#also i tried my absolute best to keep that logo as circular as possible so it's good enough 😭

[shvdowsdrowned]

EEEEEE LOOK AT MY PHONE CASE BOY <3

I gotta find somethin good for rev n then I'll be all set <3

#i put it under a read more bc the pic takes up the whole dash 😭😭 #anyways i might make the 141 logo a little smaller to fit rev in but idk yet im just gonna keep fuckin with it till im good with it <3 #also ignore the dirty mirror sorry bout that 😭😭😭😭 #also i tried my absolute best to keep that logo as circular as possible so it's good enough 😭

[dorizardthewizard]

The Revival of Akillian: Chapter 7

Okay, so there’s a mistake in the novellisation where the first page of chapter 7 is misprinted as the first page of chapter 5! It should only be a couple of sentences missing, but that’s why it starts a little abruptly.

-------------------------------------

Prologue / Chapter 6 / Chapter 8

7. THE LONELY ANGEL

Only the president of the Society, Master Brim Simbra - a Lightning - is permanently represented by an avatar: very old, he does not leave his home planet, because his body can no longer support space travel. Even the simple jump between Xzion and its crown of satellites represents an insurmountable challenge for him. Sitting in a meditative posture in a virtual bubble with purple shades, his avatar seems to float in the center of the large sphere, above the slowly spinning miniature Galaxy.

It is the Honorable Galahaas, Grand Master of the Shadow Council - the Shadow Government -, dressed all in white and wearing the Society badge as required by protocol, who speaks first:

- Our main concern is whether Aarch will manage to awaken the Breath of Akillian. We fear that the emergence of this flux will disturb the balance of the galaxy.

Dame Simbai, the human representative within the Society - a mature woman but still very beautiful, with long brown hair, a soft and calm voice - immediately contradicts him:

- Come now, Honorable Galahaas! Akillian's Breath is not strong enough for this. Contrary to what you might think, it is not responsible for the great glaciation that this planet has suffered...

- You seem better informed than all of us, Dame Simbai, - replied the delegate Shadow. - Can you shed some light on this issue?

But Brim Simbra - big white eyes without pupils, angular and even gaunt face - intervenes with his deep, artificial voice, which produces a slight echo:

- Our Society was created to prevent fluxes from being used outside of Galactik Football matches. In this sporting context, their use represents absolutely no danger.

- I know that, Master Simbra, - Galahaas replies with deference. - But who’s to say that Technoid isn't hiding behind Aarch? I am very wary of Technoid… rightly so, you will agree.

Everyone nods gravely: no one is unaware that Technoid was once the instrument of the Humans' war against the Lightnings and the Shadows, the terrible Shadow Wars. Created for this unique purpose, devoted entirely to military technology, Technoid sent its over-armed ships and soulless robots to sow death, ruin and desolation in this hitherto peaceful region of the galaxy...after the war, it set out to conquer the galaxy in a more peaceful way: by trading in its high technology, its robots and droids, its home automation and security systems - and through its holovision networks. Now, whether among the Shadows, the Lightnings, the Rykers, or even in the depths of the most rural village of the peaceful and spiritual Wambas, we inevitably come across a robot, a slider, an alarm system or an air conditioner wearing the Technoid logo. TTV channels are broadcast on every planet by Technoid satellites. Most of the spaceports and the ships that use them were designed and built by Technoid. And also, of course, all the stadiums of Galactik Football…

However, if Technoid officially displays peaceful commercial ambitions, everyone also knows - thanks to Dame Simbai - that it is more or less controlled or infiltrated by a squad of soldiers; that, among these, some still have not digested the defeat, and dream of a grandiose revenge, of absolute domination of Humans over the galaxy... for so is human nature. Even the Shadows, little known for their pacifism and kindness, learned this the hard way.

- Certainly, Honorable Galahaas. - agrees Dame Simbai. - But I know Aarch personally: he's clearly not the kind of man to sell his soul to Technoid.

- If you say so... there is still one point that particularly worries me: six of the children he selected to form his team suffered from a strange, unexplained fever a few years ago. And the seventh - originally from the moon Obia, however - seems to master the Breath to perfection. However, all these children were born just after the Catastrophe… this tilting of the Akillian orbital axis of which I admit we do not know the causes, but of which - you must admit, Dame Simbai - we do not yet understand all of the consequences.

- I recognize this, Honorable Galahaas. However, I notice that you seem very well informed about all this!

- I have contacts on Akillian. - the dignitary Shadow evades with a small smile.

- Either way, - says Master Simbra, - the use of the Breath of Akillian in Galactik Football is legal. It is not our job to thwart it. Our role is simply to watch that the Breath does not spread outside of this framework...

- It came to my ear, - intervenes in a creaking voice Soror Gomorrah, the vice-president of the Board of Directors of Unadar (the Ryker government), - that Aarch has for a collaborator a certain Professor Clamp, who formerly worked a lot for Technoid...

- Precisely. - confirms Galahaas. – This is why I insist that these two be watched very closely.

***

Aarch's team are training hard in the holo-trainer, which has been moved and set up in the basements of the Arena Stadium, which have remained largely untouched and free from snow and ice. Shots, passes, saves, rebounds, dribbles, ball control, everything goes. Micro-Ice does tons of it to impress Mei, who barely deigns to give him a look. Sinedd tries to be stronger and faster than D’jok, and sometimes succeeds. Ahito is pretty much asleep as long as there are no balls coming his way, but comes to attention in front of the net surprisingly quick. Thran would love to find a way to connect his new high-tech ball to the holo-trainer, but Clamp lets him know that “You don't have to, boy, the ones generated by my machine are fine”. Last but not least, Tia, silent and distant from the group, amazes everyone when the Breath manifests itself in her; when she flies to the ceiling, carried by a column of light, turns into a kind of white demon and swings a twist shot that shakes the holo-trainer itself… then falls gently to the ground, not even out of breath, just a little surprised at this feat.

- Seriously, I can't believe it! - cries Thran in awe. - How does she do that?

- We should take a closer look, she may have wings on her back! - D’jok quips, a little jealous that this girl is stronger than him - than all of them put together in fact - and that she doesn't even take pride in it.

- You got it all wrong, guys! - Micro-Ice intervenes. – She’s not the angel. The angel’s over there, I'm telling you!

He points to Mei at the other end of the field, simmering near Sinedd, who does not notice her, determined to look away from the object of her annoyance.

- Huh? Uh… what? Where are we, guys?

- We're going to switch to ball control – announces Aarch.

Drumming on his console, Clamp enters this new program into the holo-trainer. They are now set up in what was once a circular, clean and well-lit holographic projection room. The “Scrap” - multifunction robots manufactured and programmed by Clamp - did their job well: cleaning the premises, removing the seats, repairing the lighting and electrical circuits. In this nickel-colored room, it is hard to believe that above it lies frozen rubble seventy-five meters thick...

- Speed? - Clamp asks.

- Maximum!

In the holo-trainer, all players meet in a line, each with a ball. Aarch briefly explains to them what he expects of them: to run with the ball as fast and as long as possible.

- But we'll be at the other end of the pitch right away, - says Thran.

- No, because you will stay where you are. Above all, be careful to keep your balance.

- Let's go! - calls Clamp.

- What did they invent as an instrument of torture this time? - Micro-Ice worries.

No sooner has he asked this question when a treadmill appears beneath his feet and starts turning.

Micro-Ice and his teammates are forced to run as fast as the treadmill rolls, pushing the ball in front of them, if they want to stay standing and score points. Soon the exercise gets complicated, as markers appear that they must avoid by dribbling tight, without losing their pace at the risk of being ejected.

- D’jok… just for the record… - pants Micro-Ice. - Football is… a game, right?

- That's true! - Ahito adds, struggling to keep up. - Why do we never play matches?

- You are not here to have fun! - Aarch warns from outside. - If I recruited you, it was not to make up the numbers, but to create a real team, which is able to beat the best. You will play matches when you are ready!

- And when will that be exactly…? Heeeeey…!

Because of his chatting, Micro-Ice loses his rhythm and concentration, and his feet are carried away on the moving surface. He tilts forward and collapses on the conveyor belt, which immediately carries him away.

- Not today, obviously. - smirks Aarch, who saw his fall on the console monitor. Then, speaking to Clamp: - O.K., that's it for now.

The team emerge from the trainer exhausted, breathless, their muscles paralyzed by hours of hard work. Sinedd still finds the energy to laugh at his punching bag’s face:

- Really, Micro-loser, you're nothing but a buffoon!

- I wonder what keeps me from hitting this guy! - Micro-Ice growls.

- Fear, probably. - suggests D’jok. – You have to admit, you are no match for him...

- Ah, that's what real friends are for: they always know how to make you feel better! No, really, how nice of you!

Silent as always, Tia passes the group and climbs the steps that lead to the gallery leading to the exits of the room. Her passage throws a chill over the rest of the group.

- Has she spoken to any of you? - asks Thran. - She never said a word to me!

- By the way, - Clamp informs, - for those interested, I finished setting up the massage room this morning.

- That’s great news! - rejoices Micro-Ice, who feels stiff all over - and his latest fall didn't help.

The massage room is a room furnished with hard and cold tables, above which are suspended “Scrap” robots from the ceiling, with arms fitted with feelers. These, perhaps not very well adjusted, hit and hit the bruised bodies of the players. They feel as though they are receiving a hail of punches on their backs, stomachs and thighs, barely softened by pads of compressed foam, hard as wood.

- Guys, it's not me… who said… this was good news, was it? – Micro-Ice manages to say, wincing at this new torture.

- Oh! Ouch! Oh no, I think… that I'm going to throw up… - hisses D’jok through clenched teeth.

- Why are we here? Can you tell me that? Ouch...

- To play football all day. It could be worse, right? Gn… do you prefer to work deep in the ice mines?

- Ouch! I won’t lie... that it did cross my mind. Argh...

- Do like my brother, guys! - suggests Thran, who seems to be coping better. - Relax and everything will be fine!

Ahito is certainly relaxed: kneaded as hard as the others, he still sleeps like a dormouse...

***

Tia cautiously walks through the restoration site of the Arena Stadium, where all kinds of “Scrap” are busy welding, gluing, bolting and erecting frames and infrastructure, in a well-ordered din of knocks, crackles, clicking, buzzing and crackling. One of them spins around her, a welding laser and water pump pliers at the end of its artificial arms. It pats down her clothes, scans her head to toe, concludes that she is not listed material, and returns to its task. Tia sighs with relief: the “Scrap” could just as well have taken her for a beam and tried to integrate her into the construction... Clamp's robots are not always one hundred percent efficient: this one, for example, persists in searching a container of waste that it believes to be its toolbox and obstinately tries to graft pieces of plastic, scrap metal or sections of electric cables onto the end of his arms.

Tia walks up to Aarch's office and rings the doorbell, and the door slides past her. This is the only room that has been fitted out above the ground, thus benefiting from the daylight which floods in through a large bay window. On the parquet floor, a large panel of glass offers a view of the glacier which fills a street below. Tia stands at the edge of this surface, as if afraid of falling into the void.

- You asked to see me, sir?

Aarch rests the game strategy he was studying on the desk, stands up and greets her with a smile.

- Yes. Come closer, I don’t bite!

She walks hesitantly, eyes lowered. In fact, it's not fear, but shyness, Aarch notes.

- Tia… since when have you had the Breath of Akillian?

- Pardon?

She puts her hand to her mouth, as if she had done something stupid. Aarch clarifies his question:

- Since when have you been able to do what you do with the ball?

- Uh... for a long time, sir. I don't remember very well...

Aarch leans against his desk, crossing his arms, trying to adopt a relaxed demeanour - he doesn't want to look too inquisitive in front of this visibly intimidated young girl.

- And your parents… how did they react when they found out about your gift?

- They don't know. My parents are important diplomats, they are always on the go. I was brought up by my housekeeper...

- They at least know you're here, I hope?

- You haven't received their message, sir?

- Yes, I received it...

Aarch picks up a holo-card reader from his desk, activating it. In the bluish field above the device, an elegant, rather young man and woman stand out, barely resembling Tia. But the Obians are pretty strange people...

“We have given our daughter Tia permission to play on your team.” the man says stiffly. The woman hugs him, all smiles, and adds, “We're very proud of her, you know, Mr. Aarch!”

- Well, there are my parents… - confirms Tia, lowering her eyes timidly.

Aarch cuts the reader off and puts it back on the desk.

- I don't doubt it, Tia. Well... if you don't want to tell me more, go get ready for the interview.

She nods and leaves without a word.

***

Mei has spread out five or six outfits on her bed; she doesn't know which one to choose and it's starting to annoy her. Faced with this dilemma, she calls her mother.

- Oh, mom… mom! I don't know what to wear and we’re gonna be on in an hour, do you realize? We are going to be on Arcadia News, a channel broadcast throughout the entire galaxy!

She paces in front of the screen, exasperated.

- Pull yourself together, Mei! Choose one that suits you perfectly ...

- But mum, they all suit me perfectly!

- Well, in your place, I would wear the blue one! It will look great with your eyes.

Mei jumps and looks up above the screen: it's Micro-Ice, at the bedroom door, checking out her pink boots and her undershirt.

- In case you haven't noticed, this is the girls' room here!

- Yes, I noticed (Micro-Ice leans against the doorpost). But you can trust me, I assure you...

- Sorry to disappoint you, but... (Mei pushes him outside bluntly) No, I don't trust you!

The door slams in front of his nose. Micro-Ice sighs.

- Well, I guess that didn’t go well…

As he walks off with his head down into the hallway, he passes an equally withdrawn Tia, who doesn't even give him a look. She walks into the girls' room and goes to collapse on her bed.

Still struggling with her outfits which all suit her perfectly, Mei notices Tia's rather banal and functional sneakers on her feet, wide gray pants, tight T-shirt and sleeveless orange bomber jacket.

- Tia, let me remind you that the live stream is in less than an hour! You aren’t going out there like that, are you?

- I'm not going to go at all.

- Is that so? - Mei is surprised. - Don't you want to be on TV?

- No, I don't care.

Mei raises her eyebrows, surprised: for her, she has been dreaming about going on TV for years!

- Why?

- I don't want to be seen, that's all! - Tia answers dryly.

She starts rummaging in the bedside table, cutting off the conversation. Mei shrugs her shoulders and goes back to her dresses: yes, maybe the blue one would be fine after all, with her pink boots...

Tia takes a 2D photo from the drawer that she sadly begins to gaze at, where she is with a couple. If the woman has the same hair color as on the holo-card Aarch received, her cut is different and her face is rounder. The man is not at all alike: as much as the other looked like a thin bureaucrat with a pale complexion and glasses, he is burly, broad-shouldered, with a square face - and he has silver hair.

Her parents. Her real parents.

Who don't know she's here.

How will they react when they find out? That's why she especially doesn't want to be on TV...

However, she does not regret that she has run away and does not intend to return. Lying on her somewhat hard bed, amongst the minimalist decor and the comfort of this room which still smells too much of rough building works, she does miss the luxury of her residence on Obia... and especially the maternal love of her housekeeper - the one who really raised her, the only one who knew her talent and understood her… to the point of having helped her escape.

#galactik football #the revival of akillian #we get a little history on technoid; its role in the flux wars and why people like bleylock were allowed to keep doing what they did #also find it hilarious that micro-ice is trying to impress mei and the next sentence says sinedd is trying to one-up d'jok

[imissmymarcjacobs]

Olive & June The Studio Box Review

Olive & June’s “The Studio Box” Contents: What’s Inside the Box?

Screenshotted from the official Olive & June website, here is a list of everything included with your purchase of The Studio Box, which currently retails for $50 USD:

Since the screenshotted list above contains kind of a lot of additional, unnecessary “fluff,” I thought I’d make my own, simpler, cut-to-the-chase list in case that makes it easier for anyone:

More Simple List of What’s Included in the Olive & June - The Studio Box:

The actual box, which is only really worth mentioning because it’s supposed to be able to be used to assist with “nail selfies,” i.e. you’re able to put your phone in a lil slot at the top of the box and use the box itself as a nice, convenient lil backdrop for photos of your mani.

A cute lil mess-resistant pouch, which fits all of the remaining products inside it except for the nail polish remover. You can also, obviously, empty the products out of the pouch and use the pouch for anything else you feel like using it for, and I feel like it would be easy to find a use for this pouch since it’s made of a nice slick, mess-proof type of material.

A teeny-tiny nail brush that you can use to help easily clean up nail polish accidents or mess-ups without getting nail polish everywhere or messing up another nail, because that just always freaking seems to happen, right?!

Nail File, which is super cute and definitely embodies the whole Olive & June aesthetic, I mean as much as you can really expect from a nail file tbh. The actual, physical nail file has the Olive & June logo printed on one side, and “#OLIVEYOURMANI” printed on the other side. The whole file has a cute baby pink allover background color, and the printed logo and text are white.

Nail Buffer Block, which - like the nail file - is about as cute as you can really ask for in something like a nail buffer block. The actual buffer block is completely white except for a printed, baby pink Olive & June logo on one of the sides.

Flat-Edge Nail Clipper, which looks pretty much exactly like any other traditional pair of nail clippers except that it has a flat-edge instead of a curved one, and it also has “Olive & June” printed on the top in cute pink text.

Cuticle Serum that happens to be one of the things (iirc) that Olive & June have really become known for, and a quick look at the ingredients will tell you why! I’ll show a screenshot of the Cuticle Serum’s ingredient list as we delve a lil deeper into this review.

“The Top Coat” is, of course, a nail polish top coat. It’s clear, the bottle and cap are silver, and that’s about all there is to say at this point!

“7-Free” Nail Polish (color of your choice) - I chose the color CHM, which is described like so on the Olive & June official website: “A sheer tan that flatters everyone, can be worn anywhere, and looks good every single time.”

Acetone-Free Nail Polish Remover Pot - yes, the kind you actually stick your finger into, not the kind where you dump the liquid out onto a cotton ball or something like that. This nail polish remover appears to be quite small, and the amount of product included is 70mL or 2 fl oz.

“The Poppy” - Olive & June’s Universal Polish Bottle Handle that I was honestly very confused by at first, lol. Basically, it’s a big ol’ rubbery, kinda circular… handle, I guess is the best way to describe it haha, but it’s essentially, to my understanding, supposed to make painting your nails much more ergonomically-friendly, since holding this big soft rubbery thing is - I guess? - better than painting your nails the normal way where you just hold the not-so-uncomfortable-to-me-personally-at-least actual top of the nail polish bottle.

And that’s everything that comes in Olive & June’s “The Studio Box!” I know that was sort of a long-winded start, and we’ve only just gotten through the freaking “included products” list, lol, but I’ll try to keep the rest brief, concise, and to-the-point.

My Thoughts on the Actual Olive & June Nail Polish in the shade CHM, as well as Olive & June’s “The Top Coat”

As for the shade of the nail polish, and just the shade itself, I absolutely adore it and am so glad I chose it out of all the shades available, cause I admit it was quite overwhelming having to choose a shade off of the internet without being able to see anything in person, and with so many available options to choose from! The shade CHM is basically, for me, the epitome of a “My Nails But Better” shade. So, don’t opt for this color if you’re wanting something bold or basically something that’s even visible at all on the nails haha. I actually had someone ask me if I was just wearing a clear coat while I was wearing this! It was a clueless-to-all-things-beauty boy tho, so take that with a grain of salt haha, because you can definitely (imo) tell that it’s slightly more than just a clear coat; for example, you can’t really see the whites of your nails with this color on, but you can see through it a tiiiiiiny bit if you’re really looking closely, so it’s not quite opaque.

Now let’s talk about the actual formula of the Olive & June Nail Polish. During the first few seconds of trying this out for the first time, I remember thinking that I was so glad I had gotten the entire box of Olive & June stuff, because if I had just gotten this nail polish and it ended up being a fail, I’d have been so disappointed! However, as I applied the second coat, things started to come together and I was willing to abandon my negative first impression, lol. With one coat only, at least with this particular shade (CHM), it seems to go on extremely streaky and uneven, goopy in some spots and barely there in others. Two coats, though, works wonders to even everything out and makes it look like someone who actually knows what they’re doing was the person that did your nails hahaha. I painted one hand with two coats of CHM only, and left that to dry, and the other hand with two coats of CHM and then one layer of “The Top Coat” before letting that side dry.

Let me just say that, in the same way the second coat of CHM worked absolute wonders, so did the act of letting my nails completely dry! Both hands, so with and without the top coat, dried super fast compared to how fast I’ve experienced with other nail polishes. This is SUPER important to me because this is essentially the main reason I completely stopped painting my nails for a while: I’d carefully take my time painting them to be as perfect as I could muster, and then when it came time to let them dry, I’d stay as still as I possibly could for a could 45 mins - 1 hr, but every damn time I went to “check” on my nails after that amount of time, they seemingly hadn’t gotten one bit more dry than they were the second I stopped painting, and I’d end up completely ruining my labored-over nail polish work every time, without fail. This Olive & June stuff, though… it’s good, it’s different. It actually dries down quickly and dries down HARD. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had nail polish that feels like it’s completely dry, but as soon as I accidentally squish it on something in just the right way, which I always inevitably do, everything goes to shit and once again, my nails end up ruined. So, yeah, I will totally start painting my nails a lot more often now that I have some polish that is actually, you know, not shitty! Lollllll

Unfortunately, I can’t say too much about Olive & June’s “The Top Coat” yet because I’ve only tried it once and, like, it’s a top coat, so I can’t tell much on the first try. What I can tell you is that it definitely didn’t ruin anything or make anything worse or prolong dry time by any significant amount. So, things are looking promising when it comes to this top coat, but I’ll be sure to update you either here on the blog or on my Instagram when I have more concrete thoughts to share!

The Rest of the Items Included in “The Studio Box” by Olive & June

As I mentioned when talking about the top coat, I don’t have too much to say about the rest of the products in the box except that I really like and am enjoying everything so far and have not had a single problem with anything as of yet. The quality of literally everything (including the box itself lol, which I was honestly not expecting!) is SO good tbh, and I can see why this box is priced how it is. If you have any specific questions on any of the products that I mentioned in this post, or want to see a future post with updates on how I feel on these products in the future, please let me know!!! I will be sure to get back to everyone with any sort of question or comment! 😋

Overall, the price of the box (at the time of writing this post, $50 USD) does seem quite high for a lil assortment of nail care and nail polish-related items, but honestly, the quality of each and everything included with the purchase goes way above and beyond my expectations and I will absolutely be placing more Olive & June orders in the future to try out more of their colors since I adored the one I tried, CHM, so very much! In my opinion, The Studio Box by Olive & June is completely worth how much they are charging for it because the quality of everything is absolutely superb, not to mention how adorable and sooo freaking cute everything is! The lil details are always the most important, and Olive & June really did a great job on this. I can’t wait to try even more of their stuff!

Thank you so much for reading, and, like I said above, be sure to comment or msg me letting me know if you’d like to see any sort of follow-up post related to these products I talked about here! If you enjoyed this comprehensive review on The Studio Box by Olive & June, please please please leave a comment letting me know! It means so much to me when I know someone, somewhere is enjoying something I put time and effort into creating. I love you guys so very much!!!

#Olive & June #nails #nail polish #nail care #self-care

[floraexplorer]

Fishing for Litter: A Plastic Clean-up Mission in London’s Canals

Today I’m going fishing – for litter and plastic.

It’s a sunny Saturday morning in East London, and I’m sitting on a stationary canal-boat-turned-cafe, sipping coffee (in a reusable cup!), and listening to a woman called Cal Major speak about plastic pollution.

Cal Major is a champion stand up paddle-boarder from Devon, England, who’s founded an initiative called ‘Paddle Against Plastic’ which aims to get people caring about their environment through adventure. She’s been working with a variety of organisations – including KEEN, the outdoor shoe brand – to amplify the message that we need to be doing more to clean up our water systems and reduce plastic pollution.

Which is why KEEN invited a group of people (myself included) to spend the morning helping to rid London’s canals of their plastic litter.

It’s no surprise that people like Cal, who are passionate about the outdoors, are becoming eco-warriors in a very real sense. I follow plenty of these folks online – surfers, kayakers, rock climbers, long-distance runners, and generally record-breakers of all kinds.

They see the devastating effects of pollution directly in front of them as they travel, and witnessing such blatant disregard for the environment pushes them to campaign.

But I’m not exactly a record-breaking adventurer – so where do I come into all this?

Read more: the biggest ethical travel mistakes I’ve made abroad

The hard-to-swallow facts about plastic pollution

I’m not exactly an outdoor person. By which I mean: I love being outside, and plenty of my travels have involved long-distance hiking, polar swimming, underground caving and walking around fire for eight hours. When I’m back home though, adventurous activities in my daily life are not really the norm.

But when it comes to plastic pollution? As a long-time traveller, there’s no escaping the increasingly obvious fact: pollution is visibly affecting every destination I travel to. Like last year in Bali, a country famed for its ‘beautiful’ natural landscapes, where the most common sight was a beach absolutely thick with tidemarks of plastic litter.

More than 8 million metric tons of plastic finds its way into the ocean each year, and that’s on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons which are already circulating through the world’s waters.

It’s a surreal, disgusting, horrific amount – and a staggering 50% of this marine litter is comprised of single-use plastic items. Yet companies keep churning it out: drinks bottles, takeaway boxes, cutlery, cotton buds, and the ubiquitous plastic bag.

Why? Because we keep buying single-use plastic.

I know the topic of plastic pollution gets a lot of attention (and it’s for good reason!). But now I’m sticking my oar in too. Because when you’re actively looking for this level of plastic pollution, you see it absolutely everywhere.

Those clean plastic bags at the supermarket check-out? Those polystyrene boxes filled with steaming food at festivals? Those plastic bottles in a cafe fridge? Put them in a different, more natural setting (like a picturesque canal in England) and suddenly you’re emptying out grey-green river sludge through an upside down McDonalds cup, squishing a muddy plastic bag peppered with holes, or fishing brightly coloured bottle caps from the surface of a river while baby ducks swim past.

Read more: Ten eco-friendly travel products I use (and re-use!)

In the UK we use over 7 billion plastic bottles every year and only half actually get recycled. In London alone, the average adult buys three plastic bottles every week, which adds up to 175 bottles per person a year.

And where do all those bottles go?

Well, a recent study found that there are traces of micro plastic in every single waterway in England, so clearly a lot of it gets dumped into rivers, canals, lakes and the sea. We don’t yet fully understand what effect this level of plastic pollution in our water has on human health either, but it’s pretty clear that animals are not doing all that well: those same micro plastics have also been found inside every single marine mammal stranded on UK shores.

It’s time to do my part and start actively helping to reduce plastic pollution.

Pin me for later!

Plastic Whale: a new way to positively recycle

“Did you know that plastic is one of the most durable man-made materials ever?”

After Cal Major had finished speaking, a man appeared wielding a net. He works with a Dutch social enterprise called Plastic Whale, who fish out around 60,000 PET plastic bottles a year from the canals of Amsterdam. They then separate the PET from the collected plastic, turn it into flakes and fibres, and use these components to make boats.

The more plastic they collect, the more boats they make – and the freshly-made boats then sail along the canals collecting yet more plastic. It’s a perfect plastic-collecting cycle.

Plastic Whale initially began in 2011 to prove a point: by successfully constructing a single boat made entirely from canal plastic, they planned to demonstrate how polluted the waters of Amsterdam were. But it quickly became apparent that fishing for plastic could allow thousands of eager participants to regularly clean up the canals, and spread awareness while they did it.

Now they have a fleet of a dozen boats picking up plastic in the canals of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and this summer they’ve sent the bright yellow boat (seen above) on a mission around Europe. Plastic Whale are proving that single-use plastic doesn’t have to be disposable waste: instead, it can be a useful raw material.

But we still needed to experience Plastic Whale’s initiative for ourselves, and start picking up some plastic. It was time to get out onto the water.

Collecting trash in canoes on the Hackney canals

After we were kitted out with life jackets, paddles and the all-important bin bags and litter picking devices, we manoeuvred our way into a series of canoes at the edge of the canal.

Being out on the water was lovely. I used to live in East London and occasionally I’d spend a day walking along the canal – but I’d never got closer than that. Now we were parallel with the houseboats and barges, pulling our paddles through the calm water and gliding beneath the bridges.

I’d boarded a canoe with Caroline, a fellow blogger who I’d just met, and it didn’t take us long to start spotting plastic. Our canoeing skills weren’t the best, but once you’ve seen a piece of plastic its hard to ignore – so we awkwardly paddled ourselves back and forth, shimmying the canoe into the gaps until we could reach across with the litter pickers and grasp whatever it was possible to reach.

It was hilarious! – or at least, it was to start with.

Once I’d settled into ‘noticing’ the rubbish, I could see it literally everywhere. Stained bottles caught in the undergrowth. Circular flashes of colour floating on the water’s surface. Tiny chunks of foam and polystyrene, leaving a trail of tiny bubble-like white dots as they broke apart. Beer cans nestled in the hollows of canal barricades, slowly dripping stale liquid into the canal below.

And most disturbing? The glimpses of tattered white plastic swaying eerily in the water beneath us. With the movement of every boat above, more strips and fragments continually tore off, and the bags were so firmly embedded in the silt below that there was no hope of grabbing them.

Our bin bags soon contained bottle tops, sweet wrappers and scrunched up balls of tinfoil, merging with the brambles and weeds. Most of the thin plastic had broken apart so badly that it was difficult to identify what it might have once been.

Unfortunately, some rubbish is all too easy to identify – especially when it still has its lid, striped straw and internationally recognised logo.

(Just FYI: these McDonalds cups may look like cardboard, but they have a thin layer of polyethylene plastic inside to prevent leaking which means they’re fundamentally non-recyclable)

Amongst all the trash there were still reminders of nature growing in the wild, and I tried hard to see the beauty in this environment.

I spotted clusters of blackberries in the bushes and half-considered picking a few to snack on – but almost immediately I wondered what they’d taste like, seeing as their water supply was coming from the filthy canal?

And my vain attempt at positivity all came tumbling down when I saw a pile of shredded plastic which, as we drew closer, turned out to be a bird’s nest. Somewhere close by, a poor creature had used ragged strands of filthy plastic to make its home instead of twigs.

Newsflash: there’s a LOT of plastic trash in London’s canals

After an hour of litter collection we headed back to dry land and heaved our trash bags up to the water’s edge. It was a sobering sight. In just one hour, a group of two dozen people had collected 63kgs of plastic – and there was a lot more rubbish besides.

One group had found a condom, a sanitary pad, and a nappy floating in the water. Others had picked up a Chinese patterned vase, a zippered suede boot, a fluffy slipper, a pair of shorts and a little plastic toy teacup.

When it was all piled onto Plastic Whale’s bright yellow boat, it was a pretty depressing sight.

But as I looked out at the canals, it was somewhat bolstering to see a dozen more people on paddle boards, criss-crossing the water with paddles raised and buckets filled with rubbish.

Another group of plastic trash collectors were also operating on the same stretch of canal, and they were still working on the clean-up job even after we’d stopped.

How to raise awareness about plastic pollution (hint: it involves you!)

There’s no denying that I saw on the canals really shocked me. I won’t get that plastic-filled bird’s nest out of my mind for a long time.

But perhaps that’s a good thing? Perhaps it’s necessary to receive a jolt of cold reality occasionally – as now I feel doubly invested in cutting down on my single-use plastic usage, and getting more involved in clean-up operations wherever I can.

The war on plastic might feel never-ending, but there are plenty of people passionate about collecting and recycling the world’s plastic, and raising awareness too.

Here are some ways to reduce your plastic use

Use a reusable bottle for your water and stop buying plastic bottles!

Use a reusable coffee cup — even the disposable ones you get in a shop often have a plastic lining

Carry a reusable bag and stop taking plastic bags when you’re in the supermarket

Avoid using plastic straws (unless a disability requires using them)

Try to avoid buying fruit and veg packed in plastic for a week

Try to walk at least half an hour a day — hopefully through somewhere green to connect with nature

Try to pick up ten pieces of rubbish a day (keep an old plastic bag in your usual bag for this – and maybe a rubber glove too if you’re unsure about the dirt factor!)

Pick up plastic and cans on the street (or in the water!) and put them in a recycling bin

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NB: I was kindly invited to this plastic clean-up event by KEEN, for which I’m seriously grateful. Getting my hands dirty in the name of plastic pollution has really given me a necessary kick into action – so stay tuned for more conservation activity. I hope you’re equally inspired to start reducing your plastic usage, too! 

The post Fishing for Litter: A Plastic Clean-up Mission in London’s Canals appeared first on Flora The Explorer.

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