Like the rest of the country, the Pacific Northwest is unfortunately not immune to the impacts of marine debris. Luckily, there are many efforts in this region to address the marine debris issue, one of which focuses on the power of art.
Washed Ashore, an organization based in Oregon, works to prevent marine debris by raising awareness through art. After collecting debris on beaches and then cleaning and sorting it by color, the Washed Ashore group creates large and intricate sculptures made exclusively of marine debris. By building and displaying these sculptures, which mostly feature animals impacted by debris, this project aims to reach a broad audience to raise awareness of our connection to the debris issue and to inspire changes in our habits as consumers. Many of these sculptures now travel around the country as part of traveling exhibits, reaching broad audiences throughout the nation.
In 2014, Washed Ashore partnered with the NOAA Marine Debris Program to expand these efforts to achieve their ultimate goal of influencing behavior change. With support from a Marine Debris Prevention through Education and Outreach grant, they worked to distribute educational materials at exhibit locations and develop a curriculum associated with their marine debris prevention through art model. Educator trainings helped to bring these activities and this message to classroom students.
The Washed Ashore Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum was just recently released and works to educate students about marine debris, plastic use in our society, and how to prevent marine debris both individually and as a community. To view and download this marine debris curriculum, visit Washed Ashore’s website.
Keep your eye out this week for more in the Pacific Northwest!