I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently published study on the proliferation of plastic debris in oceans. News organizations have touted “five grocery bags of trash on every foot of coastline around the globe” and the fact that plastic has been found all over the ocean, from the deep sea to Arctic ice.

I’ve also been thinking about Jo Atherton, creator of “flotsam weaving” from washed up fishing line, netting, balloons, lobster pot tags, army men, and other plastic trinkets she and her helpers find on the coast of Cornwall in the U.K. Her work is clever, beautiful, and powerful. Her contemplation of the weaving together disparate objects and their histories, the longevity of plastic trinkets, and the global problem of marine debris is even better.

  Watch Jo Atherton’s TEDx talk here

P.S. If you don’t know me in person, you might not know that I worked many years in environmental science, studying carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems. Even today, I can be downright annoying in my zeal for composting. So, yes I have a history of being environmental-ish, but I promise I won’t preach too much here on my blog.