Sent 6 March 2019. Part of Little Blue Letter.

"Is it the ocean that needs us, or is it us that needs the ocean?"
~ Kosi Latu, director general of the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP)

#SolveDifferent
This week I am live from the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya! (read about it here)
A hot topic here: scalable solutions to combat marine litter. First: reduce the use of plastics and use alternative materials for packaging, clothing, construction. An innovative approach to packaging and materials is led by Ecovative design, using mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms to create a biodegradable and renewable alternative to packaging.
Second: Find cheap, mobile ways to recycle all types of plastics. Of the 400 million tonnes of plastics produced every year, only 7% is recycled, 12% is incinerated and 79% accumulates in landfill and dumps, and pollutes our environment. Orbys, a Spanish based engineering company, has developed the capacity to build a total recycling facility for plastics in the size of a shipping container. It is capable of processing a volume of 20,000 kg of plastics per day, and runs completely self sufficient (energy generated by the process is used to run the system).

Third: Collaborate! In September 2018, UN Environment, which leads the Global Partnership on Marine Litter and its Clean Seas campaign, launched the Global Plastics Platform to support international efforts to tackle plastic pollution. Delegates here just agreed on a resolution for the sound management of waste and chemicals, to minimize their negative impacts on the environment.
Gif of the week
Ocean opportunity
The Marine Stewardship Council Scholarship Research Program is open for applications until 7 April 2019. The Program annually awards scholarships to support students around the world who are studying fisheries science and management or supply chain traceability. Approximately 5 scholarships of up to £4,000 are available for travel and other support.
From the editor
The School Strikes for climate are the most hopeful and inspiring thing I've seen in a long time. Greta Thunberg, who started striking outside the Swedish Parliament a year ago, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.In the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

These schoolchildren have grasped something that seems to elude many of their elders: we are in a race for our lives, and we are losing. The window of opportunity is closing – we no longer have the luxury of time, and climate delay is almost as dangerous as climate denial. My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry.

They have good protest signs too:

Finally, here's what it looked like online:
Little Blue Letter was curated this week by Leonie Meier. Leonie is currently Consultant at the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva and wrote her Master Thesis about policy responses to microplastic pollution. 
Editing etc. by Glen Wright. Glen is a researcher studying marine governance, the high seas, and ocean energy. He is a drinker of tea, lover of the sea, and an Oxford comma user. Glen recently published Academia Obscura: The Hidden Silly Side of Higher Education.
 

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