Cal Major

Paddle Against Plastic was set up by Cal Major in 2016 as a way to reach people and talk about the issue of plastic pollution. Using stand up paddle boarding adventures to capture peoples imagination to highlight the issue of plastic pollution so close to home, and to promote positive change by proposing simple solutions that we can all be proud and excited to be a part of.

There is often a lot of negativity and doom and gloom surrounding environmentalism, so much so that it can completely paralyzed individuals into wondering what on earth they could do to make a difference to such a huge issue.

Cal’s Paddle Against Plastic campaign aims to disband this overwhelm, and replace it with positive solutions that we can all be a part of. However small your actions, just adding your voice to the millions of other people around the planet who care about this issue will help to put pressure on the companies and governments that are able to make a change. There is a lot to be done, but this can only be done collaboratively, and caring about the problem is the first step to being part of the solution.

80% of marine litter originates from land base sources. So the less we use on land, the less ends up in the ocean. Single-use plastic is one of the biggest polluters; this is the plastic, often packaging, that is used for a matter of minutes before being discarded. A lot of it is completely unnecessary, only in use for our convenience. Our oceans are far too precious for us to be destroying them at the rate we are for something so unnecessary.

You can make a big difference to this problem as an individual. Change doesn’t happen overnight. But start to look at the plastic you are using in your life, and see where you can switch it out.

Start with the simplest and most impactful – a reusable water bottle. Take a reusable coffee cup with you when you’re out and about – did you know disposable coffee cups are lined with plastic and aren’t recyclable?