In Vancouver, we’re lucky to never be far from the ocean. We have kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddle boarding, and even surfing, all at our fingertips. There are plenty of ways to enjoy the water in British Columbia, but it’s all too easy to not realize the impact that these activities have on the ocean itself.

This month, Surfrider Foundation Vancouver joins the global movement of Plastic Free July by highlighting the increase in plastic pollution that has hit the Lower Mainland alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. While British Columbia has emerged from this pandemic as a leader in the containment of transmissions, we join the rest of the world when it comes to carelessly discarding single-use PPE such as gloves and face masks. Globally, scientists recently estimated that 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves have been used around the world every month.

For just a moment, the world was changing course. In the past few years, nations worldwide incited single-use plastic item bans: Canada vowed to phase out harmful single-use plastics by 2021…

In the Metro Vancouver area, everything that’s flushed down our kitchen sinks, toilets and drains goes to one of five wastewater treatment plants. Four of these plants treat wastewater to a good level – to secondary treatment level – all but one. The Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant in Richmond uses the most basic and oldest sewage treatment technology, primary treatment, and discharges under-treated wastewater into the Georgia Strait, at the mouth of the ecologically-sensitive Fraser River.

Fifty years ago on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans mobilized streets, parks and auditoriums protesting against the deterioration of the natural environment. It was the first official Earth Day, and has since become an annual global campaign for the planet.

Recycling rates are the highest they’ve ever been. It’s become the most popular green habit above all others, embedded into the psyche of most working households. Why? Well, unlike the options of flying less or cutting our meat consumption to save the planet, recycling doesn’t require any significant behavioural changes to our 21st century way of living.

For all media and press enquiries, please contact Kristina Lee: vicechair@vancouver.surfrider.org.

The Pacific Northwest is home to one of the world’s last greatest treasures: wild salmon. But for the 2019 salmon run, only 628,000 sockeye salmon are expected to return to the Fraser River in Vancouver. Original estimates were set at nearly five million.

For all media and press enquiries, please contact Kristina Lee: vicechair@vancouver.surfrider.org.

Surfrider Foundation Vancouver gathered the city’s experts in wellness and plastic-free alternatives for an educational evening, to demonstrate just how easy it is to swap out plastic products in some of our self-care and household routines.