'Pieces of Us' - A New Film to Inspire Change
How many times have you gone abroad and bought water in a plastic bottle to avoid the worry of contaminated water? Or got through over 2 bottles of suncream for you and your family in under a week?
As you start to plan your travel again, it’s important to know that the amount of plastic we use and throw away as we travel adds up. Wherever we go we leave our mark. The plastic ‘pieces of us’.
Against the backdrop of COP26, Flipflopi has partnered with UNEP and Routes Adventure to launch a hopeful film based in the tourist destination of Lamu, Kenya.
‘Pieces of Us’ reminds us of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and what can be achieved if we change our habits, come together and find new solutions to reduce and re-use plastic. Offering a new vision for the future of tourism as we head towards a cleaner, more resilient planet.
Every year, billions of people travel to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Eight out of ten of us travel to coastal areas, hoping to relax under clear skies on white sandy beaches.
Though as we explore - bringing our excess waste wherever we go - we risk maxing out the capacity of often under-served local waste management systems. This leads to more and more plastics entering our oceans. So instead of seeing an ocean coloured by fish and coral, we see it filled with flip-flops, bottles and straws.
Annually, 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year and 300 million tonnes of new plastic is created. If growth in plastic production and poor disposal continues along these trends, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
The film calls for us all to rethink our habits, asks for a global behaviour shift around travel and tourism and the importance of promoting local circular economies.
we can no longer continue spreading the plastic ‘pieces of us’. Rather it’s time for us to come together to restore the health of our planet.
When travelling remember to…
Refuse what you can’t reuse
Pack reusable and refillable items with you
Spend and stay with businesses championing sustainability
Share the film to spread the message
Sign the clean seas pledge - https://www.cleanseas.org/make-pledge
And remember, refuse what you can’t reuse!
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