Eurythenes plasticus

About the Work We are littering our “blue planet” 70% of earth’s surface is covered by oceans. They produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe (1). And humanity is kicking its ass. Yearly, eight million tons of plastic land in the oceans. That’s one truckload every minute (2). Accruing to islands of garbage, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s so big, Germany would fit in there 4,5 times (3). A problem going far deeper The ocean plastic problem goes far deeper than anything previously imagined. The problem is so bad that new deep-sea species are being found already contaminated by plastic (4). A new deep-sea species named after the plastic found in its body When you find a new species, you get to give it a name. To highlight that our ocean plastic problem goes deep, we named a new deep-sea species after the plastic found in its gut – Eurythenes plasticus. This idea is the culmination of over one and a half years of collaboration together with world renowned marine ecologist Dr Alan Jamieson from Newcastle University and WWF. We launched the campaign on the 5th of March 2020 by making Eurythenes plasticus officially part of our planet's taxonomic record (5). Activate people to demand action through policy change Within hours of the publication, a worldwide conversation had ignited over the extent of the plastic pollution in our oceans in over forty countries. Every campaign touchpoint activated people to sign a petition asking for a global UN agreement to put an end to marine plastic pollution. If signed, this treaty will have by far the biggest positive impact on our oceans that is possible.