Black Friday can be associated with a little excess. To channel the hype into ocean health, we turned it into Blue Friday, donating 100% of our website sales from the weekend to Big Blue Ocean Clean Up.
Through your support, Big Blue Ocean Cleanup is helping to create a healthier patch of ocean, right here on the UK coastline, by creating a brand new Marine Nature Reserve. A safe space for bio-diversity to thrive with carbon-storing kelp forests and sea grass meadows.
Big Blue is one of the world’s leading ocean cleanup non-profits.
We found them through our membership with 1% for the Planet, an organisation focused on tackling greenwashing and funnelling money towards environmental organisations. They work to keep the ocean clean of plastic and protect vulnerable marine habitats.
Their new Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) will be on the West Coast of Scotland, restoring the ocean's ecosystems and giving coastal species the room to thrive.
The first MNR was created in New Zealand in the 90's. In 97', the NZ government created a "no take zone" and, within 6 years, the native fish species had become 25 times more abundant. And that's just inside the reserve. From there, wildlife spread into the wider ecosystem and benefited the surrounding area.
Beyond the fish, sea otters, dolphins, whales and puffins - this reserve will be home to sea grass meadows and kelp forests.
These underwater landscapes help to dampen the power of the waves, slowing coastal erosion. Per acre, they absorb 20 times more carbon from the atmosphere than land forests.
Kelp forests have been in decline for decades, with a recently protected area on the south coast making up only 4% of its original footprint (and growing). It's another reason these conservation efforts are essential and need to be rolled out on a larger scale.
And, thanks to you, we have been able to sponsored 10,000m2. Thank you for your support.
The new MNR is in the process of being created. We'll share the exact location of the area with you once we receive the coordinates. Watch this space.
