Hanna Wäger

THE EVENT

PATTERN

STRUCTURES

MENTAL MODELS

If things don't change, by 2025 the oceans will contain one metric ton of plastic for every three metric tons of fish. By 2050 plastic will outweigh fish entirely. That's the conclusion of a report by two major foundations and research firm McKinsey & Company.

Amongst other things, Plastic has contributed largely to Marine Pollution. The dumping of trash and other toxic materials into the ocean for years, has impacted the marine life completely and will continue to do so.

There hasn't been clear enough structures and laws about the dumping of trash into rivers, lakes and oceans. Even goverments are guilty of using the depth of the water for garbage dump.

Not enough awareness around the impact of trash and particularly plastic was mediated between politicians/governments and the public. The mindset of "What we can't see, is no longer a problem" will lead to the devastating fact that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

ICEBERG MODEL

MAPPING

ESSAY

1. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marine-pollution/
(National Geographic Society, July 3, 2019)

2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/01/oceans-can-be-restored-to-former-glory-within-30-years-say-scientists
(The Guardian, Damian Carrington, April 1, 2020)

3. Systems Thinking:
A Means to Understanding Our Complex World by Linda Booth Sweeney
(From Reading List)

Water makes up 71% of the Earth surface and is the largest source of protein for humanity. Yet we are treating it as a place to dump everything that is no longer needed. In fact, many think that if waste is out of our sight, stored somewhere in the depth of the ocean, it is simply no longer there. But the opposite is true. This same water that we pollute so recklessly is in the air we breathe and in the food we eat.

Oil industry contribution, nuclear waste, agricultural causes, sewage pollution, mining, ocean noise pollution, light pollution, litter and plastic pollution,… and the list goes on. All of this leaves a deep mark on our planet and impacts our water resource. Marine Pollution has become a major problem and an increasing threat to our ecosystem. A combination of trash and chemicals, find their way to the ocean on a daily basis. But 80% of this pollution comes from Land sources and gets washed into the world seas through rivers or monsoons or simply gets blown there by wind. Chemicals that come from the use of fertilizer in the agricultural sector enhances the growth of algae, which poses a threat for wildlife and is toxic for humans. Tons of Trash, mostly plastics, also end up through poor waste management in the oceans and ultimately lands back on our plate in form of micro plastics in the stomachs of marine life. Also the drilling of oil and the involved oil spills kill thousands of fish and seabirds and has a long lasting impact. All of this contributes to an unhealthy and imbalanced ecosystem and the polluting of a main resource of life: water.

The important thing we have to understand is that the ocean doesn’t need us: In fact, it would be better off without us. But we do need the ocean. As morbid as it might sound, if we as a species want to survive we need to drastically change the relationship we have with the ocean. We need to change the way we engage with it. The way we use it. And most importantly the way we see it. Now, the good news is that we have seen remarkable resilience of the seas. Previous conservations have shown that our ecosystem has the extraordinary ability to restore and balance itself. Scientists say that our oceans could recover within one generation (30 years). But Prof Carlos Duarte (University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia) says that we only „have a narrow window of opportunity to deliver a healthy ocean to our grandchildren. “ We have to understand that the world doesn’t stand still while we are are analysing and studying it. It is continuously evolving and changing. So we have to stop looking at all the different components within marine pollution, and start looking into the relations between those components as they are just as crucial. We have to start looking at this problem as a whole and see a system that doesn’t work when a part of it changes or gets destroyed. Because after all we are living in an ecosystem. So let’s maintain and nurture this system and not let it come to stand still.

System Thinking has helped me tremendously in my research to connect the dots of information I gathered and to understand the relations within the system we are living in. With my project I wanted to highlight, how we often only see one part of a larger picture instead of looking at it as a whole. I aimed to encourage the viewer to question their take on the problem and to ask themselves: “Is there more to what I see?”

OCEANS: THE AIR WE BREATHE THE FOOD WE EAT

SOURCES