We spent the last couple of days in Tucson visiting a dear old friend, Trudy. Among other outings, we visited the Tucson Botanical Gardens, which is currently hosting a show of ocean trash. Well, ocean trash artfully reconfigured: as jellyfish, a humpback whale, a puffin, a mako shark, and a rockhopper penguin. Here is what the gardens' website says about the the Bandon, Oregon–based group that provided the oversized sculptures made of junk:
Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea is a non-profit organization committed to combating plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways. In ten years, Washed Ashore has processed over 35 tons of plastic pollution from the Pacific Northwest’s ocean beaches to create over 85 works of art that are awakening the hearts and minds of viewers to the global marine debris crisis. Washed Ashore has exhibited their giant sculptures at many noteworthy venues including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian exhibit is permanent; others, including, currently, venues in Galveston Island, TX; Brooklyn, NY; and Clearwater, FL, are traveling shows—bringing the message of plastic pollution far and wide.
The signage included a scavenger hunt: find the lighters, children's toys, flipflops, tires, bottle caps, fishing line, buoys, plastic this, plastic that. There were even some Department of Fish & Wildlife marker-tags on some of the creations.
I took photos.
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| Trudy and David, with toothy friend |
I am skeptical that such "educational" creations convince us humans that we should be more careful with our garbage. But at least the beaches of Oregon are getting cleaned up. And that's certainly a good thing.
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