The ocean is (and all of our water bodies are) the source of creation and home to so much essential life on earth. A few months ago, I was reading Sierra Magazine and was curious about the beautiful, yet haunting artwork on the cover. Looking closely and reading about the piece inside the magazine, I realized that the art relief consisted of discarded plastics culled from the beaches and oceans in artist Pam Longobardi's travels. Longobardi makes art out of plastic - specifically, out of sea-worn trash that she's hauled from beaches worldwide. She transforms the flotsam into powerful pieces of art, this one called "Plastic Looks Back" and she has founded The Drifter's Project to encourage cleanup of the trash from the beaches and oceans. The piercing green eyes in her artwork ask us to think about what we are doing to our world's waters. It is estimated that there are 300,000 tons of plastic in the ocean today. The biggest plastics vortex is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch but the Atlantic and Indian Oceans also have trash vortexes. Even shipping routes in smaller bodies of water, such as the North Sea, are developing garbage patches.
The good news is there is a growing awareness that we must do something to reverse the trend of thoughtless discarded waste. The same issue of Sierra Magazine highlights schools and universities from coast to coast with innovative programs, courses and infrastructure to heal the planet.
Little children like my grandchildren are also talking about picking up trash that they see discarded and recycling and reusing. I love seeing how important they think that it is because they are the future. In my next book, At the Beach, Lae Lae and her friend Timmy take a trip to the beach and, while they enjoy playing in the ocean, they also learn about recycling and cleaning the beach.
Submitted by Laurenn (Mimi)
The good news is there is a growing awareness that we must do something to reverse the trend of thoughtless discarded waste. The same issue of Sierra Magazine highlights schools and universities from coast to coast with innovative programs, courses and infrastructure to heal the planet.
Little children like my grandchildren are also talking about picking up trash that they see discarded and recycling and reusing. I love seeing how important they think that it is because they are the future. In my next book, At the Beach, Lae Lae and her friend Timmy take a trip to the beach and, while they enjoy playing in the ocean, they also learn about recycling and cleaning the beach.
Submitted by Laurenn (Mimi)
RSS Feed