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

Sometimes I take it for granted that most people have heard about plastic in the oceans, particularly in the famed “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. But then again, I live in California, home to tons of media about bag bans, bag monsters, plastic bottle boats, and general awareness raising campaigns about the plastic plague.

So when Sunnye Collins from the New England Aquarium invited me out to Boston to kick off their fall lecture series, I jumped at the chance. We met Sunnye last year over Ethiopian food in Cape Town, after sailing across the South Atlantic Gyre – one of our more tumultuous, nausea-inducing crossings. Seeing evidence of plastic in the overwhelming majority of our surface samples certainly didn’t help. Sunnye has long been a plastic crusader, with her own blog, and avidly followed our JUNKraft blog during her maiden voyage in 2008.

Clearly the topic resonated in Boston. Had the chance to speak to a full house, including a group of high school students who lingered afterward to ask questions, wondering how to approach their local city councils on a bag ban, and asking if they might someday join us at sea. A link to the full lecture here.

Then a quick hop over to DC, where Professor Chris Palmer invited me to his lecture series at American University. Anyone who meets Chris – most of the marine conservation world – is instantly touched by his boundless energy, radiating enthusiasm, and humor. Acclaimed author, filmmaker, speaker, and even a stand up comic, Chris is also the President of Macgillivray Freeman Film’s One World One Oceans campaign, an ambitious 5 year project to engage new audiences around the world in ocean conservation.

Clearly some of this has rubbed off on his students as well, who gathered around after my talk to introduce themselves, offer their insight, and ask about seats on our next expedition. Several students shared that this was their first exposure to the issue. While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, it’s a great reminder of how important outreach can be. In the works for 5 Gyres is a bigger East Coast Solutions Tour, "The Last Straw", to bring our traveling exhibit to Aquariums and science centers from Maine to Florida. The exhibit includes 3 kiosks on plastic pollution made from doors we found at salvage yards in New Orleans – remnants from Hurricane Katrina. Our hope with this tour is to expose thousands of new East Coasters to the plastics issue, and leave people with realistic, every day solutions. Look out for more on this soon!