Of all the corners of the world
I love with a stronger and deeper love
That beach enraptured and bare
Where I become one with the sea, the wind and the moon.
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen, (Mar, in Poesia, 1944)*
8th of June is World Oceans Day!
With this poem, Sophia de Mello Breyner captures the relationship the Portuguese have with the sea, which in our case is the Atlantic Ocean.
In our culture, the ocean has historically represented temptation, adventure and a major driver for technological development.
Did you know that we even have a Sea Ministry?
What for sure you do know is that marine pollution is a growing problem that asks for action and it can be mainly categorised into two types: chemical and trash (you can read a bit more on this National Geographic article).
In what regards trash, or litter, in 2018, the Joint Research Centre published a detailed report on the main types of marine litter. On the top ten items you can find Plastic/polystyrene pieces, cigarette butts, cotton bud sticks, glass… that end up or are washed from our beaches.
As a way to counter fight this epidemics, there are several organizations and initiatives, acting locally and worldwide to clean our beaches. Among others we can name the Puliamo il mondo from Legambiente, the world clean-up day and the citizens’ initiative #LitterHero.
Additionally, there are single initiatives or artists that try to raise awareness on this topic, as it is the case of the Portuguese project Plasticus Maritimus (here are the Facebook and Instagram pages).
Here in Ispra (Italy), we do not have an ocean, but we do have a lake that is also very special to us.
In this spirit, the Portuguese Semester started the Lake cleaning challenge Think global, act local! - Let's clean our lakes
To celebrate the Ocean's day we will share with you the results of the challenge and more information will come in the upcoming days!
is planning several beach cleaning actions that will end up with an event on the 8th of June. More details will come soon. Please stay tuned.
*Original version
De todos os cantos do mundo
Amo com amor mais forte e mais profundo
Aquela praia extasiada e nua,
Onde me uni ao mar, ao vento e a lua