Browsing Tag

Eco

💙🌊 For The Oceans – Cigarette Butts with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Posted on July 7, 2020

Every year 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide, with a significant percentage finding their way into our oceans and onto our shores. In fact, 30-40% of all items collected in coastal and urban clean ups are butts. Azraq highlights that most people do not realise that cigarette filters within cigarette butts are made from a type of plastic called cellulose acetate which doesn’t biodegrade.

In 2003, The Dubai Municipality introduced a 500 AED fine for littering them. This fine has doubled to 1000 AED with six black points for drivers flicking cigarette butts onto UAE roads. Not only being unpleasant aesthetically, cigarette filters are comprised of thousands of chemical ingredients, including arsenic, lead, nicotine and ethyl phenol, all of which leak into aquatic environments.

As well as smoking being bad for the environment, smoking killed more than 2,900 people in the UAE in 2016 and cost the country $569 million in lost productivity and health care costs, according to the latest report on global smoking. In 2016 it was reported that, 748 cigarettes were smoked per person aged over 15 years, per year in the United Arab Emirates.

Here’s my third video highlighting marine conservation with Azraq ME 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think! #marinedebris #fortheoceans #oceanconservation

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💙🌊 For The Oceans – Useless Utensils with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Posted on June 18, 2020

Azraq highlights that it’s no secret that the hospitality sector is one of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution globally, and they think all of those plastic utensils that they give away (you know, the ones that end up among the most common items found during costal clean ups) are pretty useless!

In 2016, Worldcentric.org estimated that 40 billion plastic utensils were used every year in the United States alone. The majority of these were thrown out after just one use and ended up in landfills and waterways… something must be done. In order to highlight this problem, and hopefully get people to think twice about their usage, AZRAQ launched its #uselessutensils campaign in mid-2019 in partnership with Freedom Pizza, Lush Middle East, Carluccio’s and Beitfann Studio (Sustainable City). With your help, they collected approximately 60kg and over 30,000 plastic utensils in six weeks!

Here’s my second video highlighting marine conservation with Azraq ME 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think! #marinedebris #fortheoceans #oceanconservation

Recommended

💙🌊 For The Oceans – Marine Conservation with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Posted on June 7, 2020

Azraq is a non-profit marine conservation organisation registered with the Community Development Authority in the UAE. The mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. The aim is to EDUCATE through awareness programs and community presentations, MOTIVATE individuals, organisations and communities at large to make a difference and ACTIVATE them by offering a range of activities on, in and around the ocean.

THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.

The marine environment needs help. Why not you? Whether you volunteer at a stall, help keep our shores clean and safe or can encourage others to care about the oceans through art, there are many ways you can become a marine warrior helping Azraq conserve and protect our precious oceans.

I’ve been working on a few videos during lockdown for my new role as a director at Azraq – to highlight marine conservation 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think!

Animals Recommended

🌱 World Environment Day in Dubai 🌱

Posted on June 3, 2016

Friday the 3rd of June is World Environment Day and this year Dubai will be going blue! 🌊

By blue, I mean we’ll will be putting particular effort towards cleaning up the seafront and making the coastline a cleaner home for our various aquatic creatures. I’m SO glad to discover the Emirates Marine Environmental Group (EMEG), who along with Dubai Municipality, Nakheel & the Burj Al Arab Rehab Centre, have organised a lovely little morning at the Jebel Ali Marine Sanctuary (located in the Ghantoot Reserve). It’s all in aid of raising awareness about our impact on the marine and coastal environment… something that is never too late to change.

EMEG’s a non-profit organization based in UAE. Established in 1996 under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the leadership of Ali Saqar Sultan Al Suweidi.

I’m particularly looking forward to helping release their rescued sea turtles! They’ve got over 40 nests this year and had a batch of 86 baby turtles hatching last week. We’ll also get involved with their beach clean-up & mangrove planting.

It’s a great initiative and I’m already looking at a few friends of mine who could do with some CSR partners 🙂

Recommended travel

🐢 Where to Spend World Turtle Day 🐢

Posted on May 23, 2016

Did you know it’s World Turtle Day today… I’ve been lucky enough to visit the nesting sites of these magnificent creatures across the world from Oman, to Sri Lanka and the US. Watching (from afar) their incredible journey through the oceans to the beaches where they lay hundreds of eggs at a time. The sad thing is, that a VERY small percentage of them ever make it to adulthood – like under 5%! We’re not allowed to interfere with nature of course (as much as I’d love to!) but there’s some eco-friendly destinations that are helping to give them a fighting chance.

Located in the most luxurious of destinations, and a philosophy rooted in supporting the surrounding natural ecology, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts is where we’d want to be spending time this year… and with this many hotspots all supporting World Turtle Day, I’d say we’re a tad spoilt for choice too.

Surrounded by lush, tropical flora overlooking the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, Banyan Tree Seychelles is a true Sanctuary for the Senses. Here, you can marvel at the turtles nesting on the resort’s beach. Every year from October to December, they return to lay their eggs. The resort works closely with the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (MCSS) to monitor turtle activity on Intendance Bay as part of the MCSS’ conservation efforts; last season they calculated at least 10,000 new hatchlings made their way into the water. The resort has recently launched a special programme, “Management of Turtle-Human Interactions and Turtle Rehabilitation”, to rehabilitate injured marine turtles before they are released back into the wild!

Nestled in the exclusive enclave of Laguna Phuket, Banyan Tree Phuket is an oasis of tranquility. The resort has supported Laguna Phuket’s sea turtle conservation programme for over 20 years, raising funds and awareness for the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, whose ongoing efforts include studies of nesting behaviour and the tracking & analysis of turtle migration via microchips and satellite tracking devices attached to the turtles. On 3rd April this year, Laguna Phuket held its 22nd annual Sea Turtle Release, with 50 turtles released into the waters of the Andaman Sea to begin their lifetime journey across the open waters. Laguna Phuket has raised funds to construct two new nursery ponds dedicated to the rehabilitation of juvenile, injured and disabled sea turtles.

Encircled by beautiful coral reef and turquoise waters, Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in the Maldives is famous for its vibrant marine life. The resort is proud to be at the forefront of protecting the Indian Ocean’s sensitive eco-system; and, under the guidance of renowned Marine Biologist, Dr. Steven Newman, is committed to the conservation of sea turtles, which nest at the resort. The Turtle Head-Start programme has been introduced to ensure turtles continue to nest and breed in the area, with a percentage of the hatchlings reared at the resort for the first year of their life before being released into the wild. To date, more than 400 turtles have graduated from the programme, giving the island’s most famous residents a higher chance of long-term survival.