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

 

We’ve been keeping a low profile for the last week and a half. Our Atlantic gyre samples – the lifeblood of our entire expedition, went missing at the airport in Paris, in transit back to LA. To say that we are dumbfounded and devastated is an understatement. We are praying that they turn up, losing them is simply not an option.

Meanwhile, our crew has returned home - to Los Angeles, Portland, Rotterdam, Hawaii, and San Francisco. And the team is growing - Stiv Wilson, Leslie Moyer, and Brennan Novak have officially joined 5 Gyres, bringing much needed skills and direction to the project. Though the tranquil memories of the Azores are blurred by urban traffic and gyre sample woes, a few highlights still stand out:

*Giving a talk at the University of the Azores to a group of marine biology/ESL students. Later that night, we ran into a few students at a local bar, who told us how moved and shocked they were. Though they see plastic covering their beaches, most hadn’t heard about plastic in the food chain.

 
On our way to the talk, we saw this crew in their full aquatic armor. Leslie and I couldn’t resist a photo opp. We call this “5 GUYRES”

*Meeting with Marco Santos, a charismatic, knowledgeable PhD candidate at the University of the Azores. Marco studies threats to sea turtles posed by long lining, and plastic. Sadly, most of our video with him disappeared, but here is a fragment, featuring this juvenile brought to his office – a victim of bycatch.

*Our field trip to the local landfill. Yes, we spend our leisure time visiting dumps.... This garbage graveyard, an open pit filled with trash, stands right on coast, overlooking the Azorian blue.

Plastic bags, toys, shoes, and other detritus spill out over the top, where winds will easily tumble them towards the surf below. We’re now moving full speed ahead, planning upcoming expeditions to the South Atlantic and South Pacific Gyres, including a possible 6-month global plastic expedition. More about this to come soon – meantime, we’re calling on the Gyre gods to return our missing samples immediately....