There was a big surprise waiting on the undiscovered bottom of the infamous Great Blue Hole. Explorers were met with plastic pollution when they arrived at the bottom of Belize’s giant sinkhole.
Plastic pollution is more widespread than ever before. However, we like to think some of Mother Nature's best-kept spots are protected from this. But, this isn't the case.
The Great Blue Hole in Belize is one of their most iconic spots and is visited by people all over the world.
Unfortunately though, when divers were finally able to explore the bottom of the Great Blue Hole they were unexpectedly surprised by the aftermath of our single-use plastic addition.
The sinkhole is 125 metres deep and creates a dark blue circle in the tropical waters of the coast of Belize, which can be spotted from space. At the bottom of the sinkhole, Richard Branson, Virgin Founder and the team from Ocean Unite, shockingly found plastic bottles and other signs of pollution.
Even all the way at the bottom of this sinkhole which had never been visited by humans, there are clear signs of the impacts of man-made pollution.
The aim of the dive mission was to research the impacts of climate change on ocean cave systems, however, they were not expecting to unravel the extensive reach of plastic pollution at these extreme depths.
Richard Branson wrote on the expedition website that "The real monsters facing the ocean are climate change – and plastic. Sadly, we saw plastic bottles at the bottom of the hole, which is a real scourge of the ocean. We've all got to get rid of single-use plastic,"
We fully agree with Mr. Virgin when it comes to us getting rid of single-use plastics and we applaud his efforts to create single-use plastic free businesses such as his new venture.
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