Thessaloniki: Edition – “time capsule” with pandemics in the marine environment
“Time capsule” of its effects pandemic at sea environment aspires to be the publication entitled “Pandemic, Sea and Man in Greece” which was presented in the evening at an event in Thessaloniki.
This is a collective work, published by the Athanasios K. O Laskaridis Nonprofit Foundation and the Marine Environment Cooperation Network, to convey the first estimates from the new ones brought about by the pandemic and to make a reference basis and comparison with any future pandemics .
“Pandemics are areas in human history that have had more victims than wars,” said the executive director of the Public Benefit Foundation, Angeliki Kosmopoulou, when presenting the publication, speaking of a “time capsule” with data of use for researchers in the future . .
Wipes and masks
Citing data from a survey of 59 beaches in Greece and 83 underwater cleanups from June 2021 to March 2022, Professor of Geological and Environmental Oceanography in the Geology Department of the University of Patras, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Patras, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences University of Science, that 1.04% of the waste was related to coronavirus-related items, such as masks and gloves.
“The percentage may seem small, but it is waste that does not exist in the palette of pollution. In addition, of the total waste, single-use plastics made up 17.2%, of which the largest percentage concerned the caps and rings of plastic bottles,” explained Mr. Papatheodorou.
Sevasti-Sofia Anthopoulou, director of the Lambrakis Foundation, spoke about environmental education during the pandemic, stressing that teachers could not apply experientially, but theoretically. However, those teachers who deal with the subject, continued to have the same interest, proceeding during the period of quarantine, in distance training.
100,000 tons of plastic waste
For 100,000 tons of plastic waste linked to the pandemic in 2021, the president of the Ecological Recycling Society, Filippos Kyrkitsos, spoke, adding that the solution is to reduce the use – for example with multiple uses – as the specific waste, due to the infectious they go into recycling systems. The undivided support and cooperation of the Ministry of Macedonia Thrace for environmental issues was expressed by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Macedonia Thrace, Stavros Kalafatis, mentioning the cleaning of Thermaikos gulf with the special waste vessel “Alkippi” which he proposes to cooperate with Energy, George Bland.
Factors such as the University of Patras, the Athens University of Economics, the University of the Aegean, ELKETHE, the Ecological Recycling Society, HELMEPA, EEPP, the Lambraki Foundation, iSea, the Public Benefit Society participated and contributed to the editorial committee and the writing of the publication. Athanasios K. Laskaridis Foundation as well as the oceanographer François Galgani and the marine ecologist and filmmaker Philippe-Yves Cousteau.
Source: RES-MPE