Throughout our expedition, we will be able to access coastlines and beaches that infrequently see many human visitors. Let alone a visitor who has the opportunity to visit many of these all over the globe. This unique opportunity will allow us to be able to document the polluted state of many of these coastlines and the effect of this pollution on the people who depend on the ocean for survival.
When we arrive at each of our designated study locations, we will determine the dominant wind direction at the time of year we are present. Then venturing over to the windward side of the island, we perform a basic scientific study to analyze the pollution present on the beach. Over a predetermined study area, we will collect all garbage, refuse and general ocean borne flotsam in order to categorize it by the following characteristics:
· What type of garbage?
· What is the piece constructed mainly from?
· Where was it manufactured?
· Where does it originate?
· How long has it been in the ocean?
In terms of the length of time the refuse has been in the ocean, we will only be able to judge by surface degradation. However, we plan to align ourselves with professionals in this field to be able to draw upon their experience in this regard. This will allow us to achieve a far high accuracy in our estimations.
Once we have collected all this data and have summarized our findings, we will be adding a pointer on our expedition map. This pointer will allow viewers to get a global idea of the pollution. Each point will include the following information:
– Name
– Latitude and Longitude of study locale
– Dominant wind direction
– Pictures of the study beach, local population and relevant cultural activities.
Our hope is to align ourselves with teachers and other educators to bring awareness to this growing pollution database and create a tool for them to educate others to their own impact in terms of ocean pollution. We are always looking for people to help us further this project and appreciate anybody contacting us with information and advice about how to refine our study.
Click here to see our completed studies.