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

Uh-oh… Now what?

Like a scene out of West Side Story.  The Jets meet the Sharks, Latin American style.  From up over the crumbling cement of an eroding pier on Playa Los Angeles, they move toward us with intensity, with purpose.  There must be forty, even fifty in the gang… they far outweigh our crew. Intent all the while, each step brings them closer to where our group holds our ground.  Both groups charged with an energy and a cause – a reason to be right here, right in this moment. 

I turn to look at my comrades… their faces reflect similar splashes of purple, green orange and yellow paint to that splattered across my own – but through the holes in the face painted masks I can see the same look in their eyes as dances through my head… “What’s the protocol for a Uruguayan brawl?”

*****

On the list of things I wasn’t expecting to do a day after landing in Uruguay, getting my face painted with a bunch of the town locals wasn’t on it.  That said, I’ve never had an aversion to dressing up and making a bit of a scene, so trustingly I stepped in to a cultural experience directed by some new friends.

Not 24 hours earlier were we greeted by our loved ones, families and (surprisingly) a whole slew of locals hoisting signs above their heads and cheering.  Who were these folks?  During the press conference that followed moments after landing, 5 Gyres was introduced to these welcoming supporters and their local nonprofit.  Called Ecopolis, the group manages many facets of the environmental sustainability movement in Piriapolis, Uruguay. 

In addition to general education around resource management, sustainability and energy alternatives, Ecopolis has carved a niche in the coastal and beach activism arena. One of the most effective ways they see to educate and inspire activism from the community is through “skits.”  What I gleaned through the translators was that they’re not so much mini-plays as a display more akin to a parade.

“Can we do one?” I hear Leslie next to me inquire.  I wasn’t surprised she asked, and held my fingers crossed under the table that they would say yes.

“Si…” they said with surprise in their voices and faces.  “When?"

“How about tomorrow?”

And so it was that at 6:00pm on a Sunday – prime beach time in the city – we gathered at Los Angeles beach to begin preparations.  About 20 individuals showed up – local supporters, comrades from the Sea Dragon and volunteers with Ecopolis.  We were instantly splashed with face paint, doused with glitter, strewn with toy whistles and noise makers, and were taught the words of a chant:

Cuidemos nuestras playas

Tachin!

Juntemos la basura

Tachin!

Sumate y se uno mas

Tachin, Tachin, Tachin!

Roughly, this translates in to a catchy cheer about caring for our beaches and throwing away our trash.  “Tachin” is the Spanish version of “woop”, “hoorah” or “holler” as far as I can tell.  To the beat of a drummer and led by a flag dancer, the group of us began the chant and walked down on to the beach, yelling loudly, dancing and parading our signs for all the beach dwellers to see.

Insert for a moment some American mentality: a bit of nervousness on my part that what we were about to do would be a miserable flop.  That people don’t parade down beaches like this in the States.  What if people didn’t listen to us?  What if they laughed?  What if they threw their trash at us?

The reality of the situation couldn’t have been further from this imagined scenario.   To the contrary, the reception was uniquely Uruguayan, as far as I can tell – open, receptive and engaged all the time. 

There’s a massive 6-court beach volleyball tournament going on?  No problem.  They handed us the microphone and stopped the games to do our cheer for the audience and speak about our work. 

A family is quietly dining on empanadas, cobbed corn and mate?  No worries… they encouraged their little girls to bring the family’s trash to the bags we carried and deposit it. 

Oops, sorry, we just walked through your game of paddle ball by mistake – clapping and yelling and dancing?  Apparently not an issue here – they banged their paddles together and joined in on the cheer, lending strength to the message we carried.

The entire length of the beach we paraded, yelled, and carried on… feeding off the energy that the crowd in front of us was giving back.  It seemed like everything had gone perfectly.

And then we ran in to another group doing the same thing as us.  The Jets.

They had many more people than us.  They had bigger signs.  Music.  Costumes.  But surprisingly enough, they stepped back and quietly waited to cross our path on the beach until we were done with our chant.  When we were done, they applauded and yelled, and then swapped spots with us, taking formation in several long, spaced out lines.

Then something amazing happened.  Music started.  They looked at us and motioned for us to join them.  And we all started dancing.

I’ve never been involved in a flash mob before, and I don’t know if I’d count this one since we hadn’t rehearsed, but the moves were easy enough to follow that none of us made fools of ourselves.  We just boogied and danced our hearts out, laughing, on the beach.

When the music was done, they held up signs that spelled out, “No Violence.” We all shook hands, kissed cheeks, and went on our merry ways along the beach.

As we walked away, the realization of what a unique and powerful experience we’d just had hit me.  Not just standing up for something you believe in, but yelling, cheering, engaging others and ultimately shaking your booty for it in front of hundreds of other people.  I have the deepest gratitude for everyone with Ecopolis for opening our eyes to another way – different, but effective and engaging all the more – to bringing education and change to the community around us.