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The sombre message of stones made of plastic found on an uninhabited island far from the Brazilian coast.
How the ‘P for Plastic’ got included in scuba hand signals
Blog – Carina van Uffelen
By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This famous prediction by Ellen MacArthur of the MacArthur foundation kept haunting me. It finally brought me, as an employee of Plastic Soup Foundation and diver, to an idea that was enthusiastically picked up!
It all started in 2018 when an enthusiastic recreational diver, Debbie Mous, contacted Plastic Soup Foundation because she wanted the diving world to take action against plastic pollution. We made an appointment and brainstormed with various dive organizations and dive companies on how we could involve the diving world more in the plastic problem. MacArthur’s prediction gave me an incentive.
To communicate with each other, divers have specific hand gestures for all kinds of fish and sea creatures – but why not for plastic? I thought, there is so much plastic in the ocean, we actually need a sign for it! The diving sign could be used in practice to signal plastic and, at the same time, highlight how absurd and serious plastic pollution is.
The P for Plastic
My idea for a plastic diving sign won the brainstorming session, and a few weeks later, we shaped the sign: the P for plastic. With your right hand, you shape the line of the P, and with your left hand, a C and place it against the upper part of your right hand. That way, others can recognize the P for plastic in your hand gesture.
It was picked up with great enthusiasm! The sign has been shared all over the world, and it has reached more than 4 million people on Facebook!
Thanks to the help of Debbie and diving organizations such as DuikeninBeeld, the sign is now included in the Scuba Sign App and is also found on the Wikipedia page about dive signs. A next step is a permanent place in educational material for divers. To be continued!
By Carina van Uffelen – Carina works in the communication team of Plastic Soup Foundation since 2017 and is herself a big fan of diving and the underwater world.
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