the community, while supporting a NFP that can provide sustainable solutions that can really work at the grass roots level and make a difference. My choice is #take3fortheSea
Providing solutions that work to reduce our negative impact on the planet and empower us to become more Sustainable and Ecofriendly in our business practices and everyday living.
OK Lets Drift!
I’m going to reveal my exciting new Partnership as an Official Supporter with #take3fortheSea
Then we are heading to the amazing location of Fingal Head beach NSW, located on the Tweed Coast with one of my Intertidal prints to reflect upon its ability to inspire and fuel the imagination.
After that shifting gears with an Inspirational story, that has given me the strength to step up and become more sustainable and eco-friendly with the help of some lovely friends Lyle and Trish Nicholson. I'll be exploring the coastal sands of far north Queensland highlighting the impact and devastating effects that plastic pollution is having in our own backyards.
Who is Take3fortheSea?
Take 3 is a fantastic initiative a Not for Profit - NFP that promotes the reduction of plastic and rubbish that is making its way into our oceans, beaches, and waterways. Their message is simple:
It’s for each of us to take 3 pieces of rubbish from the beach or waterway whenever we go for a stroll along our shoreline.
Take 3 is leading a movement of people with participation in 129 countries, who are connected to the planet to remove plastic pollution and waste from the environment. Take 3 provides education programs in schools, Online, in surf clubs, and communities that focus on inspiration and hands-on participation.
Take 3 believes that everyone has the power to action and create positive change and become part of the solution. Donations made to Take 3 are invested into programs and activities to educate and inspire students and communities to reduce global plastic pollution.
What is Driftntides doing?
Driftntides will be joining forces with #take3fortheSea a NFP as an Official Supporter and providing a percentage of its sales to support Take 3's positive action. The sales from Driftntides prints will provide the Drift community an opportunity to connect both collaboratively and creatively creating shared value, and progress societal change in a positive way.
What can you do?
By purchasing a unique Print from Driftntides, you can experience inspiration about our local seascapes, that you can display in your home or office, providing a lasting sustainable nudge about the impacts of marine pollution, a refresh of the memory to muse at your leisure beyond the current moment. A portion of each Driftntides Print sold will be dedicated to Take 3 as a donation with Gratitude.
Supporting Ocean Conservation
Providing a conversational piece of inspirational art that’s investing in the environment. Prompting a Mindshift in mindset, to collect 3 pieces of plastic the next time you visit the beach an endless journey of change.
Giving you a sense of satisfaction that you have directly helped remedy the problem at hand. You can utilize Drifts fine art as an alternative avenue to educate, inspire and enlighten people from coast to coast and beyond of the major impact that plastic pollution has, as it as it churns its way into our oceans, waterways, and natural environment.
To add texture to our social awareness Driftntides is sourcing the best eco-friendly solutions available on the market to reduce our overall contribution of plastics and rubbish entering our coastal ecosystems.
When we send our prints through to you, we are utilising sustainable compostable packaging and packing materials such as compostable satchels, hex wrap, biobased sticky tape, eco-labels, corrugated cardboard packing and cardboard boxes. Making your delivery and the unveiling experience of your unique artwork a lot more user-friendly and better for the environment.
My Artistic Vision and Inspirational Thoughts
For the concept of shared value, I've utilized one of my Inspirational Prints from the Intertidal collection, to stimulate this conversation!
Its titled 'Global Warming' taken at one of our hidden jewels, Fingal Head beach, NSW. Giving my fine art a strong voice, presenting a visual display of a treasured coastal experience, where you can silently practice Qigong to the music of the waves and amble along the beach dipping your toes in nature's shiny-gold sea. A piece of paradise that is slowly being washing away and polluted by 'us' in our own lifetime.
We calmly gaze at the tranquil icy cool sunrise, as our coastlines are drowning in spectacular color! The turquoise waters sparkle in the brilliant sunlight, however the candescent sand is being washed away by the ocean’s warming currents, increasing sea levels, coral bleaching, and increased storm damage. The shoreline is at risk of being submerged and the groundwater increasingly becoming salty and destroying our coastal ecosystems. We are all feeling the effects, it is time to join the solution and get involved before our shorelines lose their brochure-blue lustre forever.
My inspiration Story
While living in far north Queensland I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful couple Trish and Lyle Nicholson they refer to themselves as 'Green Nomads’ or ‘Clean Nomads,' Nomads that collect litter from our beaches on their travels. They spend up to six months of each year travelling around Australia enjoying what our Australian marine life and pristine beaches have to offer, they are both keen snorkelers and scuba divers. Approximately 10 years ago they visited the Turtle hospital at Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville, Queensland Australia and saw firsthand the damage that even the smallest of plastics can cause in our marine life and the effects of 'floating disease' the ingesting of plastic in marine turtles.
From that point on they were inspired to carry a bag to collect rubbish on their regular walks and dispose of it properly. ‘We were surprised at just how much we were collecting daily and how quickly we could make a visible impact on the beaches we patrolled.’
There are many NFPs and coastcare organisations you can join in your local area, that work tirelessly to raise awareness about the effects of marine debris. Up at Port Douglas Trish and Lyle joined a group called Tangaroa Blue Foundation which assists in the coordination of the Australian Marine Debris Initiative which monitors the coastline. The foundation provided them with data sheets so their efforts could be added to the database, making the process more meaningful and productive. The data has been used to make a case for preventative actions such as eco-friendly packaging and container deposit systems.
They travelled all over the top end collecting litter and rubbish from beaches in places such as Port Douglas, Cooktown - Cherry Tree Bay, Mission Beach, Cape Hillsborough, and Chilli Beach north of Lockhart River on the far north-eastern coast of the Cape and Orpheus Island near Townsville.
Some notable hauls: Include
At Horseshoe Bay - Bowen, they recorded
999 cigarette butts
35 plastic drinking straws and drink bottles
67 metal caps pull tabs
a car tyre and a cat's eye marker
23 kgs worth in 2 hours. (that’s the weight of approx. 3.5 bowling balls!) Cigarette butts are not biodegradable, they are full of chemicals and can be taken mistakenly as food by marine animals.
At Cooktown's - Cherry tree Bay Lyle dismantled
a washed-up FAD – Fish Aggregating Device, used by fishermen to attract pelagic fish such as tuna, marlin and mahi mahi (dolphin fish). It consisted of bamboo, lashed with nylon rope, supporting black fishing net, floated by a polystyrene buoy. These discarded floating nets can become ghost nets catching unintended turtle’s, manta rays and dolphins.
Lyle disassembled it and carried all 20 kgs of it, up the steep Grassy hill track towards the Historic Cooktown lighthouse, back to the car park and dispose of it properly.
Some wonderful characters I know, I'll refer to them as local beachcombers from Cooktown, have removed a vast array of flotsam and jetsam from the surrounding beaches in the area over the years, including many fishing lures, buoys, fishing line, eskies even a beat-up old
surfboard with a big bite mark on it from a curious shark! All doing their bit contributing to the clean-up and health of our oceans and ongoing sustainability of our fish populations.
At one Chilli Beach clean-up
they had over 60 volunteers and cleared 6.5 kms of beach of marine debris over 5 days.
The volunteers collected over
4,910 kg of debris
including 4,757 Thongs!
It was noted that a lot of the rubbish washing up on the shoreline there is washing in on currents from other countries, rubbish that was being discarded directly into the sea. Above Picture of some of the volunteers, involved in the Chilli beach clean-up.
On Orpheus Island Trish and Lyle and the volunteers conducted a 2 day clean up and collected more than
270 kgs of rubbish 50 large bags in one day.
A barge had to come to remove the rubbish off the island in bags an expensive exercise.
Why do you do it?
‘We do it because its satisfying to leave the beach in a better condition than when you arrived – even better when you think you may have saved a turtle from, ‘floating syndrome’ after consuming plastics, reduced the toxic risk to marine life from cigarette butts or prevented animal entrapment in a ghost net. ‘
‘It is enjoyable to walk, swim and dive at pristine beaches without unsightly litter. Our ocean clean-ups also give us a great opportunity to interact with local communities and contribute to their environment during our brief stay and hopefully our efforts may inspire others.’
A Huge Thankyou to Trish and Lyle for the motivation, inspiration, hard work and dedication over the years to the reduction of plastic pollution along our vast coastline and for making available your story and photographs for this inspirational story. It just goes to show how every little bit helps. These photos have had permission for print previously, if anyone has an objection about their utilisation, please contact us at driftntides@gmail.com
Facts
Some surprising facts about the carbon footprint of our plastic consumption. A carbon footprint corresponds to the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced to, directly and/or indirectly, support a person’s lifestyle and activities. It is measured in tons of CO2, over a period of a year, and carbon footprints can be associated with an individual, an organization, a product, or an event.
Conclusion: Reflecting on the Drift
Being blessed with inspirational role models, especially my mentors has given me the strength to give a voice to my creative instincts and stand up and support more ecologicaclly sound practices. If we all contribute in a sustainable way, together we can create more shared value for everyone, and avoid the unnecessary plastic waste polluting our oceans and waterways.
Just this week the Queensland Government has banned businesses from selling and supplying some plastics and polystyrene products, as part of their 'war on waste'. They hope the ban will reduce the state's plastic pollution by approximately 20 % over the next 2 years. The Australian Marine Conservation Society - AMCS says it will make the oceans 'a little bit safer for turtles and seabirds'. Refer to ABC article link below for more information.
Purchasing unique Driftntides print is a proactive way of donating directly; so is picking up that extra bit of plastic the next time you go to the beach and disposing of it correctly; taking part in a local beach clean-up; and or participating in education or fundraising programs for #take3fortheSea . It shows how any contribution can be useful. They all provide communication pathways for us to work together for the common good of our planet and transform our shared beliefs and dreams into actions and solutions.
It’s the cumulative effect of everyone playing their part and contributing to these sustainable solutions that can really make a difference, that’s where the opportunities lie for the future and the future of our planet. I look forward to YOU proudly hanging one of my Driftntides prints on your wall!
*Send me a picture of you, with your driftntides signed Limited Edition Print and any shots of your beach clean up efforts and I can add you to this post and shift the tide to inspire others. driftntides@gmail.com
What will you action today?
I hope this has resonated with you in some way. If you would like to share a story; a fact; some advice or an opinion, I am open to receiving your feedback, please leave comments below.
#take3fortheSea #coastalart #ecofriendly #oceanconservation #sharedvalue #fineart
Useful Links:
For more information on take 3 for the Sea, visit https://www.take3.org/ and join the #take3forthesea alliance today
Tangaroa Blue Foundation https://www.tangaroablue.org/
Coastcare https://landcareaustralia.org.au/coastcare/about-coastcare/
ABC - Gold Coast: Queensland's ban on single use plastics https://ab.co/3nihQAP
Australian Marine Conservation Society AMCS https://www.marineconservation.org.au/