This week, via The Week: “The World Economic Forum predicts plastic production will increase threefold to 1,124 million tons over the next 34 years…if plastic consumption and production continues at current rates, the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish in terms of weight by 2050.”
We have been grappling recently with provisioning and how we can develop a pantry without disposable plastic. At sea, if you have a plastic waste hoard that needs tossing, you are faced with using your own two hands to pitch it right into the sea. Even though much of our land-based waste gets to the sea one way or another, there is something about this liveaboard scenario that evokes real personal responsibility.

For you, dear reader, a few questions: How is it not possible to buy food without buying plastic as well? How is it so that this mandatory plastic cannot be *really* recycled in my town? Not every town is so, but in many US towns this is still true. And, *drumroll* who/what absorbs these externalized impacts?

Take that one to church, y’all!

I’m just going to leave this right here:

The Exorcist (Google Image Search on Photoshop)

Over the holidays, my parents brought down my Grandpap’s massive SW radio that we have had in storage since his death in 2002. It has been really great to tinker with and also to be “visited” by my most tinkery ancestor. Even if it is a spooky thought, I often hope my Grandpap is looking on as we stumble through (especially the technical aspects) of the boat rebuild. He was an organized dude.

I tell you that to tell you this. I have set the SW to turn on at 6:30am, with soft public radio sounds to ease us into the day. This morning, we awoke to an interview about the recent federal ban on microbeads in bath products, and the larger problems related to plastic plankton. It is rare, but sometimes media places information in my way that I am actually interested in.

The Trump Show has been the dominant feature for me online and in the news…he sticks in my brain-baleen, he gums up the works, fouls the nets. Like so many jelly blobs before him, humanity is faced with the challenge of responding to a nuisance bloom.

Getting married means, among other things, you have some new rings to keep track of. What it means for me personally is that I spend approximately half of my time in a light panic that I have lost my wedding bands, and the other half worrying about them getting schmutzy with marine paint.

Enter the Oyster Roast Ring Dish, a Georgia coast handicraft by Plankton Every Day. The shells are sustainably harvested by my dear husband, who schucks (and eats) each oyster by hand, passing it over to me to be cured and transformed into a 24 carat gold ring dish.

Save your rings from solvents and grit, while adorning your boudoir with this elevated sea treasure. Each one is unique and gold content (ie. pricing) varies by piece. See current inventory over in the shop!