Let’s be clear; I’m not asking whether you would make a healthful meal for a shark; rather, I’m asking you to consider how your daily habits affect our global seafood supply, and I assure you, they do.

A Scary Truth

I recently read two articles related to our ocean ecosystems, both of which scare the daylights out of me. The first is a recent UNEP report echoing dire warnings I’ve heard since I first began studying oceans: global warming is compounding damage from overfishing and pollution, likely accelerating the collapse of global fish stocks, which have been in severe decline in recent decades. Think of it this way: even if you don’t eat seafood at all, the emissions from driving your car and heating your home adversely affect marine ecosystems globally. It’s a small world.

The second article is from Best Life Magazine (thanks Erin for sending this along) entitled, “Our oceans are turning into plastic . . . are we?” The article highlights the growing epidemic of plastic pollution in our oceans, and consequently, in our food chain. A few years ago as a researcher, I sailed to Palmyra Atoll, a tiny island in the Equatorial Pacific considered to be one of the most pristine tropical ecosystems left in the world. The shore was awash in plastic garbage: yogurt containers, shoes, curlers, forks and more. As the article points out, “Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated—and it’s a very small amount—every bit of plastic ever made still exists.” Every piece of plastic you’ve ever used and thrown away exists somewhere in a landfill, on a “pristine” tropical island, in the stomach of a sea bird, or even in your food.

Reading these stories is enough to keep a person awake at night, but as dire as the situation may be, these warnings are not foregone conclusions. We can embark on a trajectory for a brighter future, and I don’t just mean the royal We. I’m talking about you and me and simple things we can do to make a difference.

Consumer Power

You wield significant power as a consumer. Although this can be easy to forget, your consumer choices constitute a highly effective way to effect positive change, so put your consumer power to work!

Print out a Seafood Watch Card from the Monterey Bay Aquarium or the Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood from the Blue Ocean Institute, and take it with you to the grocery store or when you go out to dinner. Ask your local grocery stores and restaurants to carry sustainable seafood choices, and let them know that it’s important to you to know where your seafood comes from and how it was caught. Encourage them to make a difference by offering sustainable choices.

You also have choices regarding types of plastic you purchase, if any at all. If given the choice, opt for glass or for recyclable plastics (PET #1 and HDPE #2) and avoid others as much as possible. Reuse existing plastic containers. Instead of buying individual shampoo and conditioner bottles for your family, buy in bulk. Get creative. Every little bit helps!

Money Talks

In addition to your power as a consumer, you also have the option of supporting organizations working for positive change. There are a great many organizations out there working to make seafood healthier for you and to make our oceans healthier for seafood. Support them, and you’ll be supporting human health as well as the health of marine ecosystems worldwide.

Political Power

Your vote counts. Your voice counts. Use both. Support environmental measures where you live and encourage your representatives to do the same. Share your knowledge with friends to cultivate a greater level of awareness: link to this blog and share your ideas with fellow athletes by leaving a comment!

Learn More

Check out some of these websites for more information.

• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Blue Ocean Institute
• Center for Ocean Solutions

For a more literary approach to learning, here are some great reads.

• Song For the Blue Ocean, by Carl Safina
  
• Sea Stories, online collection of essays
  
• The Empty Ocean, by Richard Ellis
• Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans, by Sylvia Earle

Photos from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Such a large community of cyclists might mean an even larger pileup of tubes in our landfills, but a large community also means a wealth of resources. With your help, the Bay Area cycling community can become a leader in reducing waste in the cycling industry!

If you know of a bike shop that would be willing to collect old tubes from local cyclists for recycling, or if you have other ideas or suggestions to contribute to this program, please leave a comment, or email me at amrais (at) elementalaction (dot) com. Your help could be the key to implementing this innovative program!

From Karl:

“I am embarking on a mission to at least recycle butyl inner tubes and hopefully bicycle tires as well. The tubes should be a no brainer, as sans the valve stem with 2 snips, the material is pure and ready for recycling. Now to just find a recycler.

I am trying to coordinate with Specialized, who already has program in motion. I know managers of 4 bike shops that would be on board, not to mention 400 AV’rs [Alto Velo cyclists - ed.] that could contribute as well. Point is, we could get a significant bulk of material with a little coordination and perhaps establish a route for pick up for local recycling.

The little contact that I have had with rubber recyclers don’t want to bother with small amounts.

I am just putting this out there to hopefully get you on board . . . get large bike industry companies on board and hopefully just get this going. I am concerned that each company wants exclusive bragging/advertising claims to being a green rubber recycler, but me, I just want to keep them out of the landfill.”

Your ideas and help can help old tubes find new uses, instead of filling space in our landfills. Leave your ideas and suggestions by adding a Comment or e-mail Amber at amrais (at) elementalaction (dot) com.

Well the PROMAN cycling team volunteers did just that. Enthusiastic volunteers and team members from all over the Bay Area came together and spent over 2 hours one Sunday afternoon cleaning up rubbish on Alexander grade between the town of Sausalito and the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, about a one-mile stretch. Everyone put in 110% effort to get this messy job done and did it with a smile! The volunteers, who included two current Elite National champions, got a few good laughs among themselves, as well as from the strange items found on the roadside.

It was an incredibly constructive 2.5 hours. The final toll was 14 extra large heavy-duty trash bags filled to capacity, one large plastic bin, also filled and a junky old door that had been discarded on the road.

After a tiring but very satisfying day, the team is already planning the next date and location! Stay tuned.

PROMAN cycling sends a huge THANKS to all the volunteers and PROMAN track racer Lorraine Jarvis for organizing the event.

Thanks to the PROMAN Team for their time and dedication in the community! Interested in helping out the next time around? Check out the PROMAN website for updates and more information!

Jack Groh, Director of the NFL’s Environmental Program is spearheading a carbon neutral strategy for this year’s big event. Using the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) in addition to planting thousands of trees in Arizona to indirectly neutralize the event’s carbon footprint (including a 3,000 vehicle ground transportation fleet), organizers anticipate a carbon neutral event.

The Super Bowl’s anticipated carbon footprint was calculated based on the impact of the event itself, excluding such carbon contributers as the hundreds of thousands of fans who will be traveling (ostensibly from all corners of the country) to Arizona for the annual spectacle of spandex, which begs the question: For how much of an event’s carbon footprint are the organizers responsible? (And why doesn’t spandex at 30 mph get people as excited as stop-and-go grunting spandex?)

In this case, if the Super Bowl didn’t exist, these thousands of fans wouldn’t be emitting carbon to travel to Arizona, so in a sense, one could argue that the organizers are responsible for inciting this spike in carbon emissions. On the other hand, one could argue that it’s up to the individual fans to take responsibility for their own travel emissions to and from the event.

So where do you stand? How much responsibility ought to be borne by the organizers and event planners? Should they be offering greener travel alternatives?

I’m one for personal accountability in general, and frankly I think it’s an excellent step forward in environmental awareness for an event of this size to set a good example of social responsibility. I only hope that their actions inspire some personal accountability in those fans attending the festivities. Do I think the organizers can do better? Absolutely, and I think they will. They’re moving in the right direction, which is a laudable effort. And maybe next year, they’ll reconsider the REC’s and instead invest in Verified Emissions Reductions (VER’s).

From the horse’s mouth:

http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2007/01/19/super-bowl-green-sports-biz-cz_ad_0119green.html

We will feature environmental news, athlete contributions and environmental discussions and commentary. If you’d like to contribute a post, please contact me with your idea.

In the meantime, put the dogs up and relax with some enviro brain fodder.