Taking a stand in our sand – The Perranporth Human Chain 2022

On October 9th, 2022, a community of passionate Cornish environmentalists joined hands to invoke a change.

Our waters are still polluted. 

Our shorelines still lined with plastic. 

Our marine life still entangled in fishing ghost gear. 

And our governing bodies are still not doing enough to care for our coast.

The idea was simple – Join hands, to force theirs.

The Perranporth Human Chain stood as a reminder that the neglect of our oceans will not go unanswered. Stretching across our beach a seaside community joined hands in the face of the continuous false promises and inactive motions of corporate organisations, water companies and our government.

Last year alone, UK water companies discharged raw untreated sewage into British Waters over 375,000 times. This blatant, profit-fuelled disregard for our environment has consistently ranked the UK in the top ten worst European Countries for coastal water quality with only 14% meeting ‘good’ ecological status.

In September 2022, our government lifted rules around fracking a process that uses toxic chemicals which leaks unprecedented amounts of dangerously potent methane into our waters and atmosphere.

Every single piece of plastic ever created still exists on our Earth. Plastic can be found in the stomach of every 1 in 3 fish, an unsurprising statistic given that 8 million pieces of plastic enter our oceans each day. This plastic pollution is made up of single-use plastic and 640,000 tonnes of ghost fishing gear that the fishing industry dumps into our oceans each year.

For years there has been a public outcry to care for our climate and the response has only seen an acceleration of climate change and the continued neglect of our planet.

The Human Chain will broadcast our unity for protecting our oceans. We are creating social action by simply joining hands in peaceful protest against ocean disrespect. An act of standing together to send one united message that local MPs, water companies, fishing industries, irresponsible brands, and supermarkets can’t ignore.

Stay tuned for the next Human Chain at Perranporth beach in 2023, where we are aiming to join hands for over 3 miles, from Chapel Rock to Perran Sands.

Remember more hands = more impact.

Taking a stand in our sand.

Follow us at perranporth_humanchain on Instagram for more information.