Global Trashing.

I notice that a lot of people talk about global warming this, global warming that. What should be talked about much more than global warming, which is hotly debated, but the issue of what I call "global trashing." Every time a piece of trash is thrown onto the side of the road, it could be ingested by a foraging animal, rain could wash it into our water source and further contaminate our water system, or it could just sit there and make our world look ugly. People say "oh, it's okay, I only litter once in a while", but, surprise, surprise, it is most definitely not okay. Every time you leave a plastic bag around, it makes a roundabout journey, sometimes flying through the air, sometimes floating in a river, into our oceans. Have you heard of the garbage patch? Now, "garbage patch" brings up the mental image of a pseudo-island made of trash. Instead, it is a "gyre", which means it is a place, one in each oceans, where all the currents converge and all the trash gathers in a central location. This resemble a soup, about 3 feet deep, of floating plastic garbage. The largest in width is the Northern Pacific Gyre, which has been described as taking up twice as many square miles as Texas. This is just not okay. I mean think of that, twice as large as Texas, and three feet deep. There is a 6 to 1 ratio of trash to life in these areas. SIX TO ONE. Do you know what that ratio should be? ZERO. There should be no trash in the ocean. This is what is killing our oceans, and we have to stop it. So, stop littering, stop carelessness, and be earth-aware.  

Washed Ashore

This summer I have been given the opportunity to work as a volunteer "explainer" for a spectacular, but sad, art exhibit called Washed Ashore by artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi. This beautiful set of 15 sculptures (and a photo-mosaic) is being held at the Sausalito/Marin Headlands area-based Marine Mammal Center. The Center is the world's largest marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation hospital, serving 600+ miles of California coastline, and receiving an average of 600-800 rescue patients per year. From June 25-October 15 of 2011, they are holding this wonderful exhibit made entirely of trash that washed up on 60 miles of Oregon beach. (40 miles of that 60 were completely cleared of trash-- score!) This compilation of trash sculptures is meant to, and does, inform us of how lacking our care of our oceans is.
Keep our oceans blue-- recycle and DO NOT LITTER.
For more information, check out the links below.


Links:
Official Washed Ashore website: http://www.washedashore.org/
Angela Pozzi's website: http://www.seathingsart.com/galleries.html
Marine Mammal Center: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/