Mozzie bites and memories

Do the holidays seem like they happened ages ago? Does it feel like all you have left of the holiday are mozzie bites and memories? Or are you still feeling upbeat and energised? For me, this has been a very long seeming week... and I miss having my family around. BUT, it is a whole new year!

It is 2017 and (that's ridiculous and insane and where does the time go?) the New Year gives you the opportunity to reflect on life and decide what you like and what you would like to change. It puts a full stop on the previous year, whether good or bad (even if it is a totally artificial full stop given that the 2016 day isn't extraordinarily different to the 2017 day). It gives people, organisations and countries a chance to reset their stats and try better for the year and stops the list of famous people that have died in 2016 (thank goodness). 

If you are looking for New Year's Resolutions (it really is never too late) think about becoming a revolutionist by cutting out/down on meat.  If you haven't already (and I can't imagine why not) commit to eating only sustainable seafood (check out SASSI green list or look for the MSC logo). And of course, you have already stopped using personal care products with microplastics but maybe you now want to make sure you diligently use reusable shopping bags or stop using straws (which I am all for, but it is tricky with milkshakes, so if anyone wants to buy me a reusable steel - one that's actually washable - my birthday is coming up... and so are most people's because there have only been 13 days of birthdays this year.)

Don't forget to use water as if you were paying for it - which you ARE but people don't seem to think like that (seriously, who leaves the tap running when brushing teeth - why does that even come up as a water saving tip?) You really learn to value water when it is no longer available... and that will be the reality if we don't meet the water saving targets. (El Nino might be over, but climate change isn't, and less rain is a reality of our future and "water-shedding" might be too.)

And, if you are already a Planeteer...  resolve to not let the horrible people get you down and focus on being a good example of inclusivity, tolerance and kindness. There would be less Trump in the world if people took a step out of that rat race and opened their arms to life. Do new things, open your mind to possibilities that are different and engage in conversation with people who think differently to you, or just chat with your uber driver - their lives might give yours perspective.  It's a brand shiny new year and there are loads of reasons to be hopeful and happy (just ask Bill Gates - Also, what is bubble tea?)

Find happiness in the small things like a walk on the beach! 

Sciencing

That's a word - right? Last week was the Benguela Symposium and my wonderful PhD supervisor (who must be wondering if she is ever going to get rid of me), agreed to pay for me to attend. She really is awesome. 

I still feel approximately this old when I am at science
meetings - a little like I have snuck onto the adult
table.

It was, in equal measure, really inspiring and intimidating. The science being produced in southern Africa (and about southern Africa because there were a number of international speakers too) is really impressive and a little intimidating. The conference really made me miss science and feel inspired to do more (or some, I am not really doing science at all right now). I think that we can feel proud of how well southern Africans do science - with much smaller budgets and fewer people than developed countries. 

The only less than awesome aspect of the conference was that I was ridiculously nervous for my presentation - I guess because of the impressive audience and the fact that I haven't presented any of my own work for such a long time (the last time I presented was three years ago). I rushed and blundered through some of the explanations and made the normal mistakes one makes when nervous. I think this suggests that I am out of practice  and need to do presentations more often because I used to really enjoy them and didn't enjoy this one at all. If you see any (funded) opportunities - let me know! 

I know you can't really read it, but if you want
more info - shout.

Luckily, the audience was nice and, while the science was intimidating, the scientists weren't at all! (And the feedback I got was positive which is cool). It was a very friendly symposium and I didn't feel like anyone was off-limits for a chat (or to drag to the pub). It is lovely to find brilliant minds that are still completely approachable and fun.

And, the poster session went well (not least of all because there was wine, actually, wine was a pretty regular feature of the conference) and people were generally enthusiastic about my poster. (Although one person said "another 700 fish and you have a paper there" - so I will be looking for a student to do the lab work). I even have hope (hold thumbs) that the DEA will be banning microbeads in the future - I will be following up on that and letting you know. 

I completely failed to take pictures, sadly. This is from a
picnic at Sea Point with some of the conference people
after the conference was finished. 

By far the best part of the conference was seeing familiar friendly faces again. There were some people I hadn't seen in years, and it was fantastic to catch up with people I used to share an office with, shared awesome field trips in Luderitz, or gave me an excuse to look for sunshine and happiness when my PhD results came back. There are some really special people in science and even if I didn't love science already, they would be enough of a reason to want to stay in touch with the science world! 

Oh and the banquet was awesome too!

Beyond Facebook

I mentioned my general resolution to make the most of life last year but it is also important to have measurable/ achievable goals. (I think there is an acronym - SMART goals? Specific Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). One of my 2016 goals is to create more public awareness around the issue of plastic microbeads. To this end, I have been trying to get local papers to publish my articles. 

Thanks J for letting me use your hand!

J I know you were bummed about the plastic in your present
but it has been super helpful having pictures - silver linings.

I am not sure if I really expected them to agree, and to be honest, while six (out of 36) have at least responded, I have only seen one article (but YAY the South Coast Herald). I have high hopes about the other papers (eternal optimist) - particularly Kempton Express because they emailed back to ask me my designation. 

I have also contacted 50|50, Cosmopolitan (they are personal care products after all) and Go, Getaway and Caxton Magazines (Green = responded, Red = silence). Facebook is remarkably useful for this. I am hoping there will be a guest blog on the Two Oceans Aquarium website soon too. Anyway, I am mentioning all this because I think this is important but I don't have any experience in this kind of thing (I have learnt that it is important to mention my name and organisation in the text in case they don't say who wrote the article - oops). I would love it if anyone has some suggestions. 

I am REALLY excited about the picture that N did for us - I think it is beautiful and you know what they say about a picture saying a thousand words...

 (I tend to opt for the thousand words because my artistic skills extend to colouring in - not always in the lines - but this time I will keep it short). 

PS In my work capacity I have been very careful to not mention brands but that picture is a SORBET product - they say they only have three that include plastic and they are phasing it out - but in the mean time, don't buy it. J has also alerted me to the fact that there are little colourful beads in some household cleaning agents e.g. MR MUSCLE. They don't mention plastic as an ingredient ("encapsulated beads" of what, I ask?) but keep a look out for sneaky plastic.

PPS SO bad at keeping it short. Promise I am done now!  

Taking pollution down to zero - become a planateer!!!

I need your help! PLEASE. 

Do you remember me going on about microplastics and how it would be great to have some way of knowing if you are buying a good or bad product? Well, now you get to help me make that happen for South Africa... yip... all of you (my millions of blog readers... hmmm). There is an app available in other parts of the world that will tell you (when you scan the barcode) whether the product is green (no evil plastics), orange (phasing out evil plastics) or red (evil plastics abound). 

To make the app functional in South Africa I need information. I need to know all the different types of toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, body washes etc there are out there and I need to know what they have in them. So, it would be super helpful if you could explore in to the depths of your cupboards and tell me about your stock of personal hygiene stuff. AND ask all your friends to do so too, pretty please. 

I need the following, (but if it seems a hassle, just send me a reasonably good picture of the front and back of the product and I will sleuth what I need from the picture): 

• barcode
• retailer name
• manufacturer
• product name
• plastic ingredients  (do they contain: polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Nylon, Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) or Polythylene Terphthalate (PET)?)

So, get to digging out your body glitter and foot scrub, deodorant and shaving products... I want to know all about them. I promise not to judge and it would be especially helpful if you do happen to have products that have plastic in so I can let people know about it. This needs to be South Africa only (sorry - supposedly barcodes are different in different countries, but I think we should double check this in Namibia because they are similar shops?) 

I look forward to hearing from you, easiest if you email me on shampton@ioisa.org... or my personal email address (that I don't really want to put on the internet for everyone to see). 

Let's BEAT THE MICROBEAD!!!! 

PS: Don't make me resort to pictures of eco-sadness to get you to help me....

I am thinking of adding this to the IOI-KIDS website, still a working process, but have included it here to give you idea of the issues