Vermilion Sea Institute, and the youthful team of Aventureros, are documenting and supporting local restaurants on a transition away from single-use plastics. The team picks up their to-go orders from 20 food vendors in Bahia de los Angeles, Mexico and work together to devour the data. The Hamburger Safari is a continual, youth-driven effort to reduce barriers to a sustainable and waste-free community and offer creative, novel, and place-based methodologies to do so. Throughout this work, the Aventureros have directly engaged well over 550 people in their marine debris reduction and prevention efforts. Read more about what the team discovered!

We are excited to introduce our new webinar series, Tropical Islands Partnering on Solutions (TIPS) for Marine Debris. This series, featuring experts from across the country, is a crucial platform for sharing perspectives and solutions on the pressing issue of marine debris that affects tropical islands.  This webinar series will be held every other month with a focus on a different marine debris related topic. 

This June, thanks to funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, Ocean Conservancy and its partners will host the first in-person meeting of the 12 current Urban Ocean cities at the Urban Ocean Summit! Urban Ocean® is a capacity-building and accelerator program to end ocean plastic pollution and build more resilient cities. Urban Ocean champions circular economy principles, builds awareness of ocean plastic pollution, assesses waste management systems, and supports cities to develop projects that address the interrelated challenges of ocean plastics and resilience. The program is jointly implemented by Resilient Cities Network, Ocean Conservancy and The Circulate Initiative.

Kuaihelani, meaning “the backbone of heaven,” describes a mythical floating island in the sky, possibly originating from the large lagoons that reflect the sky. This atoll is a Wildlife Refuge and part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The monument is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world to be classified for its cultural and ecological importance. Still, it’s also impacted by the large fishing nets, plastics, and other debris that wash up on its shores. This debris can significantly impact the atoll's wildlife and habitats, and its removal is a critical part of protecting the health and cultural heritage of this area.