10 July 2012

Plastic Pelican Pete

Pelican Pete at Shem Creek, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Made entirely from commonly discarded plastic items, Pelican Pete mans the entrance to the Shem Creek boardwalk.
From the tires at the base of the sculpture, to his bottle-capped beak, Pete the Pelican is covered by marine trash to raise awareness of the ever-growing problem of marine debris and how it affects local waterways and sea life.

Pete provides a glimpse of the trash that pervades coastal waterways. Trash that gets into the ocean eventually ends up ashore or trapped in ocean currents in a huge whirlpool created by converging currents. These current convergences, or gyres, are places where garbage and wildlife both gather. Mixed with the seaweed are fragments of plastic which can entangle and hurt wildlife. When the plastic degrades and becomes brittle, it breaks down into smaller particles that are ingested by wildlife.
The top six items listed on the International Coastal Cleanup’s 2011 Marine Debris report include cigarettes, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bags, caps, food wrappers and plastic dinnerware.

6 comments:

Catalyst said...

Pete is a good way to remind the less mindful of us.

Holy City Sinner said...

Hahaha very creative and a creative way to remind people not to litter!

Charlestonjoan said...

Thanks for all the comments. I am in Chicago with little access. I left a couple photos to post while away. Back on sunday with photos.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha, I just took the same photo last week. I love that park at Shem Creek, how nice to walk so far out, such a nice place to take photos!! Hope you are having a big time in the windy city!

Unknown said...

And now the trash from the Japanese tsunami will be added. The oceans seem so vast, and they are, but humans are encroaching with their debris at an alarming rate. Space junk will someday be a big problem too, I think.

Marcheline said...

I wish my dad were still around to see this. His name was Pete, and he always loved having his picture taken in front of anything (stores, trucks, bars, and pelicans) that had his name. Every time I drive past Pete's Luncheonette in my town, I remember taking a picture of him in front of the sign.