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Recycle

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💙🌊 For The Oceans – Cigarette Butts with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Every year 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide, with a significant percentage finding their way into our oceans and onto our shores. In fact, 30-40% of all items collected in coastal and urban clean ups are butts. Azraq highlights that most people do not realise that cigarette filters within cigarette butts are made from a type of plastic called cellulose acetate which doesn’t biodegrade.

In 2003, The Dubai Municipality introduced a 500 AED fine for littering them. This fine has doubled to 1000 AED with six black points for drivers flicking cigarette butts onto UAE roads. Not only being unpleasant aesthetically, cigarette filters are comprised of thousands of chemical ingredients, including arsenic, lead, nicotine and ethyl phenol, all of which leak into aquatic environments.

As well as smoking being bad for the environment, smoking killed more than 2,900 people in the UAE in 2016 and cost the country $569 million in lost productivity and health care costs, according to the latest report on global smoking. In 2016 it was reported that, 748 cigarettes were smoked per person aged over 15 years, per year in the United Arab Emirates.

Here’s my third video highlighting marine conservation with Azraq ME 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think! #marinedebris #fortheoceans #oceanconservation

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💙🌊 For The Oceans – Useless Utensils with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Azraq highlights that it’s no secret that the hospitality sector is one of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution globally, and they think all of those plastic utensils that they give away (you know, the ones that end up among the most common items found during costal clean ups) are pretty useless!

In 2016, Worldcentric.org estimated that 40 billion plastic utensils were used every year in  the United States alone. The majority of these were thrown out after just one use and ended up in landfills and waterways… something must be done. In order to highlight this problem, and hopefully get people to think twice about their usage, AZRAQ launched its #uselessutensils campaign in mid-2019 in partnership with Freedom Pizza, Lush Middle East, Carluccio’s and Beitfann Studio (Sustainable City).  With your help, they collected approximately 60kg and over 30,000 plastic utensils in six weeks!

Here’s my second video highlighting marine conservation with Azraq ME 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think! #marinedebris #fortheoceans #oceanconservation

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💙🌊 For The Oceans – Marine Conservation with Amanda Rushforth and Azraq 🌊💙

Azraq is a non-profit marine conservation organisation registered with the Community Development Authority in the UAE. The mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. The aim is to EDUCATE through awareness programs and community presentations, MOTIVATE individuals, organisations and communities at large to make a difference and ACTIVATE them by offering a range of activities on, in and around the ocean.

THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.

The marine environment needs help. Why not you? Whether you volunteer at a stall, help keep our shores clean and safe or can encourage others to care about the oceans through art, there are many ways you can become a marine warrior helping Azraq conserve and protect our precious oceans.

I’ve been working on a few videos during lockdown for my new role as a director at Azraq – to highlight marine conservation 💙🌊 I’d love to hear what you think! 

fashion

OHOY: Swimming in Plastic

Founded by locally based Scandinavians Henna and Anna, OHOY is the uber chic and ethical solution to our summer’s, created with the ocean in mind. Their one-pieces boasting the hottest SS18 shades are on our wishlist this season, as we salute these ladies for their environmentally friendly approach to our favourite piece of clothing.

Famed for their intentional simplicity and feminine yet modern lines, we are looking North for our latest fashion fix, as the Scandinavian’s are some of the most sought after designers around right now.

OHOY swimwear

All OHOY products are produced from plastic and fishing nets collected from the sea & recycled into luxurious Italian fabrics and to top it off… made here in the U.A.E..

OHOY swimwear

Tested in real-life conditions and leading the way in terms of material too, as they are twice as resistant to chlorine, sun creams and oils, when compared with other fabrics.

OHOY swimwear

fashion

Bedouin Studios X Houndsditch

It’s great that locally based brands are taking the #PLASTICfreeSEA ethos seriously. Andraya Farrag of homegrown brand BEDOUIN just took a jump into the world of swimwear, launching in collaboration with Lisbon-based, London-born brand, Houndsditch for SS18.

Houndsditch is an environmentally friendly brand that produces their collections using post-consumer recycled materials, including plastics that would otherwise end up otherwise polluting the oceans.
Bedouin X Houndsditch
“I wanted to make buying swimwear as fun as wearing it,” says Andrew Young, founder of Houndsditch.

Their gorgeous hand designed prints, with exotic hints of flora and fauna are processed into fabrics, which are then used to make the custom-made pieces. Houndsditch’s production line is predominantly made to order, which helps to further minimize fabric wastage – a relatively new concept for the conscious consumers, but one which is making a mark.
Bedouin X Houndsditch
“I couldn’t wait to join forces [with Houndstich] and create a capsule collection of swimwear that perfectly compliment and co-exist with the BEDOUIN SS18 RTW collection.” Farrag of Bedouin

Designed to be mix and matched with the ready to wear collection, the Bedouin swimwear boasts an overarching Cuban theme, whilst also influenced by the elements.
Bedouin X Houndsditch
Exuding cool tones of white, wheat, shades of pink, green warmed up occasionally with a hint of orange and contrasted by black. Leopard, beetles, moths and fantastical foliage are interwoven into an array of multi-colored prints.

*Cover image shot poolside at Vida Downtown*

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The Adidas X Parley Pledge

We are facing a world now that has some serious problems, but one of the key ones for me is the opportunity of a #PLASTICfreeSEA. adidas have teamed up with Parley to help bring this awareness home, to the frontline as it were, the consumer.

Here are the problems our oceans face:
Parley: “A massive amount of plastic trash ends up in our oceans every year. The ocean currents have formed five gigantic, slow moving whirlpools where the plastic collects, nicknamed Vortex. Recent studies indicate that at least 40 million pounds of plastic has accumulated and is floating in the North Pacific Ocean alone. The majority of the plastic debris remains in the Vortexes, however a significant percentage of it washes onto our coastlines daily.

After sunlight photodegrades the plastic into small pieces, aquatic life and seabirds mistake these fragments for food and ingest it. While it’s difficult to know exact figures, a 2012 report from WSPA indicates that between 57,000 and 135,000 whales are entangled by plastic marine debris every year in addition to the inestimable – but likely millions – of birds, turtles, fish and other species affected by plastic marine debris. New studies show that ingested plastic damages the internal organs of fish. This also raises the question about the safety of our seafood.”

#adidasparley

adidas are working with Parley to help prevent this plastic entering our oceans by transforming it into its most popular sportswear products. What they are essentially doing is spinning the problem into a solution. Helping to change ‘the threat into a thread’.

This is done with through their Parley A.I.R. Strategy – a plan that they hope will end plastic pollution. Raising awareness for this awesome collaboration, throughout the week of oceans day, back in June, 59,138 runners around the world ran 572,712 km to give a voice to this cause and the fragility of our oceans.

Take action here!
adidas X Parley
But what can we do? The key now is to stop adding to the problem – Avoid! So when you’re out shopping… say no to plastic bags. No to micro beads and next up, No more new plastic in our supply chain. If you’re walking around the city too, anywhere you see the waste, helps to intercept this problem – even if it’s not yours! Pick it up and put it in the bin.

The adidas X ParleyParley White – initiative is ultimately aiming to redesign the plastic economy, so that we choose our products more carefully and in the end, we hope there won’t be any single use plastics left. This is their collaboration so far…’White’ is a wake-up call to the world about the coral bleaching crisis threatening the oceans and preventing approx 11 plastic bottles from entering the ocean with each pair!

ULTRABOOST PARLEY
adidas X Parley
ULTRABOOST UNCAGED
adidas X Parley
PARLEY ULTRABOOST X
adidas X Parley