Taking a stand against a plastic tide

Anyone who knows me well will know that I’ve always had a love affair with the ocean. To me, it’s always felt like home. It’s the part of the planet that I think needs our help the most, and the one that often gets the least attention.

When I was younger, the cute and furry creatures that inhabit the rain forests of the world captured everyone’s attention and won their hearts. Sadly, for most people, fish and the other incredible sea creatures don’t have the same ‘ahhhh’ appeal.

Don’t get me wrong, I also care about what happens to our rain forests, but the oceans hold a special place in my heart. I’ve been both encouraged and dismayed by what’s been happening in recent years.

Seeing people galvanised to action to protect and save the oceans has been wonderful. I feel like it’s long overdue. But the documentaries and evidence that’s been provided to show just how badly they need saving has frequently left me in tears.

What to do?

When faced with such a monumental task, it’s hard to know where to start, especially when you’re just one person. I’ve been trying to make lifestyle changes to do my bit to reduce plastic waste and to generally be a better human.

That means I avoid plastic packaged products when I’m shopping, I’m supporting ethical and eco-friendly businesses and I’m trying to be a more conscious consumer. I’ve noticed in just the year and half I’ve been doing this how much my attitude to shopping has changed. And I’m glad of it.

I’m making little changes when I can, and gradually they’re stacking up. It feels like an uphill battle at the beginning but once you get going it becomes easier and easier to make the next change, even if it’s less convenient to start with.

Getting better at baking bread is on my list of things to master this winter, for instance. And I’m really lucky to finally have a health food store in Bournemouth (Sunrise Organics for anyone who’s interested) that has a zero waste section where you can buy dry goods like lentils, beans, rice and nuts in bulk with no plastic packaging.

Raising awareness

I’ll happily chat away to anyone about how to move away from single-use plastics. I’m not even going to pretend that I’m done with my journey, I’m only just getting started. But I’m encouraged by how many people I know who are doing the same thing. Making similar little changes for the better.

One of the other things I regularly do is pick up litter, especially from the beach, on my dog walks. This summer I’ve found that there was a lot less litter than last year, and that in itself is an extremely encouraging sign that some of the messages are getting through.

Often on my beach cleans I’ll find beach toys, and in particular sand moulds, that have either been lost or discarded. They’ve been stacking up in my flat and this year I had an idea for a little art project. I’m not going to claim to be an artist - far from it - but apparently I can sketch a half-decent sea creature.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some photos of my sketches popping up, but if not I’ve shared a few in this post. The idea is to highlight the scale of plastic pollution in our oceans. Do you want your children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and all the other kids in this world to grow up with more chance of seeing a plastic fish, or the real deal?

Current projections suggest there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050. That’s really not all that far away and that statistic terrifies me. If it also terrifies you, and you want to chat about cutting your plastic use, drop me a line. I’m happy to share the solutions I’ve found that work for me.

Seahorses are too cute to go extinct

One of the feistiest creatures in the rock pool

Plastic doesn't seem quite so appetising

We don't want common to become a misnomer

These little guys are just awesome

The power of a nap

I’m just going to come out and say it, I love having a nap. They are life savers sometimes. I’m not just talking about those nice lazy Sunday afternoons where you fall asleep on the sofa watching trashy TV. I mean a nap in the middle of the working day.

There’s a lot to be said for power naps. If you’ve never taken one, try it next time you’re feeling sleepy at your desk. I guarantee after 15 minutes you’ll feel more awake than if you’d downed three cups of coffee.

One of the things I love about being freelance is having a bit more flexibility with my time. That means I can take naps if I’m feeling tired. I’m not slacking when I do this (honest) - it’s a way to boost my productivity for the next few hours.

And it works so well. A 10-15 minute nap will keep me going with work for another 3-4 hours. Not just in the sense that I’m able to keep working, but in the sense that I feel alert and energised in a way that I never do if I just try to push through.

Caught napping?

When I had a regular, full-time job there were afternoons where I just felt incredibly sleepy. There wasn’t always a logical reason for it; some days we’re just more tired than others. On those days I’d long for somewhere I could curl up and sleep for 10 minutes.

I remember once suggesting that we should get hammocks in a breakout room so that we could nap in the day - a suggestion that my bosses laughed at. I wasn’t joking, but clearly they thought it was a silly idea.

I’ve also fallen asleep at my computer, jumped as I awoke and had to look around to see if anyone had noticed (don’t pretend you’ve never done that either). One day I even resorted to curling up under my desk for a quick 10 minute nap. Not the most comfy place to snooze I admit, but just closing my eyes for a few minutes gave me the boost of energy I needed to make it through the afternoon.

And not only to make it through the afternoon, but to actually be productive. That afternoon I did work. If I hadn’t had my brief nap, I probably would have pretended to do work for a couple of hours and then left the office as early as possible.

The science of a nap

I think that my anecdotal evidence is quite strong - I certainly know that power naps work for me. But there’s science to back this up too! I found this article in the Guardian and while it’s a few years old the studies it cites are still valid.

For instance, a Nasa study found that pilots on long flights who take a 26-minute nap see their performance improve by 34% and their alertness improve by 54%. You have to admit, that’s impressive.

What’s also really interesting is that sleep guru Nick Littlehayes explained in the Guardian article that napping doesn’t even have to mean sleeping. Taking yourself somewhere quiet, closing your eyes and disconnecting from the world for that short period of time is enough to boost your energy and productivity.

So while I might have felt a little foolish to nap under my desk, I actually had science on my side.

For now I’m just glad that I mostly work from home, so on the days when I do feel the need for a power nap I have a bed or sofa to curl up on. If you’ve never had a power nap - try one next time you’re feeling tired in the middle of the day. You won’t regret it.

Book Review: Personal History by Katharine Graham

I haven’t done a book review for a while, but having just finished Personal History by Katharine Graham I felt as though I should.

This book is amazing. Katharine Graham is amazing. I was captivated by her story and, although I came into the book knowing something of her life, what I discovered as I worked my way through the pages was a strong, brave, modest and kind woman who lived through some extraordinary events and took them all in her stride.

I appreciate that most people won’t have any idea who she is, so let’s begin with the basics. Katharine Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post. The newspaper was purchased by her father, passed to her husband Phil and eventually came to her after Phil committed suicide.

The way in which she dealt with having all of that responsibility placed upon her in the midst of the most distressing personal tragedy really touched me. And then, reading this in 2018, you have to remember that all of this happened in the 1960s when women didn’t hold positions of power within business or the newspaper industry. To take that on, let alone sustain it and be successful, is impressive. She really was a remarkable woman.

Anyone who knows me will know that one of my favourite films and books is All The President’s Men, which is about the Watergate Scandal. Discovering that film and subsequently reading the book while studying journalism at university is how I first heard of Katharine Graham.

But it wasn’t until the film The Post came out earlier this year that I remembered her autobiography had been on my reading list for ages. The Post, incidentally, is an excellent film that deals with the Pentagon Papers, one of the defining incidents in US journalism.

I started reading Personal History in March and finished it this week. I didn’t want her story to stop though. As I turned the pages I grew increasingly attached to Katharine and her world. I followed her fascinating family history, and then worked my way through the years of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate and the pressmen’s strike.

At times I found her honesty disarming and I admire how much she was willing to share in some instances. I’m sure there were countless stories that didn’t make it into the pages of her book that would have been equally worthy inclusions.

I’ve always found investigative journalism fascinating, which is no doubt the main reason I was attracted to this book, but I got so much more than I’d imagined from reading it.

It’s not a short, or quick, read, but it is worth the effort, especially if you have any level of interest either in journalism or business. I’m sure it’s a book that I’ll return to in the future.

Personal History: A fascinating read