I’ve been following some of the great articles following the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  I think those posts, such as the one in the Huffington Post by my new friend Deborah Basset, cover what needs to be summarized about the issues.  I want to write about something else.

As I told you, I went to the event totally last minute.  My role was roughly sketched out to help with Tweeting.  Well, as Beth Terry (Fake Plastic Fish) and I sat down by the stage, they told us to turn off our electronics.

Beth sending the last desperate Tweet to her readers from inside saying..."can't Tweet"

I fled and left Beth in there to be “present”, and headed backstage.  Well, backstage is where 1/2 of the action was, so while I missed the presentations in person and will have to dedicate another whole day to watching them again, I got to talk to a lot of cool people.  I wanted to mention a few of my faves.

Chris Jordan and his wife Victoria are awesome.  They are such lovely people; the kind that you feel at home with right away.  They have both been to Midway and continue to bring us visuals that illustrate the gravity and enormity of the problem in ways that we “get”.  Their work comes from a very real place, and arguably they fall into the group of anti-plastic people with the most heart.  One of Chris’ slides was this:

Chris Jordan Photography www.chrisjordan.com

Another person with a lot of heart is Wallace “J” Nichols, a very likable and admirable turtle guy.  He always gets to me when he talks about his turtles, recently in rescue efforts during the Gulf spill.  For me, J brings out a lot of humanity in all this nonsense.  Love, is what comes to mind.

Wallace J Nichols and Deborah Bassett with their blue marbles

My good friend Manuel, co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, is another one that gets it.  He often talks about plastic pollution as a symptom of the present human affliction.  Here is Manuel Tweeting tirelessly at the event, trying to capture as many sound bites as possible.  His dedication is something to aspire to.

Manuel of the PPC

Jan Vozenilek is another jem.  Jan chose his profession, “carefully”, in his words, because he liked to be behind the lenses of his cameras.  However, Jan found his voice after Midway, and now gives extremely touching presentations on his experiences.  I went to one, and although I know all the stuff from before, it still got to me through Jan’s honesty.  To his presentations, he carries around these pieces of plastic, all found inside baby albatrosses.  Imagine if every guy was like that?!

Baby albatross plastic

And this sample of beach sand:

The list of good people at TEDx goes on, like my heroes Captain Moore, Sylvia Earle, Alrene Blum, Ken Cook, and total eco-hotties Fabien Cousteau and David de Rothschild.   Look up every one of those people and find out the amazing things they are trying to do to better our planet.

Captain Moore

Arlene Blum

Sylvia Earle (photo by Jan Vozenilek)

Fabien Cousteau and ? (but she looks familiar) (Photo by Jan Vozenilek)

Ken Cook

Fabien Cousteau, David de Rothschild, and Manuel Maqueda

And then there was this little girl, who had the most heart-warming talk.  She said, shifting around shyly on stage, “There are many solutions.  Like, you can bring your own bag.”  Charlotte, you are smarter than a lot of other people in this world.

The best.

After a few glasses of wine, I was really getting into the swing of things.  I got a little overjoyed when the Klean Kanteen dudes announced that they FINALLY have a 100% plastic free water bottle! One of them actually said to the owner, “see, I told you it was a good idea”, upon seeing my reaction.

I heart the Klean Kanteen dudes

I guess the point that I am trying to make, is that these are awesome people who have dedicated their lives to making this thing better, and I couldn’t have felt any luckier to be in the same room with them.

Shall we compare for a moment?  Upon my return, I noticed a very dry, industrial tweet from the American Chemistry Council regarding our event.  “Plastic Makers’ Statement Regarding TEDx Marine Debris Event: Industry Committed to Continued Collaboration: http://ht.ly/36ZfX“

Um, dear Plastic People,

Your use of the phrase ‘marine debris’ is curious, seeing as though our event was about PLASTIC POLLUTION.  Shall we call it what it really is?  Also curious, is that I can’t find any information on your site about plastic pollution.  Could you please direct me as I would like to know what you think of said problem before I believe that you are committed to honest collaboration.  Furthermore, I find your other press release following our event to be laughable.  “America Recycles Day” sounds like a huge crock.  But makes sense of course, because you need to keep people proud of how much they recycle, so that they will continue to consume.  The more the better; I know your game and the illusion you are trying to create.  And hey, also on the subject of this special day, can we talk about the rest of the plastic pollution that is not captured in the celebrated recycling bins located in “key spots along California’s coastline”.  For your information, it flows out to sea, destroys beautiful life, and creates huge heart- and headaches for some really good people I was just hanging out with.  If you asked my 8-year old friend Charlotte, I’m sure she would tell you that you are not part of the solution.  Quite honestly, I would love it if you could just stop making so much crap. I’m sure a whole bunch of people would agree.

Awaiting something real…something a little more human,

Taina

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Whose team are you on?