We have to take care of the ocean in order to survive as a species.”
Mimi Ausland
Why is ocean plastic such a big deal?
The United Nations Environmental Program recently estimated that “for every square mile of ocean” there are about “46,000 pieces of plastic.” Many of us have seen the truly sobering videos and photos of the Pacific garbage patch, which is twice the size of Texas. To help us understand this literally massive environmental problem, we’re chatting with Mimi Ausland, a passionate activist and founder of Free the Ocean, an organization dedicated to getting plastics out of our oceans once and for all.
Episode Show Notes:
- Learn more about Free the Ocean on their website and Instagram.
- The Free Rice project’s click-to-give model was an inspiration for Mimi in starting Free the Oceans.
- Mimi works closely with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii to remove ocean plastic from our waters
- Need another reason to care about ocean health? The majority of our planets oxygen comes from marine plants!
- Mimi is a fan of compost tumblers
- We discussed this fascinating story of how Bay Area green waste becomes valuable compost for farms and wineries.
- Mimi’s go-to karaoke song is “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to understand the problem of plastic waste even better, be sure to listen to our conversation with Jenny and Stephanie from Rewilder.
We didn’t always rely on plastic to contain our food and other countries do not rely as heavily as the US does. There are solutions for non-plastic food packaging and companies like Imperfect Foods and Trader Joes could make that choice on the items they package themselves. I hope we can make some changes soon.
We’re always looking for ways to improve our packaging methods to be more sustainable! Thanks so much for your passion around this subject!