11/25/2024
I spent the first sunrise of 2024 on the ocean. It was a magical and powerful experience that was different from any other New Years I’ve ever experienced. If you don’t know, it’s freezing cold in Korea in the winter. My toes and finger tips were starting to go numb as we patiently waited for the sun to peek over those stubborn clouds. The waves were rolling, my nose was running, but I felt this sense of safety with the ocean. Like it wasn’t going to let any harm be done to me. Not on a special day like the north of a new year.
The ocean does this. It keeps us safe. From breathing in polluted air that would swallow our lungs in gray. It knows how to make currents so we are safe from having a climate that isn’t too hot so we burn to death, but isn’t too cold so we freeze to death. It regulates our atmosphere so we and our future we can survive another day. It keeps us safe from poverty and starvation by giving us an abundance of food and jobs for millions.
So isn’t it time we do the same?
Today marks the beginning of what could be a time where we offer the ocean the same safety. The Global Plastics Treaty (INC-5) held right here in Busan began today with 175 countries working together to find a solution to the plastics crisis. It’s the last chance we have to make a legally binding agreement to address the full life cycle of this detrimental material. It affects you. It affects me. It affects us. There’s not one living creature on this planet it doesn’t affect. Because there’s not one living creature on this planet, plastic doesn’t affect.
Regardless of the outcome of this treaty, I’ve made a commitment and a promise to live a life supporting the safety of our ocean, so it may continue to keep us safe. That will never change.
I’m sending oceans of thanks to all those here in Busan from around the world fighting this fight. You are my heroes and regardless of the outcome, that will also never change. ✊🏼🌊🩵🧜🏼♀️
