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During my morning beach walk the week of July 4th, I ran into our trusted patrol officer, Steve. No one knows the beach better. He is on the sand most every day 12 months of the year. We had a brief chat and I asked him what he had found on the beach so far. “Balloons and more balloons” he bemoaned. I then asked him how many. His response: “Only about 15,… Read More
In the new Spider-Man Homecoming movie, our spidey hero turns off the “Instant Kill” mode on his suit because he wants to stop harm, not add to it. Unfortunately, however, Spider-Man balloons inspired by the film are now blowing into our oceans and their webs of plastic and string are likely to actually kill. The picture featured in this post was taken this morning on a Martha’s Vineyard beach. Ironically, our family… Read More
Summer is back, but the plastic never left. This weekend, we arrived on Martha’s Vineyard and I went for my first walk of the season on South Beach. At first glance, the beach was totally unspoiled. When I looked closely, however, as usual plastic and balloons were found every few feet (see the picture above). If you Google plastic in the ocean, you will find many disturbing pictures of trash washed up… Read More
If plastic trash keeps growing at the same pace, it will outweigh fish in the ocean. This was the sad projection in a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Ellen MacArthur learned more about the problem first hand during her record breaking solo sailing circumnavigation of the globe in 2005. According to research done by her foundation, most plastic packaging is used only once and much of it then finds its way into the… Read More
The America’s Cup is arguably the most prestigious, glamorous and well-funded ocean event in the world. What an opportunity the Cup has to highlight the importance of keeping our oceans clean. Unfortunately, the America’s Cup blew it by allowing balloons to blow. As we point out at Clean Up Oceans, plastic – and balloons in particular – are one of the largest problems facing our oceans. When we mention this to our… Read More
You can quickly run out of superlatives when talking about whales. They are the largest, loudest, longest-lived and most voracious animals on the planet. In particular, the sperm whale is one of the most magnificent. Sperm whales have the biggest brain of any animal – a massive 18 pounds compared to our human brain of only 3 pounds. At 65 feet long, they are perhaps the largest predators that have ever existed. They… Read More
One of our first blogs on Clean Up Oceans was about at then 19 year old, Boyan Slat (see Innovative Idea post). We were excited about the possibilities that we first learned about in the below video (please take time for quick look – it is truly amazing). Now, less than a year after our first post, we are pleased to learn that this amazing idea has been funded and is scheduled to be… Read More
Let’s talk some serious trash. And, no I am not talkin’ about talkin’ bad, I am talkin’ about doing good. The ocean is key to the health of our planet and trash is one of the ocean’s greatest threats.. Help me in supporting “Talking Trash & Taking Action“, which is an educational partnership between the Ocean Conservancy and the NOAA Marine Debris Program. I will write more about this over the next… Read More
The picture above is what got Preston McSwain and his family to start this blog. It is from the same beach that is in the header for the Clean Up Oceans website. It was taken after just one higher than normal tide. Trash was every few feet. Preston and his children able to fill up a large garbage can bag in just a few mins. and thought, “We can do better!”… Read More