Freediving champion Ai Futaki for the salvation of the oceans: “The solution is to multiply love”

Between us and the oceans there is one deep connection which we often forget: just think that up to 80% of the oxygen we need to breathe, the most essential act we do, comes from the seas. It is good to remember this, especially today that is the World Oceans Day in which the tragic data that some of us now know echo. Among all there is that 8 million that quantifies the tons of plastic that we cause every year – yes, every year – they end up in the seas of the planet that hosts us.

Each of us is called to do our part, to strive to reduce the impact that every day generates on the environment. Even trying, perhaps, to mitigate the damage done so far. Damages that may not be visible in the cities we live in but become very evident in the most fragile ecosystems.

An example is theMiyakojima island in Japan, where the extraordinary natural beauty has been mortified by the amount of plastic that suffocates the beaches and the sea, where the corals have lost their sparkling colors due to therising temperatures. “Plastics float and travel everywhere thanks to the wind, currents, to storms and rains. What I saw in Miyakojima interests many other places because everything is connected “, Ai Futaki tells us. Japanese, holder of the Guinness World Record of free diving and other records – such as that of the longest distance traveled immersed in a sea cave – documentary filmmaker, an example of a lifestyle choice in harmony with nature and an activist for the protection of the oceans. In his latest project he collected a series of photos, both splendid and tragic at the same time, through which he immortalized the effects of plastic pollution in the seas around Miyakojima, as ambassador of the oceans of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and of the project “Emergen (sea)»Of the Ecoalf Foundation.

Futaki knows that a change (real, not just declared) can no longer be postponed, «but it must come from our heart and not because we are obliged. We are all part of this beautiful blue planet: it will take time, but we will certainly be able to change ». And to those who wonder what he could do in practice to reverse the fate of our seas, he says: “Please love yourself. It sounds silly, but that’s all for me. It doesn’t mean being selfish: when we really listen to each other, we take care of ourselves and are kind to us, we are filled with love and harmony. And these feelings spread like waves. We are all connected: every little action can have repercussions on the others ».