Aloha! Welcome to the Gyre Cleanup Project.
- What's New?
- Who We Are
- Our Vision
- What to Expect
- Gratitude
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This website is for YOU to get involved and become “a part of the solution”.
Plastic has been gradually collecting in the world’s oceans, especially in the North Pacific Gyre, and is now impacting their sustainability. The global plastic challenge we are facing was not created by just one individual and in turn it will take a collaborative effort to meet it.
Join Us.
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ECC (Environmental Cleanup Coalition) is a passionate group of individuals who believe that through creative collaboration, sheer determination, sharing of knowledge and resources that WE CAN successfully be a part of bringing our oceans’ health back into balance!
We Invite YOU To Be A Part Of That Difference.
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Our website aims to be the epicenter of a movement to effectively address the plastic challenge swirling in our oceans (starting with the North Pacific Gyre). We will do this by engaging our growing community of diverse and multi-talented individuals and groups who share a love for our planet and a concern for the health of our oceans.
Together we can focus on areas such as cleanup and restoration, education and awareness, and prevention. Although ECC’s biggest passion is the cleanup aspect, we believe it will require all perspectives to create the most viable and sustainable long-term solution.
We are seeking those that care about social responsibility and are inspired.
Become a Part Of A Like-minded Community Of Eco-citizens.
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A new approach embodying our deepest philosophy of “being of service” and uniting for a common purpose: the health of our planet. Your actions add up. Send us your input on how you are currently making your presence count!
This site provides a way to capitalize on the affiliate relationships we are currently creating with green corporations, nonprofits, groups and individuals, just like you!
This is your home, our home. Let us share our solutions with each other for the benefit of those who are here today and those who will come many generations from now.
Share Your Solution.
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We would like to thank everyone who has provided their time, resources and feedback, guiding and helping us as this new interactive platform takes shape. We truly are a “grassroots” organization that stands to unite global action at the individual, group and organizational level. We believe in the power of people to truly make a difference and that includes YOU.
If you feel inspired to be a part of the solution and would like to contribute your time, energy, funding or expertise, we encourage you to take action by contacting us. Let us know what talents you can bring to the ECC.
What Are Your Talents?
All Our Oceans are Filling with Plastic & Toxins
The Atlantic Gets Its Own Great Plastic Garbage Patch
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 02.24.10
Plastic marine debris collected in a surface plankton net tow. Photo: Sea Education Association.
Though it hasn't garnered nearly as much attention as its plastic-ridden analog in the Pacific, the North Atlantic Ocean too has its very own gigantic patch of floating plastic waste. Recently the 5 Gyres project has brought some attention to it, and now BBC News reports that scientists from the Sea Education Association have completed a 20 year study on it:
In studying the problem, researchers completed over 6,000 passes with towed nets in the Caribbean and North Atlantic. Over 80% of the plastic pieces were found between 22 and 38° north latitude.
More than half of them picked up floating plastic on the water surface, mostly pieces of plastic from consumer products and plastic bags. Most of the pieces were no more than one centimeter across. The maximum density of plastic was found to be 200,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer--which is similar to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
SEA Sailing From Bermuda This Summer for Further Plastic Study
Expanding on this research, SEA is planning another expedition this
summer to study the accumulating plastic. The expedition will sail a
3300 nautical mile route some 1100 miles southeast of Bermuda,
exploring a region not previously sampled. Sail is most often used
not-literally these days, but in this case it is literal: The SEA
expedition will travel on a 134-foot long brig rigged ship, the SSV
Corwith Cramer.
Our Finest Moment !!!
One of the biggest challenges and greatest
opportunities that face humanity today is that we have lost touch with our
Oceans, ultimately Earth. We have become so accustomed to living in modern
society that we barely know where our own food comes from, and we are not
talking about the store. This continual separation from source to output has put us at risk for
unknowingly supporting procedures and processes that might not be serving our
long term goals, like living on a healthy planet.
Even considering where your water
comes from. Do you happen to know? If you do, great! If you
don't, how would you find out? This new appreciation for understanding
the system allows each of us to stop and re-connect back to where WE MATTER in
the overall picture. This is the KEY to our continued success as a species:
the evolution of knowing what provides
for our current way of living and what it would take to sustain our lifestyle
at this level. Consider how much
Mother Earth has provided us
unconditionally. Now it is time to give back to her.
Our focus at ECC and our greatest Mission
is to act as a catalyst for becoming reconnected to our Oceans and our Earth. When
we connect with nature, we also connect back to the deeper part of ourselves. This
deeper connection then serves as a vehicle for transformation and benefits the
whole!! In short, it is a path to peace, a feeling of unity with others, with our
Oceans, with our planet, with our shared home. This is the 'Elemental Key', the
GIFT of the New Decade upon us. It is something we will continue to strive for
in our own interactions as humans, leaders and co-creators.
The 'Gyre Cleanup Project' offers us that doorway into the evolutionary process
by connecting US together with a common VISION of a Healthy Planet. The
first step however is to make that connection back to SELF, before we can give
to others. This is what we continually put into question; how we can be sure to care for our own
wholeness and our individual impact
on this planet? Starting with our own actions helps us to take ownership
of our impact and recognize that by making even small changes, we can make a
difference. Have you noticed that it is easier to point fingers or blame than
to take positive action? Well, we would like to make taking inspired action for
a bigger Vision the norm!! Know that we here at the ECC, Gyre Cleanup Project,
push ourselves into a new paradigm of connectedness and oneness in every
interaction: first with ourselves, then with others and ULTIMATELY our
planet! Will you join our mission to transform
our view of Self within the Whole? Will you make the shift from blame to taking
ownership of that which we can influence?
As you can see we view 2010 with 20/20 vision and know that the time is NOW to
embark on the Journey of Oneness, to open the Elemental Key and to take
responsibility for our actions.
Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
The Oceans need our help, this becomes more obvious every day. Our continued exploration of solutions has lead us to the future of food. Land Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems will ease the necessity of the oceans to supply the planets needs. By producing food near the communities, provides a plethora of benefits.
These simple systems can be set up any size and scaled up as need, experience and funding expand. Truly the wave of the future.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fish/publications/reports/land-based-recirculating-aquaculture-systems
Green Is In
we need to change our disposable habits now
"Our plastic pollution is literally entering the food chain, getting into the food we eat and potentially exposing us to toxic chemicals” said actor/activist Ed Begley Jr., “we need to change our disposable habits now - we simply can’t afford to keep trashing our oceans.”
