EDITORIAL Nowadays, seas, oceans, coastline and rivers are often not very nice to see. Tonnes of marine litter, including solid materials like glass, metal and plastic, turn our natural landscape into a trash dump. Is it «Nice to Sea» that plastics kill fish, birds and other marine species? Is it «Nice to Sea» that floating plastics turn the oceans into a «plastic soup»? And that we’ve built the 8th continent: the Pacific Ocean garbage patch? Is it «Nice to Sea», and even to humans, that fish might contain particles of plastic? It’s time to change our behaviour. It’s time to think differently, to act sustainably: to take care of our valuable resources, to reuse them, to recycle them. It’s «Nice to sea» thousands of volunteers involved in the fight against marine litter. It’s Nice to act in order to preserve our oceans. It’s Nice to take responsibility and implement measures to reduce marine litter and the use of plastic bags. It is time to invest now in our natural capital. To better understand what it means for us, and for future generations, and what we can do about it, pay a visit to the exhibition by Surfrider Foundation Europe in partnership with Y&R Paris.
janez potocnik
EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR ENVIRONMENT
TONY ESTANGUET
AMBASSADOR OF SURFRIDER FOUNDATION EUROPE
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SUMMARY SURFRIDER FOUNDATION EUROPE 24 YEARS FIGHTING MARINE LITTER
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BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS
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« NICE TO SEA? » EXHIBITION
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PRACTICAL INFORMATION
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Nice to Sea?
24 years fighting marine litter
24 YEARS FIGHTING MARINE LITTER Since its origin in 1990, Surfrider has set the fight against marine litter at the forefront of its action. Surfrider Foundation Europe is an environmental association, under the law of 1901, created in 1990 in France (Biarritz) by 3-time World Surfing Champion Tom Curren. Approved for popular education by the French Minister of Environment and Justice, Surfrider is dedicated to defending, saving, improving and managing in a sustainable manner the ocean, coastline, waves and the people who enjoy them. An NGO whose speciality is to gather a community of enthusiasts of the ocean and coastline from all walks.
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Surfrider acts to better understand this pollution, helping to reduce the quantitative amount of litter entering the marine environment and its impacts on the marine environment with the help of several tools.
AWARENESS AND EDUCATION Education and citizens’ awareness are core elements in Surfrider’s strategy, having the belief that many behaviors which affect the marine environment are the consequences of a lack of information or bad habits. Through its educational tools (exhibitions, art workshops, videos, debates…), Surfrider reaches a large audience. Since 1995, Surfrider Foundation Europe has drawn the attention of European citizens to the marine litter issue through its emblematic operation “Ocean Initiatives”. Ocean Initiatives aims at raising public awareness through educational litter-collection programs at beaches, lakes, rivers and on the seabed involving all sectors of the community: private individuals, students and scholars, sport associations, associations (environmental,
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educational and social reinsertion associations), companies and public authorities. Surfrider hopes to make participants aware of the impact of their daily actions on the marine environment. In 2013, the 18th edition of Surfrider Ocean Initiatives was granted by the high patronage of the European Commissioner for Environment, Janez Potocnik.
LOBBYING ACTION AGAINST MARINE LITTER In 2009, Surfrider launched a coordinated lobbying effort, with European, national and local institutions aiming at a greater recognition of the marine litter issue. Our association seeks for decision-making institutions to propose appropriate measures to fight against this plague and establish ambitious qualitative and quantitative objectives to reduce marine litter. In 2010, thanks to the support of 40,000 European citizens, Surfrider handed
a petition to the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs, Maria Damanaki, on the occasion of European Maritime Days in order to obtain the consideration of marine litter as veritable pollution in European legislation. In the framework of its lobbying action, Surfrider has also had the opportunity to collaborate with other NGOs to drive demands to amend Annex V of the MARPOL to IMO international convention, as well as convey key messages during the International Conference on Marine Litter held in Berlin in April 2013. Surfrider Foundation Europe has also launched campaigns aiming at reducing specific marine litter items found in great quantity on all European beaches and coastlines. In 2011, Surfrider decided to address an environmental plague: plastic bags. Indeed, Surfrider has understood the urgent need to alert the commercial industry, political decision makers and the general public about the
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Nice to Sea?
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quantity of plastic bags collected during cleanup operations and on the impact of this common consumer goods on the marine environment. In 2013, Surfrider thus decided to launch a petition calling for a ban of single-use plastic bags in Europe. On this occasion, Surfrider was very pleased to receive the invitation of the European Commissioner for Environment, Janez Potocnik, to hand him over Surfrider’s petition and organise an exhibition on marine litter in the European Commission in Brussels.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION The association’s expertise is fully recognized by all sectors working on the marine litter issue. Surfrider works in collaboration with the CEDRE (Center of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution) and leads waste quantification operations according to the OSPAR convention on two beaches in Brittany (France). Surfrider also participates in two research projects in collaboration with two scientific
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24 years fighting marine litter
laboratories, respectively working on microplastics and on the distribution and accumulation of floating litter in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2014, Surfrider will initiate a research project aiming at analyzing riverine inputs to the marine litter issue.
MOBILIZATION OF RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS Surfrider’s role as an NGO is not only to raise citizens, political leaders and industry awareness, but also to bring stakeholders together. Surfrider is able to spread its message and to mobilize citizens thanks to the involvement of its volunteers throughout the whole European continent. Surfrider has undertaken this mission over the years with a clear objective of reducing marine litter at its source for an overall improvement of the ecological situation.
www.initiativesoceanes.org/act/
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Nice to Sea? Ban single-use plastic bags
BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS As part of the 18th Ocean Initiatives which was granted by the high patronage Ë&#x2021; of the European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potocnik, Surfrider Foundation Europe has fully integrated the Rise Above Plastics campaign to fight against plastic pollution in the oceans and seas. The Rise above Plastics campaign launched by the Surfrider Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international network is aiming at reducing the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness on the issue and by advocating for the recycling of all plastics and a reduction of single-use plastics. The 2013 Surfrider Foundation Europe campaign will focus on single-use plastic bags, as they are the third most collected item in our clean-ups. Through this campaign, our chapters, established throughout Europe, will engage European citizens to act against this long-term pollutant and support a petition calling for a ban of single-use plastic bags in all European countries.
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Every year, every EU citizen uses up to 198 plastic carrier bags, most of them only one time. However, it takes between one and four centuries for them to degrade in the natural environment. Very light and easily caught by the wind, they blow out of bins and landfills
(when they are not deliberately tossed onto the street or beach), easily finding their way to the sea and the ocean. Single-use plastic bags, which can easily be replaced with longlife alternatives, have an enormous impact on the environment, representing a special threat to the marine environment, as they can cause irreversible damages to the fauna (by causing wounds or being ingested). Likewise, under the effects of the sun, salt and waves, they are being broken down into tiny particles called microplastics which are then impossible to remove from the marine environment and can pass easily into the food chain. Members of the European Parliament from more than 10 different European countries and representing various coastlines have given us their support along with emblematic European organizations from the civil society. Together with this valuable and resounding support for a ban, tens of thousands of citizens from 26 different European member states are standing with us to ban single-use plastic bags.
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
« NICE TO SEA?» EXHIBITION The delivering of the petition will have as background the Y&R Paris exhibition “Nice to Sea?” hosted in the European Commission’s headquarters from November, 15th to December, 4th at the invitation of European Commissioner ˇ for the Environment Janez Potocnik. For 10 years, the advertising agency Y&R Paris, in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation Europe, has educated the public about the importance of protecting the coastline and ocean. The informative and educational character of their campaigns makes them relevant, and the art, by encouraging inquiry and reflection, makes the awareness more effective. To create a collective awareness, Surfrider Foundation and Y&R Paris developed creative, relevant and attention-seeking advertising campaigns. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the partnership between Surfrider and Y&R Paris, an exhibition has been created retracing various communication campaigns serving the environment in order to raise awareness and involve the general public.
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This exhibition, inaugurated in Paris last spring, is designated to grace the walls of the Surfrider European headquarters in Biarritz. Nevertheless, Surfrider and Y&R Paris enthusiastically accepted the exceptional proposal from the Commission to open the European Waste Reduction Week with this exhibition in Berlaymont. Indeed, the exhibition dovetails seamlessly with Surfrider’s campaign to mobilize against single-use plastic bags. For “Nice to Sea?” Surfrider has selected works with strong links to the marine litter issue, creating a three-part collection: “There’s no such thing as a little marine pollution” (2010), “Be proud” (2012) and the plastic waste campaign gallery composed of several campaigns.
There’s no such thing as a little marine pollution” collection, on the first wall, reveals a double message. Firstly, from the title of the collection we understand that anything that ends up in the ocean has an important impact on marine pollution and implicitly this means: “Please don’t throw your garbage in nature.” This message raises our awareness. Then, secondly, the artist uses the optical effect of water to illustrate the disproportional image of pollution. The litter looks like icebergs, and we deduce that the pollution that we see on the coastline or on the water’s surface is very small in comparison to the whole waterway and the marine sea bed. This is the environmental message. This first collection is composed of one large canvas (148 * 100 cm) and four medium canvases (80 * 53 cm). The large canvas portrays a drink can. Using a visual effect
the image illustrates that a single can is not an insignificant piece of litter. Indeed, it is the sum of millions of “little bits” that transforms the seas and oceans into harbors of garbage. The other images depict various types of litter commonly found in our oceans, such as shoes, detergent packaging, tires or jerry cans. The “Be proud” collection, on the second wall, is focused not on the marine litter but on the volunteers. Friends, couples, families… everybody is smiling ostensibly, showing their pleasure and joy to contribute to the fight against marine litter. This collection delivers an intentionally positive message about volunteering for beach and river cleanups, emphasizing the volunteers and their achievements. In a tribute to them, Surfrider wants to make them proud of their field contribution. The tone is humorous—the volunteers catch marine litter as if it was fish.
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
This second collection is composed of one large canvas (148 * 100 cm) and three medium canvases (75 * 53 cm). The large canvas shows two people, proud of having caught a sandal that vaguely looks like a jellyfish. In the other images, fishermen have caught a detergent bottle, a sofa and a boot. The plastic waste campaign gallery, on the third wall, is a set of six creative advertisements involving plastic waste. In this selection, we highlight the emblematic «jellyfish» image in the campaign against single-use plastic bags.
The highly aesthetic approach of this collection traps us like a turtle. It underscores the beauty of ocean fauna corrupted by plastic waste, and throws into question our behavior and consumption. The first poster ‘Don’t let pollution take over’, features a child who uses a tire as a floatie, while the second poster depicts a child listening to the sound of the sea through a plastic bottle as if it was a shell. It stirs our thoughts regarding the future generations and the harmful consequences for them if we don’t reduce pollution now. “Glove” humorously reminds us that waste neither picks itself up nor takes itself to the beach; while “Everything must go” shows us that behind each product that we buy, hides trash that we throw away. It is meant to mobilize people by playing on the ingrained reflexes associated with consumer advertising. Finally, “Don’t turn the ocean into garbage” depicts an octopus that looks suspiciously like a trash bag. The exhibition is held from November, 15th to December 4th at the European Commission office, Berlaymont building, Hall 1st Floor & Lifts, 200 Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat / 1040 Brussels . The vernissage takes place from 12 am to 2 pm.
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
There’s no such thing as a little marine pollution (2010) Dimensions: 148 * 100 cm Art Director: Sébastien Guinet Copywriter: Josselin Pacreau Creative Directors: Jorge Carreño Robin de Lestrade Photographer: Ben Stockley Retoucher: Asile
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
Dimensions: 80 * 53 cm
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
Be proud (2012) Dimensions: 148 * 100 cm Art Director: Guillaume Auboyneau Copywriters: Ugo Fossa Éric Lavenac Photographer: Ilario-Magali Creative Directors: Jorge Carreño Robin de Lestrade Retoucher: Asile
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Dimensions: 75 * 53 cm
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Jellyfishes (2005) Dimensions: 60 * 80 cm
Art Director/Copywriter: Emmanuel Lalleve Florent Imbert Creative Director: HervĂŠ Riffault
Photographer: Laziz Hamani
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
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Don’t turn the ocean into garbage (2006)
Dimensions: 60 * 80 cm Art Director: Éric Thomé Copywriter: Alexandre Hildebrand
Creative Director: Hervé Riffault Photographer: Laziz Hamani
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let pollution take over (2009) Art Directors: Emmanuel Courteau Constanza Brigante Gilles Rivollier
Creative Directors: Les Six Photographer: John Offenbach
Dimensions: 153* 100 cm Retoucher: Fred Perrot
Nice to Sea? Exhibition
Dimensions: 80 * 53 cm
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
Glove (2007) Dimensions: 80 * 53 cm Art Director: Guillaume Auboyneau Copywriter: Pierre-Philippe Sardon Creative Directors: Les Six Photographer: RĂŠgis Fialaire
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Nice to Sea? Exhibition
Everything must go (2011) Dimensions: 80 * 53 cm Art Director: Grégory Jeanjacquot Copywriter: Nicolas Gérard Creative Directors: Éric Hélias Laurent Bodson Illustrator 3D: Baptiste Massé / Mécanique G.
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acknowledgments Surfrider Foundation Europe would like to express its very warm thanks to the European Commission and especially to European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik for his kind offer to host ˇ Surfrider Foundation Europe’s exhibition “Nice to Sea?” in the European Commission and his support for this 18th edition of Surfrider Ocean Initiatives. Surfrider Foundation would also like to thank the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics team for its valuable support in the organisation of this exhibition. Surfrider Foundation wishes to thank as well Y&R Paris for its support and collaboration in the communication materials. Finally, Surfrider Foundation would like to thank all the ambassadors and volunteers who support Surfrider and help keep the ocean clean.
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Nice to Sea? Practical Information
PRACTICAL INFORMATION 15 NOVEMBER • 12 – 2 PM
« NICE TO SEA? » ART EXHIBITION
ˇ Opening by Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Environment. On this occasion, Ambassadors of the Surfrider Foundation will deliver a Petition against singleuse plastic bags.
From November, 15th to December, 4th. European Commission Berlaymont, Hall 1st Floor & Lifts 200, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 1040 Brussels
SURFRIDER Foundation europe BRUSSELS 26 Edimbourg street - 1050 Ixelles (Belgium) bruxelles@surfrider.eu // +32 2 893 10 53 Contact: Antidia Citores - acitores@surfrider.eu - + 33 6 32 68 90 36
© Sufrider Foundation Europe / Y&R Paris Text and graphic design by: Surfrider Foundation Europe The pictures of this publication are part of the exhibition « Nice to Sea? » at Berlaymont. Surfrider organizes this exhibition in co-operation with Y&R Paris, OIB (Office for Insfrastructure and Logistics, (Brussels) and European Commission. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without permission.
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HELP US KEEP THE OCEAN CLEAN