Voice of the Sea News

If the sea has words,
what would it tell us?

It is a tragic reality that the plastic waste human beings have produced is taking the lives of living creatures.

We want to speak in a loud voice on behalf of the sea which is suffering in silence.

We created a newspaper with an unprecedented size of 50m in length × 35m in width.

Our newspaper was created in the midst of nature, by carving it in a shallow ditch that we made on the beach.

"Voice of the Sea News" Article Content

The sea does not speak. So, I will speak in its place. Currently, the lives of many creatures in the sea are being taken. The cause is plastic. Plastic bags, plastic bottles, styrofoam... 8 million tons of plastic used in everyday life are dumped in places like rivers and the ocean every year, and remains floating as garbage. By swallowing or being entangled in plastic garbage, about 700 species of animals including sea turtles, seabirds, seals, and fish are harmed and killed.
What is troublesome is that once put into the sea, plastic garbage takes hundreds of years to decompose, and it remains to burden future generations. It takes about 400 years for a plastic bottle to decompose. Fishing line takes roughly an enormous 600 years. Plastic garbage is broken down over a long period by things like ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and the ocean's waves. Upon becoming microplastics, which are less than five millimeters in length, they can be taken in by creatures without even being noticed. It is still not clear what effects this can have.
The amount of plastic garbage is only continuing to rise. It is even said that if we continue on this course without taking any countermeasures, the amount of garbage in the sea will surpass the amount of fish. We Japanese are also largely responsible. Japan produces the second most garbage per person. In order to rectify this, we have to take a good hard look at what is happening in the ocean. We need to think about things we have been ignoring as a result of prioritizing economic growth, everyday convenience, and such. Not throwing away garbage. Reusing. Raising your voice. Continuing to think. It is clear what has to be done. The ocean has granted us so many blessings, and so much happiness. What can we give it in return?

Production footages

Production took 11 days in total.
We made drawings on Iioka Beach in Chiba prefecture.
Under the guidance of the sand artist Mr. Toshihiko Hosaka, local residents and students came together with many others to create this wonderful work.

Published news manuscript

[Special Thanks] Everyone from Executive Committee of the Asahi Sand Sculpture Art Exhibition, local volunteers, and students

[References] WWF Japan Website "On the problem of marine plastic," Neufeld, L., et al. (2016), Gall&Thompson (2015), NOAA Marine Debris Program, Ocean Conservancy, SC Sea Grant, UNEP (2018), Production volume of thermoplastics and polyurethane materials. Plastics Europe (2017)

※Corrections have been made to some images.

Making-of video footage