Art appeals to people’s emotions. It works on many levels. Above all it opens doors.
🪤 The Baseline Trap: Why we’re settling for less. In the coming weeks, we’ll share something dangerous we’re seeing in EU politics: shifting baselines.
We’re here to call out names because we won’t accept lowering standards!
In the previous administration, EU politics made some truly progressive moves towards creating a healthy environment for its citizens – a solid foundation that should be built upon. But is that foundation crumbling right now? 💔
Our basis for this series is the psychological glitch known as Shifting Baseline Syndrome (SBS). Originally coined to describe how we forget the ocean’s past richness, it’s now being used as a smoke screen for the deregulation of our health.
🤔 What is the trap?
The trap is simple: we adapt. When the EU shifts from promising a "toxic-free environment" to merely "managing risk," our collective memory of higher ambition fades.
We start to accept a slightly more polluted and more toxic world as the "new normal."
🫵 Why this matters for YOU:
This is about:
- The clothes you wear: Will they continue to shed microplastics and carry "forever chemicals" because standards were "simplified"?
- The water you drink: Are we settling for "safe-ish" levels of toxins because the original bans were too "administratively heavy"?
- Your long-term health: We refuse to let human health become a secondary priority to "regulatory fitness."
Note: "administrative simplifications" or the new "Omnibus" packages trick us into thinking we’re making progress. But we aren`t just losing environmental standards; we’re losing the baseline for our physical well-being.
We saw this just weeks ago with the Chemicals Omnibus. While @sanddgroup and @greensefa fought to reinstate safeguards for our everyday products, the pressure to deregulate is still high. We need @reneweurope and the europeancommission to realize: a "toxic-free environment" isn`t an administrative burden—it’s a human right 👀
The EU has the tools and the science to protect us. We just need to stop falling for the trap.
📍 Stay tuned for Part 2, where we go back to the "High Baseline" of 2022 to see exactly which promises are being quietly erased!
🌊 DER OZEAN BRAUCHT RECHTE – NICHT NUR SCHUTZ 🐋
Weltweit wächst eine Bewegung, die den Ozean neu denkt:
Nicht als Ressource. Sondern als Rechtsträger.
Warum das entscheidend ist?
Weil „Schutz“ oft nicht reicht.
Weil Ausbeutung weiterhin legal bleibt.
Weil der Ozean keine Stimme hat.
Ocean Rights bedeuten:
➡️ Das Recht, zu existieren
➡️ Das Recht, sich zu regenerieren
➡️ Das Recht, vor Zerstörung geschützt zu werden
Es ist Zeit, den Ozean nicht nur zu managen –
sondern seine Rechte anzuerkennen. Für dies steht Ocean. Now! ein. Jedes Individuum und jede Organisation kann übrigens mitmachen. In unserer Bio findest Du einen Link des “Ocean Rights Movement”, hier kannst Du die “Ocean Rights Declaration” der Initiativen Ocean Vision Legal und @gallifreyfoundation unterschreiben, die Bewegung formiert sich gerade. Du findest den Link in unserer Bio.
🔊 @khor.sound / freesound.org
#OceanRights #RightsOfNature #ProtectTheOcean
🐧 The news from the IUCN Red List is official: the Emperor Penguin is ENDANGERED.
We’ve heard the "Near Threatened" warnings for years, but the impacts of rapid sea-ice loss are now catastrophic.
Without this ice, Emperor chicks can’t survive. In 5 years, parts of West Antarctica have seen a 22% population decline!
While the science is screaming at us, politicians stay silent 🤐
Despite the Emperor`s new Endangered status, they’re STILL not a "Specially Protected Species" for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM).
Some countries continue to block this designation. We suspect it’s because of fisheries.
→ Emperors rely on the krill that industrial fishing fleets want to catch.
→ By blocking protections, these nations prioritize profits over the penguins.
❌ We can’t allow the fishing industry to decide the fate of Antarctica.
In May, delegates will meet for #ATCM48. We call on them to:
1. Respect the IUCN’s Endangered listing.
2. End the block on "Specially Protected Species" status.
3. Prioritize ecosystem health over krill fishery expansion.
Let’s not lose the Emperor Penguin to greed. The time to protect them is now! 🌊
Sources: IUCN, WWF, BAS
📑 Mission Brüssel: Unsere Forderungen auf dem Tisch der EU-Kommission europeancommission
Um die unsichtbare Flut an synthetischen, nicht-biologisch abbaubaren Mikrofasern zu stoppen, müssen wir dort ansetzen, wo die Regeln gemacht werden. Ocean. Now! ist im direkten Dialog mit der EU-Ebene, um eine entscheidende regulatorische Lücke zu schließen.
Obwohl wissenschaftlich belegt ist, dass synthetische Textilien – darunter Polyester – während ihres gesamten Lebenszyklus kontinuierlich Mikrofasern freisetzen, konzentrieren sich aktuelle EU-Maßnahmen primär auf “absichtlich” zugesetztes Mikroplastik. Mikrofasern aus Textilien bleiben bisher weitgehend unreguliert.
Das ändern wir jetzt. Wir haben uns offiziell an die zuständigen Kommissare gewandt:
📧 An @jessikaroswall (Kommissarin für Umwelt):
Wir fordern, die Mikrofaserverschmutzung explizit in Initiativen zur Wasserresilienz und den Circular Economy Act aufzunehmen.
📧 An @stephane_sejourne (Exekutiv-Vizepräsident für Wohlstand und Industriestrategie):
Wir drängen darauf, die neue Ökodesign-Verordnung (ESPR) zu nutzen, um die Faserfreisetzung an der Quelle zu stoppen.
Es ist Zeit für progressive Entscheidungen! ⏰ Folge uns für Updates aus dem Gesetzgebungsprozess.
#Mikrofasern #BanMicroplastics #UnderOurSkin
"The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Karen Blixen
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
This year, we’re taking action against polyester microfibers and working towards the regulation of:
👕 Emissions from synthetic fashion fibers (particularly polyester)
🧪 Chemicals related to polyester microfibers
At an EU level, we’re advocating for a legal ban on polyester fleece products, as these shed particularly high levels of microfibers!
Given how widespread polyester is, we know this is a challenging topic to address. But, we feel it’s the moment to tackle microfiber shedding at the source.
In which policy dossiers can we apply our asks?
🇪🇺 The first one is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which the EU is currently developing. It’s an EU law that requires products to be more durable, repairable, and resource-efficient throughout their entire lifecycle.
We just handed in our submission for the process of the Joint Research Centre (JRC). This European Commission department provides scientific evidence and technical analyses to support the implementation of the ESPR.
It’s high time our industrialized society drastically lowered the concentration of microfibers in the atmosphere!
⏰
❤️🩹 How is your healing connected to politics?
We’re in the healing stage of our campaign “Under Our Skin: Microplastics in Fashion”, and now we’re getting political.
🤔 Why? Because healing requires action at every level. We need decision-makers to prioritise policies that protect our health – allowing communities and nature to recover from the toxic impacts of polyester fast fashion.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll share what we’re doing to push for policy change that makes healing possible ✊
***
Illustrations: @oh_ey_sis
"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
⬇ Something’s getting under our skin…
Every day, we breathe in, eat, drink, and wear synthetic microfibers.
One source of these is the polyester clothing that fast-fashion manufacturers keep churning out.
From production to disposal, polyester clothes are linked to health risks for people, wildlife, and the environment.
This World Health Day, let’s resist.
Get loud and demand change on all possible levels:
🏭 Show brands you want change. For e.g. sign our petition to adidas (link in bio)
🗳️ Demand policymakers put our health over profit and vote for those who will
👕 Consume less, but if needed, choose fashion that isn`t harmful
Because everything is connected. Human health = ocean health.
💙🌊
***
💡 Did you know? As early as 1975, a clinical study by Pimentel et al. (”Respiratory disease caused by synthetic fibres: a new occupational disease”) reported lung disease in patients exposed to inhaled synthetic textile fibres, including materials like polyester. Later occupational studies linked such exposure to inflammation, fibrosis, and higher cancer risks – early warning signs that airborne synthetic fibres can harm human health.
"With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.” - Dr. Sylvia Earle
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
😡 Fast fashion producers and clothing brands are treating us like fossil fools.
Every year, up to 16 million tons of oil are used to create polyester fibers – and the production of polyester clothing emits a staggering 944 million tons of CO2!
This April 1st, known as Fossil Fools Day, we’re saying ‘NO’ to fossil fashion.
⏱️The time for ethical production is now!
Join us: sign our petition to adidas (link in bio). 🖊️
Thank you.
🙏
***
1. Oil barrel figure sources: Exit Fast Fashion, MetaInsights, Forum UE, Fashion Revolution, Boell, Changing Markets, FAZ, Cosh, UBA
2. Emissions figure sources: Eureka, Textfash, Fashiondive, Cosh, Globaltextiletimes, Huidutextile, Teec-Recyc, Greenmatch, RMI, Shahid Imran et al: Assessing the potential of GHG emissions for the textile sector: A baseline study
"Wenn du nicht sicher bist, zeig dich verletzlich." - Yasmina Sita Raada Steck
#OceanQuote #WeAreOcean #IndigenousWisdom
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