Birthplace brings the plastic issue home.

I stumbled across this beautiful and poignant video which brought the plastic issue even more close to home and the effect we are having on our world. My first thoughts were who is this and who made it and why have I never seen it.

So I did some googling and discovered the musician, Novo Amor, is Welsh and this track was from his debut album. As well as being a talented musician, he is also conscious of limiting the impact his business and touring has on the environment and works with a couple of UK Charities to reduce sustainability.

The video for Birthplace is an amazing piece of work and I was intrigued to find out who the diver was. It’s none other than Michael Board, a UK professional deep diver and is ranked number five in the world. He carried out around 250 deep dives in order to capture the footage for the video. No masks, no suit, just the clothes he was wearing with some hidden weights in his jeans to help get keep him down whilst the whole crew were underwater for 35 hours in total to make this spectacular video from directors Jork Dozy and Sil van der Woerd.

The effects of plastic on our planet are everywhere at the moment. But is it too late? Should we have taken notice years ago? Or have we been blind and ignorant to what has been going on?

The fact that plastic is harming our oceans, wildlife, our food chain and our bodies is something that everyone needs to wake up to and be accountable for.

Did you know that there is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the milky way?

And that almost every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form?

Or that 1.3 million plastic bottles are bought every minute around the world with that number reaching half a trillion by 2021? Yet less than half of those are recycled.

Unbelievable isn’t it?

So what can we do? Well, I’ve personally started to use single-use plastic when I need to, cutting out plastic bottles and using my Que water bottle and Frank Green cup for coffee in the morning rather than takeaway cups. My stationery brand, Text From A Friend, is cutting down on cello bags, going naked, recycling delivery boxes and using paper that is kinder to our planet.

Clients are also looking at how their packaging can be rid of plastic with one in particular adopting new paper combustible methods that look really cool too. I guess it’s all up to us as individuals too. Not to mention the supermarkets and manufacturers who need to eliminate the plastic or find alternatives.

Without everyone doing a little bit and being conscious of their choices, our planet will continue to suffer.

What are you doing?