The Ocean is Turning Into a Plastic Soup. Pledge to Rise Above Plastics.

There is a section of the Pacific Ocean twice the size of the continental United States called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Within it, 100 million tons of plastic swirl in a vortex of currents. There is so much plastic in the water that it outnumbers zooplankton by six to one!

This plastic ends up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. In fact, one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die globally each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics.

Plastic is forever, with virtually every piece of petroleum based plastic ever made still in existence. That's why it's so critical to our oceans and beaches that we dramatically reduce our use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, starting today.

Each individual can do their part to rise above plastics and protect the world's oceans, waves and beaches from plastic pollution. We can do several key things that will make a big difference:

- Use reusable bottles for our water and other drinks. By using just one reusable bottle, each person will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.
- Use cloth bags for groceries and other purchases. For each reusable bag we use, we will save approximately 400 plastics from being used.
- Recycle the plastic bags and bottles we already have. For every thirteen plastic bags we don't use, we will save enough petroleum to drive a car one mile.

Together, we can make a difference for our world's oceans, waves and beaches -- pledge to rise above plastics today.