Project Route USA: Up-cycling marine litter into art
How amazing are these guys? They help save marine life and keep plastics out of the ocean in the most creative way! They make art of that collected liter. In these times, our greatest tool for communication comes from visual arts. A talented team of volunteer surfers, environmentalists, and artists have donated their time and skills to this belief - while cleaning our beaches at the same time. Through the medium of education through art, they create a greater impact on awareness and reach a broad audience.
As founder Adam C. Barber states: "80% of litter found in the oceans and on the beaches comes from land. Beach cleanups are the backbone of our organization. We work to keep our oceans, beaches, fishes, turtles, whales, dolphins, sea lions, jellyfish and all other marine life preserved for our future generations and us to enjoy!"
"It all starts on the beaches." Adam continues. "The most effective way to generate awareness and create change is action". Here, they gather data, remove trash, beautify the beaches and use the collected plastics as raw art materials for their educational projects.
After they collected those raw materials, they go to local schools and youth organizations to tell about Ocean Pollution. Their program is designed with kids in mind as the next generation to make a difference. They use use kid-friendly photography and interesting statistics alongside marine litter collected from their Beach Clean program to engage students in a thoughtful and impactful manner. The lecture concludes with an entertaining art activity. Although they do not make stuffed animals from recycled plastic bottles, they allow the students to create sea monsters using actual marine litter.
