WHEN A VISION BECOMES A REALITY...I spent a lot of time at sea and working underwater as a scuba diving instructor. I vividly remember a moment in 2009 when I first learned about how much plastic bags look like jellyfish underwater. And, a jellyfish is a turtles favorite food. I could NOT stop thinking about all the poor turtles that were eating plastic bags (WHAT?) and how much of a problem this was.
It really stuck with me. Through my travels in the BVI, I saw plastic in the water. Through my time working on M/Y Peaceful Fish in the Bahamas, I saw plastic in the water. Through the time I lived and worked on S/Y Yanneke Too in Thailand, I saw plastic in the water. Then I moved to Florida and plastic bags were all over the beach. I couldn't stop thinking about the turtles. Through my time at Figure 8 Island and Wrightsville Beach, plastic would wash ashore. We traveled to the Dominican Republic and Sadie and Josie witnessed a turtle swimming towards a plastic bag while we were snorkeling. They were 3 and 5 years old. They looked at me with their bright blue eyes with tears in them asking what we can do to save them. Another moment that really stuck with me. Covid hit. I had time. I had to do something about this. I got creative. I followed a long time passion of mine to write children's books. I wrote a children's picture book specifically on this problem with plastic bags in our oceans. (More excitement to come on that, SOON). People really liked my books. I got an agent. I am on submission... and that takes a long time. I am not someone who can sit around and wait. I had to get this image out into the world. So, I worked with Kate Ackerly, my cousin, and Dick Fowlkes, my cousin and god father who owns Peter Blair and we got to work. A tie for men? A scarf for women? Maybe both. But I wanted to do something for the strong women of the world first. So we designed the scarf. The result is absolutely beautiful and something I hope women will feel proud wearing. If it had this much of an impact on me, maybe it would impact others as well. Yes, my second home is the ocean, but still, people love turtles and I know no one is intentionally trying to hurt a turtle. I hope maybe just maybe this project will help start the conversation to ban single-use plastic bags. In a polite way. And in some really important places. Awareness is half the battle. So, the sample for my FREE THE SEA OF PLASTICS scarf arrived yesterday and I'm very excited about how it turned out. I'll have a better "photo shoot" of it later, but you can get the idea of it's beauty :) Thank you for taking the time to read this message. If you'd like to purchase a scarf to wear around your neck, as a belt, as a tie on your handbag, or to hang in your office or room as a beautiful piece of art, all proceeds will be donated to Plastic Pollution Coalition and Plastic Ocean Project. Message me for details. Taking pre-orders now. I'm having a lot of fun making little waves of change! Stay tuned. Blair
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