WHY THE OCEAN?
OUR INTENTIONS
The Ocean is our favourite place. Really, is there anywhere more mystical and mysterious on the planet? As much as our business is about creating great clothing, it is also about doing as much as we can to protect and restore our Ocean. Having a passion for the sea make us consider every decision we make. From the content of our fabrics, to our shipping materials, and all of our daily operations. We also try to find as many opportunities as we can to give back to organizations who are working to clean and protect the Ocean. As we grow, we hope to increase the efforts we can put towards Ocean conservation, like organizing community beach clean ups and hosting educational events focused on the main issues threatening our seas. SALT is not just a business, but a platform to raise awareness about how our lifestyles impact the planet around us, and hopefully inspiring lasting change that will preserve this wondrous place we get to call home.
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
- Sylvia Earle, Marine Biologist, Mission Blue
OCEAN FACTS
The Ocean is awesome. It is full of life, full of mystery. And sadly, full of our waste. There are so many scary facts out there about the impact we are having on the Ocean. In our quest to help our seas, we want to focus on the amazing things about our blue waters that we want to conserve, and bring awareness to the negative impact we as a species are having, and what we can do to change that. A good place to start, is to educate ourselves a little.
- The Ocean covers over 70% of the planet and contains 97% of Earth’s water.
- About 70% of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by marine plants.
- More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in the Ocean every year. None of it will biodegrade.
- The majority of life on Earth is aquatic.
- The burning of fossil fuels is acidifying the Ocean, contributing to the degradation and destruction of marine ecosystems and marine life, like reefs and shellfish.
- At 188 decibels, the calls of blue whales is the loudest sound made by any animal on the planet.
- Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute. A plastic bag has an average “working life” of 15 minutes.
- Less than 5% of our Oceans have been explored.
- The top 10 items polluting our Ocean includes cigarettes, plastic bags, plastic bottles, and food containers.
- The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, it covers around 30% of the Earth’s surface.
- 91% of plastic isn’t recycled. No wonder it is ending up in our Oceans.
- Over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals are killed by pollution every year.
- The biggest source of pollution in the ocean is directly from land based sources, such as oil, dirt, septic tanks, farms, ranches, motor vehicles, among larger sources. Thousands of tons of waste and trash are dumped into the ocean on a daily basis.
- Jellyfish have been around for more than 650 million years, which means that they outdate both dinosaurs and sharks.
- Small animals at the bottom of food chain absorb the chemicals as part of their food. These small animals are then eaten by larger animals that again increases the concentration of chemicals. Animals at the top of hierarchy of food chain have contamination levels millions times higher than the water in which they live.