Plastic Beach Project Teams up with Local School (Loads of Photos Inside)

At the beginning of the fall 2013 school year I was determined to get into the local schools of South Eleuthera to get students involved with my plastic research. As faith would have it I ran into the Geography teacher from the Preston H. Albury High School (shout out to Mrs. Joanna Parker) who was interested in conducting a comparative study between beaches for the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) coursework, which is a national exam all Bahamian high school seniors are required to take.  I briefly informed her of The Plastic Beach Project and our methodology. After that the rest was history.

During the month of October 2013 I had the pleasure of visiting the high school to deliver my plastic pollution presentation, which was a hit with all of the students from grades 10-12. They were blown away and had no idea how much plastic had a negative effect on the environment and their health. After wrapping up the talk I went into the study design for their course work and began to plan our field day. Initially 12-15 senior students who would be sitting the geography exam were supposed to visit the beach to collect data. The following day we went to the school to transport students to the beach and 32 yes 32 students from grades 10-12 showed up. It was INCREDIBLE!!  Even parents came out to support!! Due to our unexpected influx of students we had to take an additional two vehicles to our study sites.

The students surveyed two beaches in South Eleuthera: Airport Beach and Winding Bay Beach, and compared how debris levels varied between beaches. This was the largest amount of volunteers I had ever had on a beach. It worked out perfectly-8 students per transect. The educational programs team from the Cape Eleuthera Institute assisted in this venture and helped to make it a success. Students were impacted by the amount of debris discovered on the beaches and were excited to conduct more surveys! Once we returned to campus the students asked “So when are we going to another beach?’ It was so amazing to get local students conducting practical scientific research and it served as a credited assignment. On that beautiful October day we welcomed 32 young Bahamian marine scientists to the field, it was a beautiful feeling!

Photo Credit: Liam McAlpin and Kenzie Harpst

Launching The Bahamas Plastic Beach Project (Photos Inside)

The Bahamas Plastic Beach Project was launched in March 2013 at the Cape Eleuthera Institute by Kristal Ambrose to conduct research and compare plastic pollution data from local beaches on South Eleuthera, Bahamas. This project aims to better understand quantities of plastic pollution found on Bahamian beaches. Data gathered will be useful in comparing types and quantities of plastic debris between beaches, or at a single beach overtime. Since the inception of the project
we have successfully surveyed 16 beaches across South Eleuthera, Bahamas, twice between March 2013-November 2013.

To date the plastic research team at has successfully established a citizen science based research project geared around plastic pollution. Thus far we have welcomed over 350 volunteers from schools across South Eleuthera, Nassau and The United States. This has allowed relevant research to be conducted with minimal funding effort while maximizing outreach efforts simultaneously.

Hold on....so How do you do beach surveys again?? (Photos Inside)

Who knew surveying a beach for debris could be so complicated! Well it is when you don't know what the hell your doing!! Thank goodness for Carolynn Box, my former crew mate and Environmental Coordinator at 5 Gyres. She is responsible for successfully launching the Plastic Beach project throughout Marin County in California. When we first started The Plastic Beach Project it was quite the ordeal as we didn't have the proper equipment and

I was having some troubles understanding the proper execution of the methods. After hours of skype calls with Carolynn, which consisted of several drawings to aid in my understanding, I got it! In the words of Drake- "We started from the bottom, now we here" Lol That's a pretty new age quote, I'll go with it. I'm proud of the leaps and bounds we've made since launching this project but I can't ever forget where we started from. These photos below are from our "trial", "trial" trial survey, as we had several trial runs until we perfected our technique. FYI this survey was not performed correctly lol.

Plastic Pioneers Plunge into Plastic Art and Fun (Loads of Photos Inside)

In the Fall of 2012 things started to take off for the plastic team at the Island School (IS) and the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI). During that time my primary focus was to maintain our aquaponics system and assist with teaching a marine research class. Luckily I was fortunate to have my feet in several different pools including the art and human ecology classes at the Island School. For the art class I would take all of the students to the beach to do a beach sweep. This activity allowed the students to witness the first hand effects of our dependence on plastic products and also provided the medium for their art projects where they either had to create an activist or up-cycled piece from plastic they collected. Both classes provided me the opportunity to enlighten the entire IS student
body about plastic pollution and inspired them to raise awareness of the issue and make changes within the local school community. Since then this has been a staple within the IS curriculum as I deliver my plastic lecture every semester in addition to continuing to help with the art and human ecology classes.

So if I had to recount the fall of 2012 via the plastic related things we did I would have to say: mini museum, plastic talk, cotton bay beach, beach sweeps, plastic art, plastic jewelry, plastic and human health awareness, plastic p.s.a videos, FUN!! Honorable mentions to everyone that was a part of the movement in the Fall of 2012 especially the Island School Fall 12 semester (so much love for that group), Nadine Lloyd, Serena Galleshaw and all teachers and interns involved.

Panoramic Photo Creds: Maria White

And so it began........(Loads of Photos Inside)

Boy life started moving fast after that trip! For six whole years my career had been centered around marine biology and fisheries work, but all of a sudden I was getting sucked into this waste portal. Plastic this! plastic that! Lord knows I tried to fight it! I was scared that my love for being in the water and studying fish and coral reefs would be taken away, but the more I learned about this issue the more I wanted to create change. It was a blessing in disguise, I'd finally found the direction for my career in marine pollution of all things.

A few months after I returned from the trip I got a call from the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), a well established NGO that focuses on protecting the marine and terrestrial environment of The Bahamas. They wanted me to be the keystone speaker at one of their public meetings.  For years I had been going to the trust meetings
to listen to scientists present their research. I used to sit eagerly in the front row, waiting for my mind to be blown by doctor's and masters of marine science as they relayed their scientific work and findings to the audience. It never crossed my mind that one day I would be up on the exact same podium delivering my message to a local audience. And so it began... I was given a platform to educate the general public about plastic pollution and my goals for creating a plastic free Bahamas. The crowd was receptive and had loads of questions regarding my topic. This was the first of many talks for me and it would not have been possible if it weren't for those amazing folks over at the BNT who believed in me and set the whole thing up. Check out some photos from my talk circa September 2012 below: (photo cred: BNT)

So What Happened After The Trip??

Within the first week of the expedition I was ready to go home!! I was seasick for the first five days, I was hot, I was irritable and I just couldn't comprehend why people wanted to study garbage (of course it was the sea sickness that caused this perceptual narrowing). We were 3000 miles from land, hadn't seen any other vessels or signs of human life except for trails of waste! It was everywhere. Trash! Plastic bottles, caps, nets, buoys, toys, toothbrushes, food wrappers, you name it, it was all there- things that were a apart of my life. "oh these ships should stop throwing their dump overboard", "humans are so nasty", "who does all of this waste belong too?" These are all statements that I made until I realized that all of that waste belonged to me. I was a consumer, I was unaware of the consequences of my plastic dependent lifestyle, I was PLASTIC POSITIVE.

After countless hours of travelling, my plane landed back in The Bahamas. My feet touched that sweet island soil and I felt like a Plastic Warrior! I was gonna change the mindset of Bahamians, everyone was going to be plastic free by the end of the year, of course this is what I'm screaming on the inside. It was gonna be me, the one that was going to set the country straight until I realized that the blind would be leading the blind. Once I got back to my apartment it hit me like a ton of bricks, I was such a hypocrite!! How could I point the finger at persons who used plastic when I used more plastic than anyone I knew. There were stacks and stacks of plastic bags under my sink, styrofoam plates and plastic untensils in the cupboard, take away containers in the refrigerator and a handful of straws that I ummmm "borrowed" from the local grocer. I was addicted to plastic and I didn't even know it. It had been a silent part of my culture for such a long time that I failed to realize it.

Since June 2012 my life has changed for the better as I grew more conscious of my plastic use and the negative effects it had on my body and the natural environment. No longer do I depend on single use items like straws, plastic bags, trash bags, styrofoam containers, floss pickers, bottled soda/water or plastic cups. I've learned to say NO THANK YOU! and you can too. So this is where the change began, but trust me it's not ending here. Buckle up and re-fasten those seat belts because we are about to catapult into The Bahamas Plastic Movement!

More of Japan- Photo Journal (Loads of Photos Inside)

Photos from the TRASHION Show by artist Marina Debris (http://www.washedup.us/) and Plastics Conference at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT). Who knew there were so many scientists studying plastic pollution. It was such a great conference, I learned so much and was inspired to do some great things.