What specific event or experience triggered your passion and interest to get involved with the plastic pollution problem?
In 2001, still a graduate student studying Environmental Policy, I heard a lecture by Captain Charles Moore about the North Pacific Gyre. I was profoundly affected, and felt an impulse to get involved. I joined the Captain in 2004 on a research trip to Guadalupe Island, where I saw first hand how our plastic pollution affects Laysan Albatross. All of the stomach samples we collected contained alarming amounts of plastic – toxic materials they were feeding to their chicks. This was a pivotal experience for me, and inspired my lifelong passion for this issue. I started a blog in 2005 to explore my fascination with the disposables dilemma. And in 2008, I joined a research trip across the North Pacific Gyre. On board the 4,000 mile journey from Hawaii to Los Angeles, we documented plastic entering the food chain – hundreds of the lantern fish we collected had plastic fragments in their stomachs. On that same expedition, Dr. Marcus Eriksen (Director of Research) fashioned a small, blue ring out of discarded fishing nets, and proposed. Marcus had been motivated to take action after serving as a Marine in the First Gulf War, seeing first hand the price we pay for our addition to foreign oil, and making the connection to pollution from fossil fuel-based products.
We immediately set to work building a raft from 15,000 plastic bottles called JUNKraft, which Marcus and Joel Paschal sailed through the Gyre to Hawaii to raise awareness. This project brought new eyes and ears to the issue, and new questions – the one we heard most often was “what about the other gyres?”
So in 2009, we began the 5 Gyres Institute, with a mission to document plastic pollution globally, and leverage our scientific findings to drive advocacy on land. We feel strongly that good science, coupled with an engaged citizenry, can help to drive upstream solutions and inspire better policies and corporate responsibility.
Anna Cummins
Executive Director
The 5 Gyres Institute
"MORE OCEAN. LESS PLASTIC."
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