Ocean is Life: Green Drinks Chinese Forum

What comes to your mind when you are on a beach?

1. Is it the blue of the water and the sky?
2. It is the urge to jump in to the water and embrace the waves?
3. Or is it the sunscreen that you are wearing that might kill a coral down there?

Today, we’d like to raise awareness on issues such as the third.

--

Ocean water covers 70% of the land of our planet. With over 10 million species in these oceans, as estimated by The Ocean Portal, there is reason to believe that the blue vastness is home to more life than land to human beings.

Humans may not be able to breathe underwater but they still hugely influence the ocean, especially along coastlines, where over 600 million people live.  A lot more people also rely on the ocean for fish, recreation, beauty and peace.

However, our carelessness has been hurting this blue ecosystem. According to Achim Steiner, UN Environment Programme Executive Director, "Marine debris – trash in our oceans – is a symptom of our throw-away society and our approach to how we use our natural resources."

The fact remains that:

• Over 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based activities.
• Over one million seabirds are killed by ocean pollution each year.
• Three hundred thousand dolphins and porpoises die each year as a result of becoming entangled in discarded fishing nets, among other items.
• One hundred thousand sea mammals are killed in the ocean by pollution each year.

And then there is us humans.

Plastics that accumulate in garbage dumps and landfills are sullying the world's oceans in ever-greater quantity. Plastics and their additives aren't just around us, they are inside virtually every one of us, present in our blood and urine in immeasurable amounts, ingested with the food we eat, the water we drink and from other sources.

This forum aims to raise the following questions

• How far the damage we have done to our marine eco-system?
• How much reverse affects of such marine pollution that goes back to us?
• What measurement can everybody take in real life to combat the pollution and better preserve marine eco-system?
• How to take an eco-trip next time when you visit a beach

Speaker

Zhao Tong, Manager of TerraCycle in Greater China 
TerryCycle focuses on recycling and reusing almost all kinds of waste. There are more than 60 million people participating in TerraCycle’s recycling projects in 20 different countries, producing 3 billion recycled products.

Zhang Yu, Communication Specialist, Shanghai Rendu Ocean Protection Centre 
Ren Du is one of the earliest established NGOs in China focusing on ocean protection and plastic waste treatment in the sea. Zhang Yu will present how the accumulating plastic waste is putting the ocean in danger, and what can everyone do on a daily basis to help mitigate that treat.

Ming Chan, Consultant, OPENWATER
Ming is consultant for Guangzhou OPENWATER Info Tech company. It is a syndicated service platform with the advantage of "internet + leisure" industry, offering INNOVATIVE, PRESTAGE, LEADING experience of professional journey for sport and outdoor enthusiasts. Ming is also a PADI Master Instructor. He has been teaching diving and developing diving equipment for years. Within his teaching, he has been dedicated to promote the awareness of ocean protection and sustainable marine life consumption.

Tingting Fang, Co-founder of Heyshop [Event Moderator]
Heyshop is an one-stop e-commerce solution and initiator of Network 404, a community that regularly hosts workshops and events to advance collaborations between retail brands. Being a synchronized swimmer, a diver and a surfer in life, she has been highly involved in Project Aware to remove marine debris from every water she dives in, meanwhile she is starting to launch a non-profit class about marine life – Little Blu, to promote awareness of ocean amongst younger generation in Shanghai.

Event will be completely in Mandarin.