remembering our personal connections to any body of water, understanding cultural relationships with water, and educating ourselves and each other about marine solutions to combat climate change are all steps toward a future where we have kept our promise with the ocean. our promise to preserve and protect it for years to come.

consider future generations: would you want them to create memories with the ocean like you did? i know i do. 

on a sunny summer morning in 2024, i walked along costa rica’s drake bay, my feet sinking into the sand as crabs skittered away, disappearing into burrows below the wet sand. after a three-day storm, wind and waves had tossed not only seaweed and driftwood along the beach, but also flip-flops, dented metal tins, and other pieces of trash onto the shore.

as i scanned the shoreline, helping clean the beach of trash, something caught my eye. i picked up what at first glance looked like just another ordinary plastic bottle, but upon closer inspection, i noticed that the label was in a language totally foreign to costa rica’s predominant spanish. judging by the label, this was a chinese water bottle.

as i examined the bottle, i puzzled over the journey that brought it to costa rica. what did its journey to this beach look like? how long has it drifted through the ocean? finding this chinese bottle 9,000 miles away on a distant central american shore, inspired me to take my own journey to learn more about how trash moves through the oceans and what science can tell us about how long, how far trash travels through the ocean, and how it rides currents across and through the oceans.

an interconnected system

according to the united nations, an estimated 60 to 90% of the trash that litter shorelines, the ocean’s surface, and the seafloor is plastic. eighty percent of this plastic waste comes from land-based sources, with the remaining 20% coming from marine-based sources primarily trash from fishing vessels.

“ocean currents are part of the machinery, the engine that gives us the climate we have… so when we tinker with the atmosphere through greenhouse gas and aerosols, we bring about a whole chain of reactions that are going to change the wind field that’s driving the currents,” said eddy carmack, ph.d., senior research scientist emeritus and head of the drift bottle project, a research project that uses volunteers to throw bottles with identifiable information inside into the ocean to track ocean currents.

ocean currents are everywhere, from the arctic to the five gyres located in the north pacific, south pacific, north and south atlantic, and indian ocean. a gyre is a large system of ocean currents that move circularly. they are continuous and are driven by winds, tides, and water densities that are ever-changing throughout each year.

“it was thought that the arctic ocean was not a player in the game. it was way up north and all the heat exchanges were going on in the equatorial zone,” carmack said. but according to researcher rebecca woodgate, this small ocean that covers only 2% of the global ocean surface area is key in regulating deep ocean currents, also known as thermohaline circulation, all over the world.

“though she be little, she be fierce,” said carmack quoting “a midsummer night’s dream” when referring to this ocean. the global ocean conveyor belt, consisting of both deep and surface currents circulates the earth on a one-thousand-year period, plays a major role in how our oceans and wind function. 

plastic, plastic, everywhere

in the 1950s, plastic became a craving for consumers around the world because of its versatility and affordability. as each individual throws out their bottle, a styrofoam cup of coffee, or a plastic packet, the debris often eventually flows out to the ocean like on a conveyer belt. it then slowly breaks down into smaller fragments and often becomes ingested by marine life for the remainder of its life cycle.

now add in the phenomenon of ocean currents, and the moment plastics reach the ocean, they can hitch a ride on ocean currents worldwide. the large gyre across the globe can sweep in and collect loose trash from nonpoint sources. these five gyres are sometimes assumed to hold floating islands of trash, made up of large pieces of debris such as tires, fishing ropes, shoes, and more. contrary to popular belief however, oceanographer captain charles moore states that they are more like soups of confetti-sized trash.

a 2018 study from the nature journal presented that at least 79,000 tonnes of ocean debris are within an area three times the size of france – that’s 617,763 miles of trash.

although plastic, at its core, pollutes our waters, seeing a floating rubber ducky may seem ordinary. yet, bowling balls, toilets, and scooters have been found by beach cleanup volunteers with sarah weller, senior manager of international coastal cleanup at ocean conservancy.

“fun things that people have found are cash or suitcases,” weller said. over decades, these and millions of bizarre objects of all materials and sizes, have found their way into the ocean where currents sweep them away to gyres or to other countries. a shipping accident known as “the great lego spill of 1997” released nearly 5 million nautically shaped legos off the coast of cornwall, england that still appear throughout the english channel, celtic sea, and north sea today.

using trash to track ocean currents

sometimes identifiable pieces of ocean trash can serve as useful pinpoints to help oceanographers study ocean currents. for example, shigeru fujieda, ph.d., a professor and researcher at kagoshima university in japan, proposed that cigarette lighters can also aid in tracking ocean currents.

when found by someone, each lighter has printed information about the sale address or phone number of the country of origin. contact information has also been key in carmack’s the drift bottle project where students and volunteers threw empty watertight glass bottles with contact information of the research project from up and down the west coast of the americas from alaska down to the panama canal, among some other locations.

a plethora of bottles have been dropped off in these areas and while many are still oceangoing, 1 in every 25 bottles have been recovered in places like brazil, norway, and on kodiak island, alaska.

like this project, my father, stephen carman was about 50 miles out of the coast of cape hatteras in north carolina when he threw a message in a bottle into the gulf stream. about 5 months and 650 miles later, the same bottle was mailed back by a prisoner cleaning the beaches of bermuda.

what can be done?

“i kind of describe (ocean debris) more as like, the more you peel back the layers of it, the more complex it becomes. because you think, ‘why don’t we just go and clean it all up?'” weller said. due to the scale of the problem and the complexity of ocean currents, we can’t fully rid our oceans of trash. but participating in beach cleanups in a community does bring about positive changes. you may even come across a lego or personal note.

seventy percent of earth’s surface  hasn’t been fully mapped out yet meaning there is likely more garbage in those areas. approximately 33 billion pounds of plastic enter our oceans each year, and it’s expected to triple by 2040.

the trash free seas alliance, save our seas 2.0 act, and the trash free waters program are just three organizational and governmental initiatives that support this worldwide issue. the drift bottle project, other people’s attempts at it, and the accidental spills of objects bring us one step closer to understanding the world’s currents and why it’s distressing to find a plastic bottle with an asian brand on it on the shores of costa rica. when coming across trash on a beach, many may not consider its nautical path, but each unsolicited piece of debris like this bottle has a story of where it came from like ours.

picture this: you’re a montauk local on dec. 18 2023 and as you and your loved ones watch the news, a winter storm is expected. when hearing the term, “winter storm,” one immediately thinks of a blizzard. unfortunately, this close-knit hamlet and other long island towns experienced a storm resembling a hurricane.

it shrank many of the cherished beaches and caused major flooding, damage to coastal homes, and even a flood of trash on the shorelines. that’s not all. three more storms rolled in like turbulent waves within the next month. this destruction (to my hometown) brought perilous risks for the future of the local’s livelihoods. it’s a devastation that came to the attention of people of all ages. local instagram stories revealed ditch plains beach, webster beach, and main beach swept away by chaotic waves, leaving bare sandbags and trash for miles. 

some of the best waves come from storms like these, attracting surfers within the montauk community and outside of it, but there is a downside to this that the locals and the rest of eastern long island continue to struggle with. even though montauk is a small community, there is no doubt of its resilience when it is faced with hardships like this. we look back at hurricane sandy, a storm that ravaged the dunes, destroyed homes, and even took lives. despite those hardships and the loss of loved ones, these events have also prepared us for future ones by realizing how fragile our coastal environments truly are.  

as someone who grew up with the ocean — watching the waves crash against the coarse sand, doing the polar plunge, fishing with my family, and learning to surf — i want to protect my home. if none of us did, we wouldn’t have the lives we have now. from the moment my little self met the ocean, it immediately became a part of my life. it’s like one of your first friends that you can always go to, but the ocean will never leave. like a friendship, you need to protect it by safeguarding it and respecting how important it truly is. if you don’t, it weakens over time.

my family and i surf here, my dad takes my siblings, friends, and me out to fish. my two best friends and i paddleboard every summer, and those i graduated with from montauk public school and east hampton high school have a unique and special connection to montauk. everything in this town is interconnected because of the locals and those who visit.

click the presentation below to read the full story:

this is a multifaceted problem, as the environmental protection agency (epa), states that these tiny particles come with a variety of characteristics including size, composition, and are of different densities within our environment.  this invasion of microplastics doesn’t just damage the quality of our oceans, it festers and grows in the air we breathe, our food and drinks, and the products we use. it is so pervasive that, according to science direct, a recent study showed that this army of microplastics has marched its way into people’s bodies, including our bloodstreams.

the result of this study showed that 80% (17 out of 22) of the study’s subjects contained these life-threatening particles in their bloodstreams, which suggests that microplastics are in fact commonplace in most people’s bodies. the damage is outlined in another study from rovira university, which states that microplastics can stretch the membranes of red blood cells to the point where the transportation of oxygen in our circulatory system is affected.

how do microplastics get inside of us?

some people may never consider where the objects in the recycling bins actually end up or if those objects are actually being recycled. according to upstream solutions, only 6% of plastics are recycled and more than one-third of plastic packaging finds its way into the environment. when plastics are left alone in the ocean or on land, they break down into microplastics that can be smaller than five millimeters, resembling the size of a sesame seed. the united nations clean seas campaign found that there are approximately 51 trillion microplastic pieces in the ocean alone.

a handful of these particles may seem harmless, but since they are hydrophobic, meaning of a substance that repels water, an accumulation of them can cover many surfaces and absorb various organic pollutants including pesticides and industrial chemicals. according to the national library of medicine, once these harmful chemicals are ingested by organisms, they can easily accumulate in their systems and threaten their gastrointestinal tract. these particles are often transferred from one organism to another through ingestion, and have been able to reach humans. this common process is known as trophic transfer.

“i would assume living in a place where you’re around a lot of people, you’d probably increase your exposure (to microplastics),” said laura markley, a ph.d. candidate studying plastic pollution at syracuse university. “i think it would really depend on where you live.”

living in a populated city like syracuse, new york, it’s no surprise that most of the residents produce plastic waste. in today’s world, plastic is an ubiquitous staple of grocery shopping that consumers of all ages have a hard time avoiding. “it’s very difficult for an individual to reduce their production when the system is kind of made to produce that way,” markley said.  

shopping bags are not the only significant way that we come into contact with plastics. when we store our leftovers from previous meals or have a craving for the remainder of our takeout, the most convenient way of storing and reheating our food is by microwaving it in plastic containers.

according to markley, there are many processing agents and chemicals that give plastics desirable characteristics, but when those plastics are exposed to certain conditions such as high temperatures, as significant amount of those harmful chemicals within the plastic can leach out into the food we consume. one way this problem occurs is by using the same plastic container over and over again which eventually leads to parts of the plastic shedding off into the food we look forward to eating.

markley also emphasized that leached chemicals can mimic estrogen, the hormone key to the female reproductive system. according to  breastcancer.org, bisphenol-as (bpa) is an industrial chemical commonly found in plastics such as water bottles and sold in stores, that mimics estrogen which can lead to various kinds of cancer in women. markley went on to say, “that was just crazy to me because i was like, how can something i’ve used my entire life, be the source of these toxic chemicals!” 

going to the source

i also spoke with marcus eriksen, ph.d., scientist and co-founder of the 5 gyres organization, who emphasized how recycling contributes to plastic pollution. eriksen mentioned how many of us have been fooled into believing that participating more in this process will solve this world crisis. in reality, more needs to be done than just tossing single-use plastics into the recycling bin.

many materials such as plastic utensils and take-out containers are placed in landfills or end up in our oceans because they can not be recycled.

in our interview, eriksen said that cleaning up a patch of trash in the ocean and on land will not fix the entire problem. rather, it will take strategies to address the source of the issue, such as creating better designs for products and implementing source reduction without plastic. 

at the individual level, we certainly can aim to reduce our use of plastics. but the microplastics issue also needs to be addressed at a higher, larger level – through laws and policies. organizations similar to 5 gyres collaborate with policymakers to form agreements that hold companies accountable for their plastic production and aim to reduce the consumption of plastic. this ongoing world crisis can only be improved by working at its source to truly see a positive difference in our future. 

our government has the choice of acting on this worldwide issue, we just have to push our politicians. this task is easier said than done. but if we, as individuals, begin to hold our own usage of plastics accountable and communicate the dangers of microplastics to our representatives, there is hope that broader change is yet to come.