Art appeals to people’s emotions. It works on many levels. Above all it opens doors.
"Tangaroa is the heartbeat of our people. When the ocean is healthy, so are we." (Tangaroa is the Māori god of the sea.) - Wisdom of the Māori
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
Portrait #5: "Stop waste disposal in our environment" – Martha Oduro Kofi Oduro
This portrait is from our children`s ocean photo workshop "shout out loud – stop the plastic flood" in Ghana. Participants photographed each other and added personal messages to decision-makers in industry and politics.
🇬🇭 Ghana`s beaches were still clean in the early 2010s. However, since then, the textile industry and plastic exports have rapidly flooded the country. Ghana has become a destination for the global plastic and textile waste trade, accepting hard-to-recycle plastics from wealthier nations. This practice is criticized as waste colonialism – with low-income countries bearing the environmental burden of waste from high-income ones. The sight is heartbreaking.
Our message to industrialized countries: we must take responsibility for this massive problem and stop exporting plastic waste we cannot manage ourselves. Most importantly, plastic production must be reduced immediately ❗
We would like to thank our project team and partners – @dikancenter, photographer/artist @ulladeventer, and social worker Elizabeth Abangre @lizzyabangre. 🙏🏻🙏🏿
Special thanks to our partner @sony.deutschland.at for providing the cameras.
📸 Credits: Dede Stella Rolland Collins (picture 1); @saskia_uppenkamp_photographer (picture 2), protagonists: Martha Oduro Kofi Oduro; retouching: @mara.dagmara2021
In our fourth theme, “Fashion Waste Colonialism,” we’ll explore the harmful effects of the fashion waste trade from economically wealthier countries to low-income countries. 🌎
The EU exports approximately 1.4 to 1.7 million tons of used clothes and textiles annually, mostly to Africa and Asia. This volume has tripled over the last two decades. 📈
Polyester overtook cotton as the dominant fashion material in 2000. Since then, microfiber pollution in the atmosphere has steadily rose. The vast amounts of clothing that end up in countries like Ghana create additional health hazards and environmental damage for local communities and their ecosystems. ❌
Stay tuned to find out more in our upcoming interview series! ✏️
Source: European Environmental Bureau, Changing Markets.
Video: animation by @maliaanddesign, sound by @djdavedk.
"The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word `struggle` from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that you do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for." - Hopi Prophecy
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
🦈 Basking sharks can grow up to 12 meters long — making them the second largest fish after whale sharks — but they’re very gentle giants.
Their name comes from how they feed: swimming slowly near the surface with mouths wide open, filtering huge volumes of water for plankton. From above, it looks like they’re basking in the sun ☀️
These crucial creatures keep ocean ecosystems in balance by regulating plankton populations.
But they face growing threats from boat collisions, fishing, pollution, and climate change.
Here’s how you can help:
🚯 Reduce plastic use to protect the plankton they rely on.
🐟 Avoid eating seafood to prevent shark bycatch and gear entanglement.
📍 Cut greenhouse gas emissions in all areas of life to help reduce ocean acidification.
Have a ‘fintastic’ World Basking Shark Day! 💫
***
Sources: marlin.ac.uk, sciencedirect.com
🌊 Welche Bedeutung hat das Meer für Dich?
Unsere Protagonistinnen beim Mikrofaser-Shooting haben darauf ganz persönliche Antworten gegeben.
💭 Was verbindest Du mit dem Meer? Teile es gerne mit uns in den Kommentaren. ⬇️
🙏 Ein riesengrosses Dankeschön an alle Mitwirkenden @majagoepel, @carinabischof, Egon Jochim, @galinamiranda, @fashionrev_de, @fashrev, @fairknallt und @BadmintONEarth.
📹:@saskia_uppenkamp_photographer, Pixabay
"The great sea has set me in motion, set me adrift, moving me as the weed moves in a river. The sky and the strong wind have moved the spirit inside me until I am carried away, trembling with joy." - Weisheit der Inuit
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
Diese Woche verhandeln 27 Vertragsstaaten darüber, inwiefern das Südpolarmeer und seine Lebewesen 🐋 🐧 🦐 🦭 🐟 🦈 🦑 geschützt werden sollen:
#CCAMLR - die Kommission zur Erhaltung der lebenden Meeresschätze der Antarktis - trifft sich jährlich in Hobart, Australien. Mit ihr treffen Fischerei und Biodiversitätsschutz aufeinander. 🇦🇶
CCAMLR wurde 1982 aus der Erkenntnis gegründet, dass die antarktische Biodiversität extrem fragil ist und ihr gesamtes Nahrungsnetz von einer Spezies abhängt, dem antarktischem Krill (Euphausia Superba). 🦐 Jedoch ist er aufgrund des Klimawandels unter Druck, und die Arten im Südpolarmeer - vor allem die sich erholenden Walpopulationen - brauchen ihn, um zu überleben.
#CCAMLR Delegierte,
Wusstet Ihr, dass der Schutz des antarktischen Krills ist 30-mal wertvoller ist (Ökosystemdienst im Wert von > 15 Milliarden US-Dollar pro Jahr) als sein Fang (< als 500 Millionen US-Dollar jährlich)? Im Umkehrschluß bedeutet dies: der Mensch fügt sich durch den Krillfang selbst Schaden zu❗ 🌍
Unser Appell: Es ist Zeit, den Schutz des Krills an erste Stelle zu setzen! - und die Auszeichnung der bereits seit über 10 Jahren ausstehenden Meeresschutzgebiete nicht aufzugeben, sondern gerade jetzt, einzubringen. 💪
Video credit: bereitgestellt von der @lewispughfdn; Material koordiniert von @antarcticsouthernocean Coalition - vielen Dank
Quellen: WWF (2020). Antarctic Krill – Powerhouse of the Southern Ocean
🐬 Today we’re celebrating freshwater dolphins 🥳 Unlike their ocean relatives, freshwater dolphins have adapted to life in rivers. Their secret skill…
…incredible echolocation! 🔉They emit a series of high-frequency clicks and listen for the echoes bouncing off fish, roots or riverbanks, allowing them to navigate and hunt even in water where light barely penetrates.
🤝 We’d like to introduce you to the:
> Ganges River Dolphin (India & Nepal) – locally called the Susu, it’s nearly blind and uses sound instead of sight. It’s one of the few species that swim on their sides to find food along the riverbed.
> Amazon River Dolphin (Boto) – famous for its pink color, which comes from capillaries near the skin and changes with age and activity. It’s also the largest freshwater dolphin, reaching up to 2.5 meters in length.
Unfortunately, these remarkable mammals are highly endangered, facing similar challenges: habitat fragmentation, reduced water flow and pollution. 😐
🌟 But there’s hope! In parts of the Ganges and Amazon, conservation projects are showing that protection works – from cleaner water initiatives to safe fishing zones and eco-tourism that supports local communities.
#freshwaterdolphins #freshwaterdolphinday #echolocation #gangesriverdolphin #amazonriverdolphin #pollution #protection #ecotourism #localcommunity #thereishope
***
Photo: Wikimedia
Source: National Geographic; World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation; Ganga River Dolphin Conservation Project.
👗 Microplastics in Fashion
Miranda Wilson @galinamiranda (German national badminton team player and founder of sustainability network and climate action project @badminton.earth) what will it take to reduce microfiber pollution?
Miranda: ‘It`s not only up to consumers, change has to happen within the companies and their production.’
We couldn’t agree more! If you’d like to join us in calling on a company (and their production methods) to address this issue, please sign our @campact.de petition to @adidasgermany (link in bio). 🙏
📸 Our photoshoot team:
Photographer: @saskia_uppenkamp_photographer, Styling: @seherbilicimua and @alinalamarama.
This project is realized in collaboration with @fashrev_de 💙
#BreakFreeFromPlastic #WeAreFashionRevolution #BanMicroplastics #Microfibers #UnderOurSkin #EndPlasticWaste #FossilFashion
#UnderOurSkin - Microplastics in Fashion - Portrait 19 is of Miranda Wilson @galinamiranda, German national badminton team player, and founder of the sustainability network and climate action project @BadmintONEarth.
〰️ Microfibers are shed from synthetic clothes during every stage of their lifecycle – during production, while we are wearing and washing them, and when they’re disposed of. They pollute and harm the air, soil, water, wildlife, and our own bodies, too.
It’s way past time that we said a firm ‘no’ to synthetic microfibers.
Act now by signing our @campact.de petition to @adidasgermany (link in bio)! Thank you 🙏
Our photoshoot team: 📸
Photographer: @saskia_uppenkamp_photographer, Styling: @seherbilicimua and @alinalamarama.
This project is realized in collaboration with Fashion Revolution Germany @fashrev_de 💙
#BreakFreeFromPlastic #WeAreFashionRevolution #BanMicroplastics #Microfibers #UnderOurSkin #EndPlasticWaste #FossilFashion
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." - Weisheit der Mohawk
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
Our partners:
