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For a month from the 22nd of February through to March, Students for Global Health Plymouth Society started an ocean clean up campaign, encouraging members to clean their local beach, river or lake of litter, safely and in line with covid restrictions, where ever they are across Devon, but also people took part from Canada, New Zealand, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Exeter, Surrey and Germany

This helps to protect ocean life and health, by removing litter that can end up being ingested by animals or entangling them, threatening their health. Ocean health is directly connected to human health, as humans cannot survive without a healthy ocean ecosystem. Clearing away litter also benefits beauty spots across Devon and Cornwall, so they can be better enjoyed throughout summer.

"I'm so happy this was a success and that so many people around the world took part in the campaign, so we could do something real to help the oceans. I hope to do more like this in the future and next year."

 

- Saskia Kinghorn, SfGH co-president 

The society got together to make a difference this year because ocean health is threatened, and this, in turn, threatens human health and survival.

We wanted to start a campaign to help clean beaches of litter, directly helping wildlife and ocean health and by creating our collage of members cleaning litter it raises awareness online, gets people talking, and creates a sense of community between like-minded people on campus who may be feeling isolated

"In a time of social distancing, we were thrilled to find that a love for their local communities and a passion for the planet was what would bring together people from all across the world."

 

- Nirmal Jayakrishnan, SfGH co-president

Finally, we hoped that by encouraging people who care for ocean life to take action, they will feel the effects of being part of a community, and help remove the sense of isolation that has set in during the pandemic. The campaign was a success, we received pictures from 20 members collecting litter, from 7 countries, across 4 continents.

We hope everyone who took part enjoyed the campaign, and that we can continue this as a yearly tradition in the future. We'd also like to encourage anyone with a passion for global health to become a member (it's free!) and follow our social media or join our mailing list to hear about future events!

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