5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

All the previous months of planning and stress instantly melted away seeing students arrive from Kenya, Zambia, India, Indonesia, England, Guam, the Bahamas, Canada, Chile, Colombia, and the US. Each group came as a team of 2-4 students plus a teacher/mentor, bringing a solutions-oriented project to reduce plastic pollution in their community. And somehow, this kaleidoscope of different cultures and backgrounds came together with a chemistry I can only describe as magic. 

Friday’s festivities kicked off with the “around the gyres in 60 minutes” scavenger hunt, in which students completed a range of fun activities – silkscreening produce bags made from old tshirts, visiting the JUNKraft to snap a photo with Dr. Marcus Eriksen, boarding the ORV Alguita to chat gyre samples with Captain Moore, and making a statement on camera about their projects – to name a few. 

 After a few introductory welcomes and remarks, the evening’s talent show “stole the show”. I can safely say I have NEVER seen anything quite like this – students brought traditional costumes, songs and dance from their home countries, they rapped, break danced, strutted the catwalk in styley plastic outfits, did comedy improv skits - one duo even played the accordion and sang a Lady Gaga number. Each act was more incredible than the next, and the room was full of cheering, screaming, and laughter. 

A perfect intro to Saturdays full day of workshops. Saturday morning began bright and early with an energizer from Jordan Howard, our phenom youth MC - 18 going on 35. Jordan shared some top public speaking tips, and introduced our Keynote speaker Dr. J Nichols. Who took her comments to heart and started his talk by lying on the floor. 

Tremendously inspiring as always, J’s talk titled “Twelve” encouraged students to simplify their ideas, to come up with projects that are attainable and achievable. Too many grand ideas are never realized, whereas sometimes the most effective projects started with a budget of $12. Students broke their projects into fundable milestones, which they then presented to the group – in 12 seconds.

 The next few hours took students through a number of hands on exercises geared towards refining their projects, honing communication skills, and coming up with a solid plan. First, determining plastic “facts from fiction” – every activist needs to have their facts straight….then listening to a Rise Above Plastics presentation by two students from the Environmental Charter High School, followed by learning the most recent science from PhD candidate Chelsea Rochman, mapping out an action plan with Kyle Thierman and Lindsey Jurca, and learning how to deliver a captivating “pitch” with scientist/filmmaker Dr. Randy Olson. Each team had a chance to practice their 60-second pitch with Randy, to prep for the real deal on Sunday. 

The afternoon concluded with two inspiring talks by actor/activist Ed Begley Jr., who shared his stories on treading lightly and empowering others to do the same, and our own hero Captain Charles Moore, the man who set this plastics revolution in motion. 

An incredible day - now time to play! A intense days work transitioned into a full blown dinner and dance party at the Long Beach Aquarium, with a stunning aquatic backdrop and a rockin’ DJ. This is where the real bonding takes place – on the dance floor! Some of us adults even joined in the festivities for a bit… 

 Sunday came around too quickly. We wrapped up with some final remarks from Jordan Howard, a work session for teams to perfect their pitches, and then the real deal – each team presented their incredible solutions-based projects in 60 seconds, showing their grasp of the beauty of brevity, the importance of storytelling, and capturing ones audience with emotion and a hook.

And for the grand finale: a boat race! Students from Team Marine, with expert guidance from our resident trash boat builder Marcus Eriksen, built the “Lighter Glider”, “The Last Straw”, and the “Cola Kayak” – three boats built from trash. With the entire Summit in tow, we marched on down to the Marina, and raced the boats to the dock and back. As plastic tends to do, all 3 floated….

 Already sad to say goodbye, students formed a long “hug chain”, hugging each and every participant, including those of us still in our wetsuits, covered with LA River funk, and talking about “the next one”. In the afterglow of what was truly an incredible gathering, we’re already talking about the next Summit. Knowing there is such unbelievably positive young energy in the world will certainly keep our momentum going. Stayed tuned for the video highlights and students everywhere, start working on your solutions!