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Their goal is to make as many people as possible aware of plastic pollution. For the eighth edition of the CorSeaCare mission, the employees and volunteers are going around Corsica for three weeks, using a pedal monohull.
According to Léa, an employee of the Mare Vivu association, the area between Corsica and Italy is the most densely polluted in microplastics in the world, making Corsicans aware of this pollution is essential. For three weeks, the team from the CorSeaCare association takes to the open sea to travel the waters around Corsica, using boats that run on the strength of their legs.
“We are tackling a problem that is immense”
First destination: Pietracorbara, to collect plastic which will then be analyzed and reported to scientists to observe plastic pollution on Corsican beaches. “We don’t clean up the beach, because we assume that the emergency is to turn off the waste tap that will end up in the water. And so for that, we have to study what types of plastics we find. If it’s single-use plastics, then can we put laws and regulations in place? And let’s say curative, ‘pick up litter’ type solutions are really a drop in the bucket.”explains Lea.
Each year, the association samples ten beaches on the island. For Léa, this shadow work is necessary for the environment but also for her own person. “I tell myself that, today, I am happy to be one of those who try, in any case, and that I feel good in this place. And even if it doesn’t work, for me, it will have brought me a lot of things and I will have been happy to do it in any case. There’s a lot to do, and that doesn’t discourage us, but it’s just that we are aware of what we are tackling. We are tackling a problem that is huge, that is much bigger than us”.