Actress and Activist Q'orianka Kilcher Speaks Up For Mother Earth:
Deborah: Is there any particular ocean issue that speaks to you the most and if so how are you involved in creating solutions?
Q'orianka: A Dear Friend of mine Dixie Belcher from Turning The Tides, a small grassroots organization in Juneau, Alaska recently told me about oceans of plastics and how hundreds of thousands of birds, fish and marine reptiles and mammals die each year from eating plastic bags mistaken for food. Alaska is thousands of miles away from plastic bags made in china, thousands of miles away from chemical dumps and thousands of miles away from a million other devastating environmental issues. But this is one planet, we are connected by oceans, air and foreign trade. Migrating birds and fish do not care about borders. Rain clouds, rivers and oceans do not know boundaries.
There is an absolute beautiful interdependence and connection between the oceans, the earth, the air, the plants, the animals, the forests and all living things--including us. What happens thousands of miles away, while we comfortably indulge in cheap, disposable products, made by somebody else’s cheap labor, will ultimately be affecting all of us in some way, regardless of where we live.
There are many causes of ocean pollution, from toxic chemical and nuclear storage dumps to the seemingly harmless plastic shopping bag. The problem is huge and this problem runs deep--all the way to the depths of the ocean and all the way up the food chain. This problem is not confined within borders! The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface and supplies up to 85 percent of the world's oxygen and nitrogen.
While reading through Turning The Tide's website I learned some shocking facts and figures:
The world consumes almost 1 million plastic bags per minute and the U.S. alone consumes 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually--- throwing them away at an estimated 8 billion pounds every year.
Only 5% of all plastics are recycled; 40% end up in landfills and 55% are unaccounted for. That means that the majority of plastics ends up in unknown locations……unknown locations like the ocean.
Plastic bags layer huge parts of the ocean floor, choking all ocean life and are mistaken as food by hundreds of thousands of birds, fish and marine reptiles and mammals who ingest plastic bags and microscopic plastic bits and die, only to be eaten themselves by yet other animals, thus passing the toxins up the food chain. Some of these marine animals contain so much of these plastic toxins that they can legally be classified as toxic dumps. This problem is clearly not confined within regions or species and sooner or later poisoned water and soil affects the entire food chain. Toxic molecules from plastics are now found in human breast milk, and the blood of babies, children and adults. The challenge with plastic waste found littered and dumped all over the world is that this problem will not just go away. Plastic does not biodegrade – it brakes down into smaller but persistent particles, so recycling or cleaning it up will only do so much.
The problem runs deeper than landfills, contaminated oceans and beaches or even recycling. It is rooted so deep that we have to take an honest look at our culture, our habits, our laws and our lifestyle. The key is to stop the problem at the source--right at the production level and irresponsible over-use of these toxic plastic materials.
We cant continue to indulge ourselves in extravagant and irresponsible use of plastic bottles, plastic bags, Tupperware or the millions of other disposable plastic products and then expect a simple solution like a mad diet-pill we can swallow, while continuing our over consumption and negligence. With great privilege, comes great responsibility and we have been negligent. I think its clear that we have to urgently replace our negligent habits and lifestyles with more sustainable, responsible and healthy alternatives and make all efforts to ensure that the environment does not suffer due to politics or economics--or even laziness.
There are solutions and false solutions. Over consumption is a good place to start. It comes down to taking a good look at how we think. We have to ask ourselves: "How much do I need in order to see the world I want to see?" We all have the power of a grain of sand and together we can tip the scale--together we can hope to turn the tide and ensure that there will be a clean and safe ocean, a clean safe planet for living things and all unborn generations!
Deborah: You have done a lot of work in the rainforest conservation movement; do you see a direct connection between the state of the world's oceans and that of the rainforest and if so please explain.
Q'orianka: I do see a clear connection. Somewhere sadly humanity has taken a wrong turn. The truth of the matter is we can not keep consuming at the rate of which we are and and keep wondering and pushing the border line of how much more pollution destruction, negligence, and tearing open of the earth our planit can take. We have to start asking ourselves how much more will we be able to take before nature cleanses itself from us? In these times of information and technology, we have the power of knowledge and should be able to look back in history and really see what works and what does not work. We NEED to learn from our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. We all have one common need as inhabitants of this beautiful planet--a clean healthy environment. The abundant fragile biodiversity of our world's oceans and rainforest are quickly being exploited to the point of extinction of certain plants and animals. Because our world has such a fragile balance, the loss or extiction leads to another and it becomes quickly like a game of dominoes. We must really rise up to the challenges of not only today but tomorrow and ensure a future for all unborn generations. Its not too late yet but we need to start having a shift in our human consciousness.
Deborah: What can we learn from Indigenous cultures and ways of life in this struggle to protect and preserve the natural world?
Q'orianka: We all are here today as the result of our ancestor’s prayers offered for the survival of our nations. Taking care and respecting our Earth, our oceans and the air we breathe is of global importance to all of us as humanity. We have all one common need-- a clean healthy environment! Traditionally indigenous peoples around the world live in harmony with mother earth and their lifestyles are based on environmentally sustainable principles and practices, without exploiting and destroying their children’s future! Therefore, Indigenous peoples wisdom, knowledge and way of life has absolute contemporary relevance to modern society.
Deborah: Is there any particular experience that you have had related to the Ocean that you would like to share, perhaps related to a role you played or a personal experience/feeling that you have had?
Q'orianka: Having been blessed with spending my child hood years in Hawaii and playing in the beautiful blue green ocean full of colorful fish, I was absolutely not aware of how devastatingly polluted the Pacific Ocean is today. To me the ocean not only represents a source of serenity, but also gives me a sense of the wilderness of nature, untamable and free willed, with its powerful force that you can never harness but only hope to be part of. Whether you are surfing in the waves, or diving into an underground cave, the Ocean seems to have the magic to make you feel one with nature and gives you a feeling that the world is still unspoiled, untouched and close to God. I am heartbroken to realize that our oceans are dying from pollution and negligence!
Deborah: How would you inspire and/or suggest other members of your generation become actively involved in protecting the Earth?
As a young person I feel it my gift and blessing to be able to use my youth rebellion in a positive way. We need to be rebellious against failure! Getting involved and defending our environment can be super fun and inspiring.
We cant expect the people who caused the problems to fix them. Sometimes it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the seemingly endless assortments of environmental and social injustice in this world. Many times we can feel unsure what exactly it is we as individuals can really do to contribute. Yet there are so many incredible every day heroes within our communities who we can learn from and we can follow in their footsteps and support their legacy through our own actions, there are so many amazing organizations we can join and last but not least there are so many initiatives all of us can and Must take!
We can not just sit back and expect things to be taken care of and resolved by the same entity, who created the problem at the first place. We, the young generation are at an important tipping point were we have the opportunity to step up to the challenges of the future and own responsibility for the actions and choices we make today. And the only way to turn things around is by acknowledging that we need more than just external changes. We need to take a good look at our lifestyles and how we think. Because positive change starts with inside ourselves, our hearts, our minds and our own actions. We all need to contribute to a climate change and shift in human consciousness and be part of the global warmingof hearts!
Q'orianka: A Dear Friend of mine Dixie Belcher from Turning The Tides, a small grassroots organization in Juneau, Alaska recently told me about oceans of plastics and how hundreds of thousands of birds, fish and marine reptiles and mammals die each year from eating plastic bags mistaken for food. Alaska is thousands of miles away from plastic bags made in china, thousands of miles away from chemical dumps and thousands of miles away from a million other devastating environmental issues. But this is one planet, we are connected by oceans, air and foreign trade. Migrating birds and fish do not care about borders. Rain clouds, rivers and oceans do not know boundaries.
There is an absolute beautiful interdependence and connection between the oceans, the earth, the air, the plants, the animals, the forests and all living things--including us. What happens thousands of miles away, while we comfortably indulge in cheap, disposable products, made by somebody else’s cheap labor, will ultimately be affecting all of us in some way, regardless of where we live.
There are many causes of ocean pollution, from toxic chemical and nuclear storage dumps to the seemingly harmless plastic shopping bag. The problem is huge and this problem runs deep--all the way to the depths of the ocean and all the way up the food chain. This problem is not confined within borders! The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface and supplies up to 85 percent of the world's oxygen and nitrogen.
While reading through Turning The Tide's website I learned some shocking facts and figures:
The world consumes almost 1 million plastic bags per minute and the U.S. alone consumes 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually--- throwing them away at an estimated 8 billion pounds every year.
Only 5% of all plastics are recycled; 40% end up in landfills and 55% are unaccounted for. That means that the majority of plastics ends up in unknown locations……unknown locations like the ocean.
Plastic bags layer huge parts of the ocean floor, choking all ocean life and are mistaken as food by hundreds of thousands of birds, fish and marine reptiles and mammals who ingest plastic bags and microscopic plastic bits and die, only to be eaten themselves by yet other animals, thus passing the toxins up the food chain. Some of these marine animals contain so much of these plastic toxins that they can legally be classified as toxic dumps. This problem is clearly not confined within regions or species and sooner or later poisoned water and soil affects the entire food chain. Toxic molecules from plastics are now found in human breast milk, and the blood of babies, children and adults. The challenge with plastic waste found littered and dumped all over the world is that this problem will not just go away. Plastic does not biodegrade – it brakes down into smaller but persistent particles, so recycling or cleaning it up will only do so much.
The problem runs deeper than landfills, contaminated oceans and beaches or even recycling. It is rooted so deep that we have to take an honest look at our culture, our habits, our laws and our lifestyle. The key is to stop the problem at the source--right at the production level and irresponsible over-use of these toxic plastic materials.
We cant continue to indulge ourselves in extravagant and irresponsible use of plastic bottles, plastic bags, Tupperware or the millions of other disposable plastic products and then expect a simple solution like a mad diet-pill we can swallow, while continuing our over consumption and negligence. With great privilege, comes great responsibility and we have been negligent. I think its clear that we have to urgently replace our negligent habits and lifestyles with more sustainable, responsible and healthy alternatives and make all efforts to ensure that the environment does not suffer due to politics or economics--or even laziness.
There are solutions and false solutions. Over consumption is a good place to start. It comes down to taking a good look at how we think. We have to ask ourselves: "How much do I need in order to see the world I want to see?" We all have the power of a grain of sand and together we can tip the scale--together we can hope to turn the tide and ensure that there will be a clean and safe ocean, a clean safe planet for living things and all unborn generations!
Deborah: You have done a lot of work in the rainforest conservation movement; do you see a direct connection between the state of the world's oceans and that of the rainforest and if so please explain.
Q'orianka: I do see a clear connection. Somewhere sadly humanity has taken a wrong turn. The truth of the matter is we can not keep consuming at the rate of which we are and and keep wondering and pushing the border line of how much more pollution destruction, negligence, and tearing open of the earth our planit can take. We have to start asking ourselves how much more will we be able to take before nature cleanses itself from us? In these times of information and technology, we have the power of knowledge and should be able to look back in history and really see what works and what does not work. We NEED to learn from our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. We all have one common need as inhabitants of this beautiful planet--a clean healthy environment. The abundant fragile biodiversity of our world's oceans and rainforest are quickly being exploited to the point of extinction of certain plants and animals. Because our world has such a fragile balance, the loss or extiction leads to another and it becomes quickly like a game of dominoes. We must really rise up to the challenges of not only today but tomorrow and ensure a future for all unborn generations. Its not too late yet but we need to start having a shift in our human consciousness.
Deborah: What can we learn from Indigenous cultures and ways of life in this struggle to protect and preserve the natural world?
Q'orianka: We all are here today as the result of our ancestor’s prayers offered for the survival of our nations. Taking care and respecting our Earth, our oceans and the air we breathe is of global importance to all of us as humanity. We have all one common need-- a clean healthy environment! Traditionally indigenous peoples around the world live in harmony with mother earth and their lifestyles are based on environmentally sustainable principles and practices, without exploiting and destroying their children’s future! Therefore, Indigenous peoples wisdom, knowledge and way of life has absolute contemporary relevance to modern society.
Deborah: Is there any particular experience that you have had related to the Ocean that you would like to share, perhaps related to a role you played or a personal experience/feeling that you have had?
Q'orianka: Having been blessed with spending my child hood years in Hawaii and playing in the beautiful blue green ocean full of colorful fish, I was absolutely not aware of how devastatingly polluted the Pacific Ocean is today. To me the ocean not only represents a source of serenity, but also gives me a sense of the wilderness of nature, untamable and free willed, with its powerful force that you can never harness but only hope to be part of. Whether you are surfing in the waves, or diving into an underground cave, the Ocean seems to have the magic to make you feel one with nature and gives you a feeling that the world is still unspoiled, untouched and close to God. I am heartbroken to realize that our oceans are dying from pollution and negligence!
Deborah: How would you inspire and/or suggest other members of your generation become actively involved in protecting the Earth?
As a young person I feel it my gift and blessing to be able to use my youth rebellion in a positive way. We need to be rebellious against failure! Getting involved and defending our environment can be super fun and inspiring.
We cant expect the people who caused the problems to fix them. Sometimes it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the seemingly endless assortments of environmental and social injustice in this world. Many times we can feel unsure what exactly it is we as individuals can really do to contribute. Yet there are so many incredible every day heroes within our communities who we can learn from and we can follow in their footsteps and support their legacy through our own actions, there are so many amazing organizations we can join and last but not least there are so many initiatives all of us can and Must take!
We can not just sit back and expect things to be taken care of and resolved by the same entity, who created the problem at the first place. We, the young generation are at an important tipping point were we have the opportunity to step up to the challenges of the future and own responsibility for the actions and choices we make today. And the only way to turn things around is by acknowledging that we need more than just external changes. We need to take a good look at our lifestyles and how we think. Because positive change starts with inside ourselves, our hearts, our minds and our own actions. We all need to contribute to a climate change and shift in human consciousness and be part of the global warmingof hearts!
