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

(All photos courtesy of 5 Gyres friend and colleague, Benjamin Kay)

Remember these photos the next time the plastic bag and film industry tells you that High Density Polyethylene isn't a big litter problem.  Pictured above is educator, surfer and advocate, Ben Kay, after a surf session at Bay Street in Santa Monica. Sitting in the ocean, this plastic garbage just floats by, and Ben cleans what he can, stuffing plastic bags and films into his wetsuit.

When did we as a society say, 'ahhh, you know what? This isn't that big a deal. Seriously dude, let's worry about bigger things, not a little bit of garbage in the ocean.'  Breaks my heart!  As a communications guy for 5G, I like pictures like these (well, actually I hate them, but you get the point) because these images demonstrate the scale and the scope of plastic pollution in our world's oceans. This is all collected by ONE FREAKING GUY, just hanging out, NOT ON THE BEACH, but IN THE WATER, stuffing garbage down his wetsuit during a surf session. Think about all the crap that floated by without Ben seeing it. Do we need to start lobbying wetsuit manufacturers to build trash pockets into their suits?

Think about it.  One guy bobbing in the ocean. And this much crap is present.  Again, how did this get to be okay? When did we say, 'No worries big business with a 124 million dollar annual lobby, keep making this stuff and we don't have a problem because you pledge to capture a whopping 1% of it in the waste stream, and also pledge to make donations to politicians so they protect your bottom line. No big deal that this is in our ocean--  plastic pollution is just a necessary evil, get over it, hippie.

What's even worse?  This is the dry season in LA county--  the storm drains haven't even flushed yet. 

What is the ocean worth to you?  Time for a sea chance in environmental empathy. If you're not outraged, you're probably double bagging your Fiji Water in plastic bags. Yikes. 

Want to help us fight this problem, but don't have any cash to donate? Just like Electrolux Appliances on Facebook, and one click equals one euro in the bank for 5G.