Midway Island, a small atoll nestled in the North Pacific Ocean, is home to one of the largest albatross populations in the world. When Chris Jordan, an environmental photographer, arrived on Midway to document the effects of pollution on the birds, he quickly realized just how much trouble the albatross are actually in. The powerful images and messages Jordan initially captured were so powerful, in fact, the focus of the project quickly moved to a feature length documentary film, aptly titled Midway. The film, which was made possible by a very successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $110,000, is currently in production, but you can catch a sneak peak:
It is estimated that 98 percent of the albatross on Midway have ingested plastic which the birds mistook for food. About 40 percent of all chicks hatched on the island will die prematurely due to suffocation, dehydration, starvation, or toxicity from the plastics.
Because of the careless littering from humans and Midway’s proximity to the Pacific Garbage Patch, the Midway albatross are facing a life threatening situation–one that Chris Jordan hopes his photography will help raise awareness for.
Aware of the magnitude a strong image can have on a person, such as the above photo, many of the images Jordan has taken gives an unsettling look at the wide variety of trash a single bird consumes.
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What are we to do in order to clean up the trash on Midway?