This Earth month, help Oregon-based environmental nonprofit Ocean Blue Project remove 50,000 pounds of plastic pollution from U.S. Chesapeake Bay. Every 1 U.S. dollar donated funds the removal of 5 pounds of plastic recovered through volunteer-led cleanup initiatives as well as the deployment of state-of-the-art ocean cleanup machines.
An estimated 8 million more tons of plastic makes its way into the world's oceans every year, causing great harm to marine life. In fact, a report prepared by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation predicts that by 2050, the total weight of plastics in our oceans will be greater than that of fish. Once in the ocean, plastic debris gets ingested by a variety of sea life that mistake it for food or become entangled in larger debris such as nylon fishing nets. Fish are eating microplastic and we eat fish.
In an effort to combat this monumental threat to global marine ecosystems, Ocean Blue Project has led a variety of environmental stewardship programs across the country that have removed over 1.25 million pounds of plastic debris from waterways since the organization's founding in 2012. As a grassroots 501c3-registered nonprofit, Ocean Blue Project depends on volunteers and donors like you to sustain its mission of fighting plastic pollution.
In addition to removing plastic litter from our waterways before it breaks down into microplastics, Ocean Blue Project has partnered with university researchers to collect data on the impacts of ocean-borne microplastics in the food chain with the aim of spurring systematic change to reduce the long-term flow of plastics into our marine ecosystem. Furthermore, the technology being developed for ocean plastic cleanup will be applicable to subsequent plastic removal efforts on a global scale.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a FundraiserEvery microproject is intended to use the donations it receives in accordance with its stated description; however, it is important to provide project leaders with the flexibility to maximize the potential benefit from the donations they receive. This means that your donation may be used as a part of the main project that supports this microproject, specifically Recover 5 Million Pounds of Ocean Plastic. In this event, the project leader is required to post an update to the microproject detailing the results and reasons behind this change.
If you or any other donor is unhappy with the way their funds have been used, he or she can reallocate their donation using the GlobalGiving guarantee.
