plastic

Plastic bags are the poster child for mass one-use consumption. Because they are not easily recyclable, they make us more guilty than PET bottles, grocery containers and other items produced to have a very short lifetime. Bag ban legislation—successful and not—has been sparked in cities and states across the country,… Read the rest

The Sea Dragon safely sailed into Aratiu Harbor in Raratonga, South Cook Islands on Saturday May 14th. Greeted by the customs and immigrations officers and Scuba Steve, the owner and founder of Pacific Divers and Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative who we will be working with for the next 14 days,… Read the rest

The winner of this week’s Chaco Waves for Change Art Contest is Krissy Halkes, who submitted this plastic installation, “Tasteless.” Here’s how Krissy described her plastic-inspired piece of art:
Trying to come up with an idea for this contest i thought about the jar of plastic caps that sits on … Read the rest

The winner of this week’s Chaco Waves for Change Art Contest is Marina DeBris, who submitted this image of a family viewing a plastic-filled aquarium. Here’s what Marina had to say about her artistic depiction of our world’s addiction to single-use plastic:
This photo montage titled “Aquarium of the Pacific … Read the rest

What with the tragic environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and a ridiculous amount of plastic and garbage floating around in the ocean, it’s about time the water of the world fought back. Here are videos of the ocean taking a stand against its undeserving victims: surfers.
From Linda:… Read the rest

Australian filmmaker and environmentalist Richard Pain has announced that he will attempt to swim across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the United States, directly through the North Pacific Gyre, in a gigantic plastic bottle.
If successful, Pain would be the first swimmer in history to complete the 5,500-mile journey.… Read the rest

From the current Watershed installation in New York City:

1500 is the number of plastic water bottles consumed in 1 second in the US

That’s not bad enough for you? Consider this:

17 million barrels of oil are used in producing bottled water each year… Read the rest

What’s your impact?

This week we tackle the issue of helping a coworker lead a more conscious lifestyle. Dear Sex and the Woods, I’ve got this pretty cool co-worker. He’s fun around the office, ultra reliable and competent (unlike pretty much everyone else I work with). However he just doesn’t get the whole I-should-care-about-the-environment thing. Well he cares, he just doesn’t DO anything about the fact that he cares. Like he brings bottled water to work everyday. How can I get him to start manning up and ditch the wastefulness?

Despite our grounded stance against one-time-use plastic containers, we have to face the facts — plastic is everywhere, so we better recycle or reuse it as much as possible. The good thing is, we aren’t the only people who believe this. Take Spanish designer Oscar Diaz as a prime example… Read the rest

Apparently, people have been getting a bit too rowdy in UK pubs, which is why the Home Office is commissioning a new pint glass design — one that is entirely plastic. The motivation behind the switch from traditional glass to plastic is that it would eliminate the ability for people… Read the rest

Cool art project, great cause! A much better use for plastic than putting it in a landfill or having it end up in the ocean.
Even our good friends Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins of JUNKRide got to hop on:… Read the rest

We talk a lot about the effects of pollution, but often it’s better to get the full visual of our environmental impact, so we’re bringing you a few thought provoking photos to start off your Wednesday.

These pictures are from GigaPica, a Dutch site committed to celebrating photojournalism. There are… Read the rest

Just because you’re a lonely environmentalist doesn’t mean you have to be a bored and lonely environmentalist. At least not anymore.
The Earth Angel Wind-Up Vibrator… Read the rest, which is being billed as the “world’s first 100% eco friendly wind-up sex toy,” enables users to get their jollies without any of

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that we’re big on banning plastic bags, and cutting consumption of single-use plastics in general. We also have a lot of respect for artists that use plastics creatively, to not only create something beautiful, but a social message as well.
Katherine… Read the rest

(Portland Mayor Sam Adams with Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen from Algalita Marine Resource Foundation, presenting the mayor with an actual sample from the North Pacific Gyre)
Beyond my duties at Wend, I’m the chair of my local Surfrider Chapter In Portland. We’ve been working on a Ban The Bag… Read the rest