Help Clean the Ocean and Coastlines

4Ocean

Today we want to show you how much plastic is swimming in the ocean and how ugly and unclean the coastlines are. We’re going to tell you what a single person can do to help clean the ocean.

We noticed an advertisement on Instagram of some bracelets made out of collected trash. This has aroused our interest, so we started searching about these special bracelets. Our research has revealed that there is an organization called “4Ocean”, which removes one pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines if you buy a 4Ocean bracelet.

Bracelets made out of collected trash

This image video was made by 4Ocean and uploaded on vimeo.com

“The story of the organization “4Ocean” begins when Alex and Andrew take surf trip to Bali Indonesia that would inevitably change their lives and the fate of the ocean. Devastated by the amount of plastic in the ocean, they set out to find out why no one was doing anything about it.

One afternoon they came across an old fishing village where fishermen were literally pushing their boat through piles of plastic that had washed up on shore. The two surfers realized that the proliferation of plastic threatened both the ocean environment and the fishermen’s livelihood. Could the fishermen use their nets, they wondered, to pull the plastic from the ocean? This idea stuck with the 2 surfers and they knew it was time to hit the drawing board. After realizing that the demand for seafood was driving the fishermen to focus on fish instead of plastic, they knew they had to create something that could fund the desired cleanup efforts. This is how the 4ocean Bracelet was born. Made from recycled materials, every bracelet purchased funds the removal of 1 pound (=0.45 Kg) of trash from the ocean and coastlines. In less than 2 years, 4ocean has removed 1.256.250 pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines.

4Ocean currently operates out of multiple countries as the United States, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey, and much more and employs over 150 people worldwide. 4Ocean is based in Boca Raton, FL, USA.” [1]

We noticed an advertisement on Instagram of some bracelets made out of collected trash.

Interview

We contacted a few people and asked them a few questions about microplastics, but we only received one answer in time. The answer is from Dr. Montserrat Filella (unige.ch), she is a teacher at the University in Geneva. She also does research on physio-chemical processes regulating the behavior of chemical components in environmental and biological compartments, mainly by combining computer modelling with field and laboratory measurements.

Here you can see our questions and her answers:

How is microplastics formed?

Like all plastics, microplastics are man-made. There are 3 types. The first one produces small plastic, which in this form is used directly in products (for example in cosmetic products). The second type is caused by reduction (for example, in the sea) of larger pieces of plastic. The last type produces fibers (microplastics) from textiles.

How does microplastics affect our health?

The exact effects on human health are still unknown today.

What can we do to clean up the pollution and stop further pollution?

The current pollution can not be reversed, in the current state of research. On the other hand, care can be taken to generally use less plastic and then dispose of it more carefully.

What would happen if we did not change our behavior and the ocean pollution would increase?

Since the exact effects of microplastics are still unknown, this question is difficult to answer. However, it is certain that the additional contaminants will surely add up to the existing contaminants, which will greatly increase the potential impact of microplastics.

Self-made video

We made a video slide show about what you can do to help clean the ocean. Have fun watching it.

Reflection

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get much information from organizations and experts. We contacted at least 5 organizations (Ocean Care, 4Ocean, Stoppp, The Ocean Clean Up, plastic pollution coalition and Clear Blue Sea) and only 1 organization answered in time (Ocean Care, they are included in our video). We contacted people from universities to hear what they think about microplastics and the future of the plastic pollution, but they didn’t react to our phone calls and only one person took time to answer our email. It is difficult to communicate when we don’t get any answers. Since we tried to communicate with people and organizations from all over Switzerland and all over the world we couldn’t visit them. 4Ocean for example is based in Florida USA. Next time we would choose organizations and people who are easier to reach. So we can do an actual face to face interview. At least we donated some money for 4Ocean and got bracelets in return.

Saskia, Vanessa, Elena

Sources

[1] The 4ocean movement (4ocean.com)
[2] Interview by e-mail with Dr. Montserrat Filella, Université de Genève, Limnology and environmental geology (unige.ch), September 2018

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8 thoughts on “Help Clean the Ocean and Coastlines

  1. The article is a must to read. I found the article’s presentation particularly striking, and the information was also easy to understand.
    It is incredibly important to know about this topic. The ocean is an important part of our planet and we should care for it. This problem will still be a big issue 20 years from now forward.
    The story of the two young men impressed me very much and motivated me, even more, to do something for the environment. Or buy like you did something that comes from plastic from the ocean.
    Finally, thank you for pointing out to me that I need to write to the partners early enough to get a response in time.
    I found the bracelet idea really good. Here I asked myself: Does it really help the environment or is the environment only used as marketing? Sure, you give people a good feeling, because they know that they have done something against pollution and honestly it just looks good.

  2. I like the topic of the article and in my opinion it’s really important to talk about it. Companies like 4Ocean need to be appreciated for the work they do to clean our ocean. The short movie you made is extremely heartwarming and shocking at the same time. It is great to see the commitment of the people, but at the same time it is terrible to see how many plastic is thrown away by people. The bracelets from 4Ocean are really beautiful, I also saw the advertisement on Instagram, as you mentioned in the article.

    In conclusion I really enjoyed reading the article. In my opinion they could’ve write more about the topic. For example to go deeper on how we could change our behavior in our daily life. I understand you situation, it isn’t easy to communicate when organizations don’t answer your mails. But it is obvious, that you’ve tried your best. Overall I still learned about how dramatic plastic is and how serious we should take it. Here I researched a few important points to avoid plastic:

    – carry reusable bags (cotton)
    – “to stay” and not “to go” (example: coffee, pizza)
    – order a drink without the straw – most of the time it is not necessary
    – wear natural clothes, not synthetic

  3. I really loved reading this article! I think it is very important for us to be aware of how much plastic is drifting on the ocean at this very moment. We need to take actions.

    Ps. Those bracelets look beautiful. I might buy one myself!

  4. I liked reading this article a lot because it is a good example for other people who want to help and clean the ocean. Regular people can help and save the ocean as well, you don’t have to be rich to help and these men just proved that. they found a solution to save what they love. I am very interested in the company just because I read this article. It explained really well what they do and why they do it. Maybe I’ll buy a bracelet my self.

  5. I find this article very worth reading. The impressive pictures in the videos prove once again that we humans have to think seriously about our environment. There is an urgent need to save our planet from the plastic mountains.
    I’m still wondering how the organizations fish the plastic out of the sea. Boats are necessary for that. Are they powered by natural energy?
    Apart from this one point, I think such organizations as 4Ocean need to be supported.
    In addition, it would also have been exciting to mention and describe ongoing projects also from other organizations in the article. In the following link a few examples of ongoing projects in the ocean clean-up: https://utopia.de/ratgeber/plastikmuell-im-meer-diese-projekte-tun-was-dagegen/

  6. It was exciting for me to read about the 4Ocean project. I like the fact, that the two young men did not just watch, but also used a good idea to raise money to tackle the problem of the trash problem.
    I understand that it was troublesome for you, because you did not get answers from the different organizations. Maybe you did not have enough time available?
    I think it’s great that you supported the project by buying bracelets yourself.

  7. I enjoyed to read this article as it isn’t as scientific as a lot of the rest, it still had a lot of facts, I also think that the polluted oceans are a terrible thing. You make me think about buying a bracelet myself maybe… How many braclets did you buy? And are there other people you could convince of buying a bracelet?

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