Founder of the fashion label Point Off View Marina Testino is challenging Instagrammers to bare all to raise awareness around microplastics this summer.
Marina Testino has started an eye-popping digital campaign to raise awareness around microplastics. She’s joined forces with video artist Danilo to launch #WeSeaThrough, which is both an investigation into how microplastics in oceans may be causing hidden harm and a search for solutions to the environmental problems they contribute to.
It’s estimated that 5.25 trillion tonnes of plastic are currently in our oceans, and a third of those come from synthetic fibres, often used in clothing. In 2016, it was reported that if the current rate of plastic pollution continues, by 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Marina says: “I’ve realized that the old saying, ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you’ is absolutely not true. What we don’t know is hurting our environment and us too. But it’s not always easy to know about the things we can’t see, which is why we created #WeSeaThrough”.
As part of the campaign, Marina is posting a provocative photo on her Instagram each day for 30 days. Other than some carefully placed plastic, she will be completely nude in each shot as she highlights the effects that small everyday choices have on the environment and aims to grab attention across the internet.
“We’ve all seen the disturbing images of plastics clogging our shorelines.. They’ve made us more aware of how plastics are harming our oceans and marine life, and thankfully, people are beginning to act. But the naked truth is that we are harming the sea without knowing it, in ways that we often can’t even see.”
Marina is challenging the world to join the campaign, encouraging individuals to take a nude photo of themselves partially covered by a plastic item and share it on Instagram. If full on nudity isn’t for you, you can dress in plastic or post a subtler version including a piece of plastic. Then simply tag @MarinaTestino and #WeSeaThrough, and share a fact about microplastics. You can also tag a friend and challenge them to join the campaign.
In preparation for the campaign, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation shared insights and information with Marina. “I recently became aware that the pollution we are able to see with the naked eye is only the tip of the iceberg. George Leonard, chief scientist for the ocean conservancy, has estimated that there could be already 1.4 quadrillion microfibers in our seas,” she says.
Marina also encourages participants to pledge to change one daily habit that can help to alleviate the environmental harm caused by microplastics, such as cleaning your clothes with enviromentally-friendly products and using a plastic catcher, swapping single-use plastic for resusable items, and avoid buying products containing polyester, acrylic and polyamide.