Wish you were here
Trash Isles
I find the fact that there is an area of plastic rubbish/trash floating in the North Pacific the size of France both incredibly shocking and very sad. When I first came across this campaign I was completely unaware that this ‘plastic-slick’ even existed – I simply knew that there is far too much plastic in our oceans and something needs to be done about it. I am by no means an eco-warrior but always try to do my little bit for the environment by recycling rubbish wherever I can, saving water, turning off unused lights so I guess you could say I’m ‘environmentally-minded’.
The campaign was based on submitting an application to the UN to recognise the Trash Isles as an official country, then hopefully this would compel other nations to clean it up.
I think the whole concept is genius and the thought that has gone into the supporting creative fits perfectly. The campaign designed everything that makes up a country’s brand identity from its flag and currency to postage stamps and the citizen’s passports.
By becoming a citizen of the Trash Isles you were showing your support for clearing it up. They even managed to get celebrities with real environmental clout to publicise the campaign such as Sir David Attenborough and Al Gore.
Unfortunately the petition is now closed so you can no longer sign up, but they managed to get over 240,000 supporters and the campaign reached half a billion people.
Tom