Recycling plastic will not save our oceans from toxic waste small islands and material revolutions as new paths forward

every second breath we take is generated by the oceans – we need to start having blue dreams: a dialogue between creatives on how plastic pollution is threatening our survival

Every year an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic trash makes its way into the world’s oceans. While dilution might have been the most practiced ‘solution’ to pollution in the past, we can no longer run from the rubbish: microplastics are now widely present in our food chain and drinking water. Humanity relies on the oceans for both air and food, but our patterns of consumption and disposal are imperiling these natural processes. Alarmed by these trends, New York-based Cyrill Gutsch founded Parley for the Oceans in 2012 as a collaboration network for leaders, scientists, journalists, and designers – all thinkers working on solutions to end the destruction of our oceans. Xerxes Cook is a writer and editor who contributes to art and design magazines. True to Parley’s collaborative nature, Gutsch and Cook have worked together on Parley projects on small islands plagued by a deluge of plastic waste. Their conversation, condensed and edited here for clarity, explores the fragility of our oceans and how small islands, along with the material revolution, can deliver solutions to the plastic problem.

What brought both of you to the environmentalism field and how did you first start working together?

There always has been something in my DNA that says we should take care of the environment, but there’s also something cynical, where I thought we’re going to destroy this planet anyway. In 2012 I met Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd and that changed this perspective. I was alarmed – my conversation with him gave me insight into the state of the oceans and the planet. He outlined how the oceans could be dead in just a few decades if humanity stayed on the same course and that was something that I could not accept.

I’ve often worked on projects that have a higher purpose to raise awareness of pressing issues. About six years ago, Parley had a team on the ground in Bali and they asked me to come on board and investigate the island’s plastic problem. We traced the water cycle from the highest part of the island, following the rivers all the way down to the sea and in the process, we examined the different kinds of waste and all of the companies producing that waste. It was a deep dive – two weeks of walking in plastic waste that was waist high and going to the landfill every day to learn what wasn’t being recycled and why.

Sharing information and empowering the communities you work in and write about is at the heart of the work both of you do. If the ocean is our life support system, how can this be communicated to people in a way that calls them to action?

One way to connect humans with the sea is to show them the beauty and to create that fascination for what is down there. The oceans are very little explored and if they are, it’s usually for exploitation. The fascination that we have of outer space, such as going to other planets and finding life out there, needs to be created for the alien-like life underwater – the blue magic universe. Art is one way of doing that, but then there are documentaries, film, and narrative. The best way to create a strong relationship between mankind and the sea is through experiences. We have to learn firsthand the experience of the beauty of the sea in a virtual or in a real way. The second is logic by understanding and knowing we exist because these animals and creatures out there create the chemistry that allows us to be here. Every second breath we take is generated by the oceans. We need to start dreaming blue. We need to have blue dreams.