top of page

OUR    STORY

In 2008, marine scientists Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal drifted 88 days at sea, from California to Hawaii, on a raft made of a Cessna 310 Aircraft fuselage perched atop 15,000 plastic bottles. They called it JUNK.

 

The purpose of the 2600 mile voyage was to build public awareness and inspire a movement to save our seas from plastic pollution. This adventure launched the 5 Gyres Institute, which has led over 20 ocean expeditions around the world to research plastic pollution.  The mix of research, advocacy and wide collaborations led to successful policy and public awareness campaigns to solve the problem.

 

Today, there is a smog of microplastics permeating the globe, with over 700 species worldwide threatened by plastic pollution either through ingestion or entanglement.  The JUNK journey explores what we can do to stop this global plastic waste crisis.

Marcus Eriksen details the voyage aboard JUNK in the book JUNK RAFT, succinctly capturing the adventure of he and Joel being adrift at sea surrounded by an endless ocean of plastic pollution.

 

THE BOOK

THE EXHIBIT

This exhibit was created to help showcase the global crisis of plastic pollution. Each piece in this exhibit is a cast of an Ocean Hero made from recycled plastic.

 

IMG_9474.PNG

INTERESTED IN HAVING US COME TO YOU? CLICK HERE

Timeline of 3 months adrift

Building Junk
Launch Day
Week 1 - That sinking feeling
Week 2 - Coast Guard
Week 3 - Guadalupe Island
Week 4 - Frankensail
Week 5 - Dead calm
Week 6 - Hurricane
Week 7 - Marcus trawling for plastic
Week 8 - Entropy
Week 9 - Riding The Gyre
Week 10 - Rainbow Runner
Week 11 - Squid Attack
Week 12 - Roz Savage
Week 13 - Junk arrival!
Junk on Capitol Steps
Future of JUNKraft
One
year
later
Future
of
JUNKraft
Building
JUNK
Launch
Day
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Week
10
Week
11
Week
12
Week
13
bottom of page