This video (click on the photo) brought me to tears!
GOOD NEWS IN A NUTSHELL:
Two young men went to Bali to surf, and there was so much plastic coming in from the ocean every day that their movement was hindered. FUNDED ENTIRELY by sales of the bracelets you see above, and other products made entirely from beach waste, they hire fishermen and other local residents of islands to gather plastic. They fund FLEETS of boats, and over 150 people worldwide.
The story begins when Alex and Andrew take a surf trip to Bali Indonesia that would inevitably change their lives and the fate of the ocean. Devastated by the amount of plastic in the ocean, they set out to find out why no one was doing anything about it. One afternoon they came across an old fishing village where fishermen were literally pushing their boat through piles of plastic that had washed up on shore. The two surfers realized that the proliferation of plastic threatened both the ocean environment and the fishermen’s livelihood. Could the fishermen use their nets, they wondered, to pull the plastic from the ocean? This idea stuck with the 2 surfers and they knew it was time to hit the drawing board. After realizing that the demand for seafood was driving the fishermen to focus on fish instead of plastic, they knew they had to create something that could fund the desired cleanup efforts. This is how the 4ocean Bracelet was born.
Made with recycled materials, every bracelet purchased funds the removal of 1 pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines. In less than 2 years, 4ocean has removed 4,933,669 pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines.
4ocean currently operates out of multiple countries and employs over 150 people worldwide. Please take time to explore their website and make a purchase. These young men are doing MUCH MORE than cleaning the oceans. They have various ‘Legacy’ bracelets which are focused on individual endangered species – their programs are inspiring!
The Rama Exhibition 