Etwa 12,7 Millionen Tonnen Plastikmüll gelangen pro Jahr in die Meere der Welt. Plastikteile werden in allen Größen und in allen Ozeanen rund um den Planeten gefunden – in der Arktis ,  auf Meeresböden, in den Mägen der Meeresbewohner und an den schönsten Sandstränden.

Auf diesem Blog zeigen wir Bilder von ebenjener Plastikmüllverschmutzung. Und wir stellen die Fotografen vor, die das Bild gemacht haben:

Ian MacLellan – Boston | USA | Nordamerika | Nordatlantik

Where did you take the photo?
I took this photo on Revere Beach at sunrise. Revere Beach was the very first public beach in the USA but it’s current reputation is as a dirty place. I used to come to this beach in college to swim and surf at a beach a few miles away. I have definitely found some strange things on this beach in the past including an extraordinarily large rodent carcass that had been puffed up by time in the water and resembled a monster.

Why did you shoot in that way?
I took this photograph using a tripod and off-camera flash. I wanted to use a long exposure to get some movement in the ocean and I wanted to use a flash to really make the trash clear.

How long did you collect the plastic waste?
This morning I only collected waste for 2 hours before I had to go to an assignment. This project inspired me to collect more trash though and encourage others to clean up our beaches.

Did you learn anything out of the project?
Working on this project, was definitely an alarming experience. I barely had to walk 20 feet to find another piece of plastic trash to pick up.

Who are you?
I am a freelance photographer and filmmaker based in Boston, MA. I love swimming and surfing and spend as much time as I can in the water.

P.S.: Das Prinzip ist einfach, der Name gleichzeitig eine Handlungsaufforderung: An Ufern, in Buchten, Flussmündungen oder an den schönsten Sandstränden wird Plastikmüll angeschwemmt und das weltweit.
»Pick it Up« ruft dazu auf, hinzusehen, hinzugehen, aufzuheben, zu fotografieren, das Foto in den sozialen Netzwerken mit dem Hashtag #pickitup zu posten und anschließend den Plastikmüll vernünftig zu entsorgen.

*Quelle: Dossier »Plastikmüll«, herausgegeben zum Wissenschaftsjahr 2016/17 »Meere und Ozean« – eine Initiative des Bundesministeriums für Umwelt und Forschung.