The safeguarding of the sea is an issue highly felt by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team who takes great care every day to reduce their environmental impact. In particular, the team pays attention to the marine environment, their playground. Every time they go out to sea, they come across lots of garbage, floating on the water surface, which over time sinks down to cover the sea beds and pollute flora and fauna. Most of this plastic debris originates on land by overuse of plastic in our daily lives and improper waste disposal.

In recent years, studies from accredited national and international research centres monitoring marine ecosystems have displayed shocking data on the increase of plastic and microplastics in our sea. Today about 90% of the seabirds have plastic fragments in their stomachs, whereas in the 1960s this value was just above five percent. (1) In 2018 scientific research, conducted by the Università Politecnica delle Marche, CNR’s Institute of Marine Science and Greenpeace, discovered alarming data on the percentage of microplastics found in the bodies of marine organisms. In 25 to 30% of the examined species there were microplastics smaller than 5 millimetres. If we don’t respect this fragile balance, the impact on the oceans and on the health of the entire planet can be devastating.

We celebrate the sea every day, but today more than ever it must be a moment of reflection, to be shared even with the little ones to whom we must not preclude the enjoyment, today and in the years to come, of the beauty and charm of our planet and of our seas. For this reason we have established in June 2020 a contest for kids created in in collaboration with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team.

#LifeBelowLunaRossa is inspired by “Life Below Water”, the 14th of seventeen sustainable development goals, established by UNDP (United Nation Development Program).

Here you can download six educational cards created by CNR (Research National Centre), describing six marine species “at risk” or “endangered”, present both in the Mediterranean sea. You can refer to them, color and share them on social media using the hashtag #LifeBelowLunaRossa, or send them by email to secretariat@1ocean.org.

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