World Oceans Day 2021: How Oris is Changing the Tide
This World Oceans Day (June 8th 2021) we look at some of the steps Oris is taking to change the tide towards a better, cleaner future for our waters.
Plastic Pollution
Plastic litter has now reached every part of the world’s oceans. Furthermore, experts have calculated that around 700 tons of plastics are entering the oceans every hour. Unfortunately, that figure will grow unless our consumption is brought under control and we improve the way plastic litter is managed. To reduce our impact, we should avoid single-use plastic. This includes items such as cotton buds, plastic straws, drinks stirrers, plastic cups and cutlery.
Oris and Everwave
Everwave is a pioneering young non-profit organisation working in partnership with Oris. They are developing technology that will help keep the world’s water clean by capturing plastic before it enters the ocean. Everwave’s CEO Marcella Hansch came up with the idea of a floating platform during her Masters in Architecture. The platform is positioned within the circular patterns of ocean currents to filter plastics and microplastics. The platform is an anchored object, so it has no drive and needs no fuel, and works like an inverted sedimentation basin. Its architectural form calms down the ocean currents and then because of the calming and the low density of plastics, the plastic particles float to the surface. There is no need for filter systems like nets. This means fish and other ocean life won’t be harmed.
Reef Restoration
Oris is working with the Reef Restoration Foundation (RFF) on helping restore the Great Barrier Reef. The foundation’s mission is to help regenerate high-value corals on the Great Barrier Reef with coral planting projects to counter the effects of coral bleaching. RFF obtained the first permit to establish an ocean-based coral nursery in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 2017.
Why is it so important to restore the reef?
The reef is around 8,000 years old and it’s the world’s largest coral reef system. Also, it provides coastal protection to 2,300 km of coast. Furthermore, it’s one of the most biodiverse reef systems in the world. It has amazing tropical fish, turtles, sharks, rays, dugongs and hundreds of different corals. Moreover, it’s the single most important source of jobs in the local community, and it also has special cultural value in Australia and all over the world. It’s world heritage listed and a global barometer for environmental health.
RFF CEO Stewart Christie explains:
Creating optimism for the future of the Great Barrier Reef is our purpose. We’re the first organisation to obtain approval to establish and operate an ocean-based coral nursery and restoration programme on the Great Barrier Reef, and to prove the concept. We’ve recently been granted permits to expand to other high-value locations in the outer Great Barrier Reef, and we are actively seeking funding and investment to establish these nurseries.
Oris: Change for the Better
The above two projects are just part of Oris’s Change for the Better Campaign. As well as entering into partnerships with conservation agencies and supporting projects designed to clean up the world’s water sources, Oris are also on a sustainability drive at their headquarters in Hölstein, Switzerland. Their aim this year is to become climate neutral. This means taking action to recycle more, reduce emissions, improve manufacturing facilities and much more.
Nature knows no borders, and neither does Oris’s campaign to bring Change for the Better. It’s a global, tangible mission to make the world a better place.
This World Ocean Day why not be inspired by Oris see what you can do to help recover the health of the ocean? Like Oris, you could support Everwave or RFF. Also, in the UK, the Marine Conservation Society needs everyone to join them in their fight for the future of our ocean. Currently they are campaigning for a Deposit Return Scheme in the UK to reduce waste from drink cans and bottles. However, this is just one aspect of their work. Whether you take part in a beach clean, donate to their vital work or join their campaign, there is loads you can do – before it is too late.
Sources:
Pacific Garbage Screening Plastic Ocean – YouTube
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Photo credits:
https://www.oris.ch/
