With six times more plastic than plankton, they think it smells like dinner. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has become a deadly illusion for seabirds whose survival depends on their ability to find food in the vast ocean. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre covers an area larger than Texas, swirling in a slow-motion whirlpool that…
Scientists just named the stomach scarring that’s killing our seabirds worldwide. The disease is called plasticosis, and it represents a milestone we never wanted to reach in the plastic pollution crisis. Researchers studying Flesh-footed Shearwaters on Lord Howe Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site 360 miles off the coast of Australia, discovered something alarming. These…
The story of ALBATROSS unfolds through a deeply personal journey that began in 2008 when director Chris Jordan teamed up with photographer Manuel Maqueda to investigate ocean plastic pollution. Their first trip in 2009 to Midway Atoll revealed a haunting scene: countless dead albatross chicks whose stomachs were filled with trash. This brutal discovery shattered…
Trash Free Waters (TFW) is a program developed by EPA with the purpose to educate, raise awareness, and encourage trash reduction in oceans and coasts. The public participants in the program include state and municipal governments, NGOs and business. https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/flow-trash-free-waters-newsletter https://blog.epa.gov/blog/?s=trash+free+waters https://www3.epa.gov/region9/marine-debris/zerotrash.html
Plastic Ocean is a pivotal work co-authored by Captain Charles Moore and Cassandra Phillips, first published in 2011. It chronicles Moore’s groundbreaking discovery in 1997 of the vast plastic accumulation in the North Pacific Gyre, an area now commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The book delves into Moore’s subsequent expeditions aboard his…
S.E.A. Change – Science. Education. Activism. We have led the effort to research aquatic plastic pollution and to find solutions for regaining a plastic-free ocean. Our mission is to empower people to become leaders in combating the global health crisis of plastic pollution. http://www.5gyres.org/
Algalita is a pioneering environmental nonprofit that’s been at the forefront of the fight against plastic pollution for nearly three decades. They were the first to uncover and publicize the massive accumulation of plastic in the Pacific Ocean—what’s now widely called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Since that discovery, they’ve focused on reshaping how the…
The site offers a free, five‑lesson classroom curriculum titled Winged Ambassadors: Ocean Literacy Through the Eyes of Albatross, developed in partnership with NOAA, Oikonos, and other agencies. Aimed primarily at grades 6–8 (with extensions for 9–12), the lessons use real albatross migration data, artist-scientist works, and National Geographic bolus (regurgitated food mass) imagery to explore…
The Problem With Marine Debris Marine debris is defined as “any manufactured or processed solid waste material that enters the marine environment from any source.” Debris is everywhere—found around every major body of water on the planet, and below water as well. Marine debris is a global pollution problem that impacts human health and safety,…
