A little story about me

People have been asking me why I started publishing The Blue Surfer. You can check out the short story in the About section, but I thought you might like to know a little more.

I have always been an avid traveler saving my money to just go to a place I had never been before. I always cared for the environment and I love spending time in nature. As a diver (a very recreational one, that is) I can’t stop myself from picking up whatever litter I see in the oceans, as it really bugs me to see the beautiful underwater world polluted with plastic bottles, cans and whatever else.  The same goes for enjoying a nice day at the beach.  The cigarette butts and pieces of plastic all around me really annoy me.  I mean, would you prepare a nice hot bath and add some garbage and the contents of an ash tray before enjoying it?  I don´t think so. I’ve always hated to see people litter and disgrace the environment, but my intolerance for this behavior multiplied when I saw the documentary, “A Plastic Ocean.”  The amount of plastic floating around the world’s oceans is beyond anything you can imagine.  I also realized that most people don´t know the magnitude of the problems caused by single-use plastics.  Not only do a lot of marine animals die every year from ingesting or getting entangled in plastics, but the plastics break up into little pieces (microplastics) and enter our food chain with long term results unknown. A trend that probably doesn’t end well!

It seems obvious to me that we must do a better job to protect the incredibly balanced ecosystem of our planet.  Not only does our planet give us everything we need by continuously providing us with clean food, water and air for our survival, but it also gives us life’s enjoyable experiences like swimming in the sea, hiking in the woods, snorkeling around coral reefs etc.  We are nothing more than stewards of our planet.  When we die we leave it to the next generation.  As parents and grandparents of the next generation, we must change our behavior – act more responsibly, less selfishly and as a society we must measure the rate of environmental damage versus the rate at which the planet can heal itself.  It makes no sense to me that humanity has reached an incredible level of intelligence, yet we seem content to fill our oceans (and landfills) with non-biodegradable plastics, cut down trees faster than they grow, and pump carbons into the air faster than the biogeochemical carbon cycle can handle. In the end, the health of our children will suffer, and their children will suffer more, and so on.

Then I started my website, My Green Goodiebag, and I started doing a lot of research on sustainable and eco-friendly products. I realized there is so much more to being “green” (or blue) than just pick up litter and use my reusable water bottle. It is not just about green products, but also about green experiences. About making people aware of what they do on their vacations impacts the environment and wildlife. I wanted to bring all the companies that try to do that extra for our planet and the animals to the attention of a wider audience. That is why I started The Blue Surfer. So you can see that it is possible to travel differently, with our beautiful planet in our mind. Of course, traveling will always have some sort of environmental impact, but if we would all try to do our bit and spend our money at places that share the same mission it would be a big step in the right direction.

Obviously, changing the behavior of many people is difficult, but I believe all change starts with individuals who lead the way. I hope you feel as I do.  I hope you will favor establishments that care for our planet and want to attract conscious travelers. And I hope you can educate those who are unaware of this growing need to stay at hotels, eat at restaurants, drink at bars and have great experiences with companies that see humans as being stewards and not owners of our beautiful earth.

I think we owe it to our children to leave this place a little bit better, more beautiful, less polluted, than when we came into it.  I know it sometimes feels like it is an endless battle but each and every one of us has a voice, and with every purchase we make, we make our voices heard.  It might seem like a whisper, but if each person would let his/her whisper hear than all these whispers together might create a scream.  A scream towards policy makers, that we want a change, we need a change.

Please help me help others make their voices heard and help them make choices that will hopefully help the future of our planet and of our children.