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

 For those that know Burning Man, our excitement over bringing JUNK will make complete sense. 50 some thousand do-ers and dreamers from around the world – scientists, engineers, filmmakers, artists, musicians, CEOs of companies, fire dancers, yogis, lawyers, designers, movers, shakers (you get my drift?) – make the annual pilgrimage to this austere, strangely beautiful lunarscape of cracked earth and lips, to recharge, connect, and collaborate. And dance their glasses off. And watch a bunch of stuff burn.

For those who are new to Burning Man: first, know that it’s impossible to describe. Or even adequately photograph. Try to imagine 50,000 people creating a temporary city in the desert, a city where no idea, personality, garb, or project is too wild, too out of the box. Imagine ultimate freedom for 6-10 days. Inhibitions and self-consciousness evaporate in the 100 plus degree heat. Guiding principles include random gifting, radical self reliance, leave no trace, radical self expression, participation, civic responsibility. Workshops, speakers, classes, cafes, dance parties, dinner parties, and cuddle puddles run 24-7. Imagine Waterworld meets Mad Max meets Woodstock on Mars, lit up at night like a technicolor LED cartoonland. And then imagine having more fun than you think should be allowed.

Where else on earth can you discuss plasma gassification and waste-to-energy concepts with a cupcake?



Okay, it really is impossible to explain. I’ll just stick with how we got there.

Bringing JUNKraft to Burning Man has been a dream for the last 2 years. This year, thanks to the incredibly generous help from our supporters through Kickstarter, the dream became a slow trailer tow towards the playa. Joel Paschal, Marcus’s co-navigator on JUNK’s virgin sail across the North Pacific Gyre, came over from Honolulu, helping unload and reload JUNK for the umpteenth time.

It took us 2 ½ months to build JUNK in 2008. It took Marcus and Joel 3 months to slowly drift towards Hawaii, skirting 3 hurricanes and tightening belts when supplies inevitably ran low. And it took us roughly 3 hours to set her up in the playa, loosely tying the foolproof lashings that Joel learned from a book on building traditional Polynesian canoes.




From the moment we began unloading, JUNK was met with incredulity, awe, and respect. “You guys did WHAT?? You mean you really sailed thing to HAWAII?” Most people thought it was simply a statement on waste. To hear that it was a more or less functional boat that dared the 2600 mile crossing with no motor and no support boat, immediately commanded peoples attention.

Which is precisely why we came. To share our message about plastic pollution with every single passerbyer, showing them through our surface samples from all 5 Gyres that the world's oceans are trashed with plastic. To explain that these oceans can't be "cleaned" of plastic, but that real solutions need to happen on land, through personal responsibility, legislation, local campaigns, demanding better products from companies, and through spreading the word. And sure, we also came to have some fun, check out the artwork, and meet up with friends - old and new. Below, with Filmmaker Chris Paine (Who Killed The Electric Car?)...



...and Marina De Bris, our friend/artist/designer who staged a fashion show atop JUNK, with her trash outfits made entirely from waste she's pulled from local rivers and beaches. Below, Marcus and I posing as "Ballona Man" and "Cuidado".




Artwork is a major part of Burning Man. Huge, towering structures like the Otic Oasis, Gregg Fleishman's stunning meditation center/architectural masterpiece (pictured below in the center) built entirely out of wood without a single nail, screw or bolt....





Flashmob-esque projects like the Billion Jellyfish Bloom, a hauntingly beautiful art performance piece that undulates its way through the night, inviting people to interact and engage...




And engineering marvels like Charon, Peter Hudson's latest, a "3-d stroboscopic zoetrope commemorating one of the great rites of human passage". Powered entirely by people pulling on long ropes, the series of skeletons paddling towards Hades become animated when the speed matches a strobe light. Chilling, and from a design perspective, genius.



To add our own artistic touch, Ben Lear, a singer/songwriter who sailed the South Pacific with us last spring, came out from New York to perform his folk opera Lillian on top of JUNK. Wearing a wetsuit strung with LED’s, Ben was a spectacle, drawing people towards the raft like a male siren.

In total at Burning Man there were 10 people involved with JUNK or 5 Gyres: our own Leslie Moyer, who has sailed 3 Gyres with us, her dashing beau Toby Salz, who sailed the South Pacific and has helped us with fundraising, Bill Bowles, a filmmaker who also sailed the South Pacific, and shot some Burning Man footage for a short piece, Joel, who sailed the North Atlantic with us, Nicole Chatterson, who sailed the North Pacific, and helped build JUNKraft, Ben Lear; Marcus and I, and then a complete surprise - our Kiwi first mate Dale Selvam, who appeared in a cloud of dust, tearing around the playa like a madman on his bicycle.

Burning Man is not without its issues. Thousands of people towing heavy pieces in trailers, burning tremendous amounts of petroleum, bringing STUFF, generating WASTE – this is of course the down side to any massive festival. But the inspiration, creativity, energy, and sheer madness of the place transcended our expectations. We're already planning the next installation: JUNKraft on wheels, towed by a fleet of bicycles. For now, still wiping the playa dust out of our ears and noses, and trying to hold onto just a bit of the Black Rock Glow.