Māori Artist Raises Awareness for Plastic Pollution By Showing What Oceans Will Look Like in 100 Years

New Zealand artist George Nuku created an installation that shows what the world’s oceans will look like in 100 years when plastic has completely changed marine life.

View this post on Instagram

Nuku’s project is called Bottled Ocean 2122 and is being exhibited at the Theseus Temple in Austria. The plastic project is running together with the rest of his exhibition, Oceans. Collections. Reflections, at the Weltmuseum in Vienna until October 9.

Over the last three months, Nuku tasked 170 volunteers with helping crate Bottled Ocean 2122 to raise awareness about plastic pollution and how it affects the ocean and marine life. The Māori artist’s work shows how the undersea world will be filled with plastic bottles and Styrofoam if we don’t work towards a sustainable future as soon as possible.

Nuku is a member of the Māori Ngati Kahungunu and Tuwharetoa peoples of New Zealand, and he moved to England in 2005. He had his first solo exhibition at The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Middlesborough, England.

View this post on Instagram

Nuku wants his visitor to see the plastic not as garbage but rather as valuable, beautiful, and sacred materials. Bottled Ocean 2122 shows a subsea temple with Māori deities that represent air, earth, fire, wind, and sea. Plastic animals like jellyfish, stingrays, and sharks swim around the plastic coral reefs.

In a statement, Nuku said that his project takes place 100 years from now when “Sea life is turning into plastic mutant species. Marine debris and anemones are made of colorful plastic bottle caps.”

Nuku said, “Through my Māori heritage, I seek to reshape our relationship with our environment. Ultimately, Pollution itself is sacred, like everything in our world.”

“Plastic bottles, representing light and water, the source of life itself, are a treasure and a testament to divinity. It’s not too late to change our relationship with our environment and move closer to the plastic that permeates every aspect of our lives today.”

Globally, we produce 300 million tons of plastic every year, 78 percent of which is NOT reclaimed or recycled. Around  8.8 million tons of plastic get dumped into the oceans every year! 700 marine animals are faced with extinction due to the threat that plastic poses to them in the form of entanglement, Pollution, and ingestion. 50 percent of sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs. By 2050, 99 percent of all seabird species will have ingested plastic waste. According to a study by the World Economic Forum, there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and if things go on business as usual, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.

Read more about how companies like Facebook, Tupperware, Google, Dove,  Budweiser, Carlsberg, and FIJI Water are working towards reducing plastic Pollution. Places around the world like Tel Aviv, California, Baltimore, Scotland, and many more are banning various single-use plastics, and others are coming up with creative ways to recycle and use plastic waste.

There are products you may be using or habits you may have that contribute to plastic Pollution. Learn more about how the use of Teabags, Cotton Swabs, Laundry, Contact Lenses, Glitter, and Sheet Masks pollute our oceans so you can make more informed decisions going forward. There are also numerous simple actions and switches that can help cut plastic out of our lives including, making your own cosmetics, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, household cleaners, using mason jars, reusable bags/bottles/straws, and avoiding microbeads!  Sign this petition to demand the end of the single-use plastics killing whales and damaging our oceans!

To learn more about the impact of plastic waste, please read the articles below: 

• Marine Animals that are Dying because of our Plastic Habit
• Where Plastic Really Goes When You Throw it Out
• 5 Documentaries to make you Rethink Single-Use Plastics
• 6 Million Tons of Single-Use Plastics Get Thrown Out Every Year! 

 Make Some Noise Tee by Tiny Rescue: Climate Collection

Related Content:

• Adidas is Making Sneakers Out of Plastic Ocean Waste!
• Ocean Plastic Could Be Used to Create New Antibiotics
• Biden Administration Announces Plans to Protect Oceans, Including a Ban of Single-Use Plastics in National Parks
• 10 Simple Actions That Just Might Save Our World’s Oceans From Plastic
• Sarah Ferguson Helps Raise Awareness About Ocean Plastic

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that are raising awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your own food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!