Today YouTubers MrBeast, Mark Rober and thousands of other creators are joining together to launch TeamSeas, a crowd-funded campaign with the goal of raising $30 million dollars by January 1 to remove 30 million pounds of trash from rivers, beaches and our ocean. Ocean Conservancy has been chosen as the beaches and ocean partner for the campaign a testament to our 36 year history of mobilizing the International Coastal Cleanup and, more recently, removing lost and discarded fishing gear from waters around the world through our Ghost Global Gear work. Yes, the problem of ocean plastic pollution is massive. More than 11 million metric tons of plastics flow into our ocean every year (thats more than a garbage trucks worth per minute!), and plastics are ending up everywhere from the deepest ocean trenches to the most remote Arctic ice sheets. And while the problem looks most acute in places with limited or minimal waste collection and recycling systems, the truth is we all have a role to play, no matter where we are in the world. Plastic pollution on shorelines often originates upstream, even from other countries (including the United States) that export their unwanted plastic waste abroad. Thats why its critical that we cut back on single use plastics and improve waste collection and recycling systems everywhere. As we did in the DR, all the plastics and other trash removed will be carefully weighed prior to being properly disposed of and, where possible, recycled. Whether using hand-scales to go bag by bag using our mobile data app, Clean Swell, to calculate the weight of collected items or using professional scales to weigh dumpsters and garbage trucks at the final waste processing facility every item of trash counts towards our TeamSeas goal of 30 million pounds.Thats why we hope that everyone who pledges to TeamSeas joins us to take the next step to truly solve the ocean plastics crisis join a cleanup, sign up for our emails and advocacy alerts to stay in touch and help us encourage the passage of meaningful policies that eliminate single use plastics, strengthen our recycling systems and make a difference for the ocean. Every pound, every dollar and every action matters. So please join us and Ill see you on the beach soon!