Earlier this spring, Santa Monica residents and staff members from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) could be found daily outside the Long Beach Aquarium building “JUNK,†a raft made out of 15,000 plastic bottles, a Cessna 310 fuselage, 20 sailboat masts and 5,000 plastic bags woven into rope.
Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal can now be found onboard their recycled creation in the middle of the Pacific as they make way for Hawaii on an epic voyage to raise awareness about plastic ‘junk’ fouling our oceans.
Santa Monica native Anna Cummins, founder of Bring Your Own (and Eriksen’s fiancée), is in contact almost daily, charting their progress and updating the group’s blog with photos and video clips sent from the heart of the gyre.
You may know it as the infamous “Pacific Garbage Patch,†that mysterious ‘island’ of trash that is twice the size of Texas, and they want you to know the truth.
The truth, of course, is that although there is no ‘garbage island,’ the ocean is full of floating plastic debris. Not all of it is near the surface, and the central gyre – where ocean currents converge in a powerful, high pressure zone that traps debris indefinitely – is so vast that the problem is hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
Yet it is a problem. In the 10 years since the AMRF began studying pelagic plastics in the Pacific, the amount of debris has increased exponentially and is still on the rise. Most of it comes from land-based sources (think watersheds, rivers and storm drains). In Los Angeles alone, an estimated 10,000 pounds of plastics find their way to the ocean every day. But unlike marine debris in the past, today’s plastics do not biodegrade.
As a Gulf War veteran, Dr. Eriksen has firsthand experience regarding the true cost of petroleum-based plastics. “We are trading young lives for access to cheap oil, and we’re destroying our marine ecosystems with throwaway plastic products. This is both morally and ecologically wrong. The age of disposable plastics must end now,†he said.
He hopes that this unusual, ambitious journey will get people talking about solutions. “We see this voyage as a risk worth taking, to push the idea of statewide action to end the disposable plastics plague.â€
Not surprisingly, Santa Monica is leading the way on the disposables front. Last year, the City Council voted unanimously to ban non-recyclable food containers (such as Styrofoam), and under discussion is the ubiquitous plastic bag. The Council recently voted to draft an ordinance that would ban plastic bags and tax paper bags, a move clearly intended to nudge consumers towards reusables. At the forefront of it all, local non-profit Heal The Bay has been spearheading city and statewide efforts to introduce legislation that would reduce consumption of single-use plastics.
However, consumers need not wait for legislation to make a difference. As Cummins’ organization, Bring Your Own, suggests, each of us can take responsibility through simple, daily behavior changes – bringing reusable cups, bags, napkins, water bottles and the like to replace unnecessary disposables.
JUNK is now weeks into its voyage to Hawaii, anticipating a mid-late August arrival. In the meantime, you can track its progress, ask questions, and send your support at www.junkraft.com
