Plastic within the biosphere
American photographer Chris Jordan organized a a trip to Midway Atoll, three small islands in the North Pacific, located about halfway between the U.S. and Asia, and was the location of the battle of Midway. Now the atoll is also near the centre of the Pacific Trash Vortex, where the North Pacific Gyre concentrates the plastics that are swept into or dumped in the world’s oceans.
Chris Jordan photographed the decaying body’s of dead albatross chicks full of plastic they have consumed.
He writes:
These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.
More (and larger) photos are on his site.
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