Pharrell Williams, the Grammy-winning artist behind that infectious tune “Happy”, is challenging all of us to join him in a campaign to stop throwing plastic products – especially bottles – into the ocean. Marine debris is killing our oceans, and we can join with Pharrell’s “RAW for the Ocean” project to bring that crime against Mother Nature to a halt.

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem. The latest research estimates that there are over 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our seas. That is over 250,000 tons, or roughly 700 pieces of plastic for every human on earth. 3.5 million pieces of plastic end up in the ocean every single day. Americans alone consume 10 billion gallons of water from plastic bottles, but annually recycle only 20%. The rest usually end up in the ocean. We have to make this stop.

Fortunately, the waters around Costa Rica are not among the most affected by plastic pollution, but it is incumbent upon all of us living here to keep it that way. As Pharrell states, Happy Oceans = Happy Life, or to quote a well-known to Costa Rica conservationist, Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, “If our oceans die, we die.”

Here’s what Pharrell is doing to help:

Pharrell is now the creative director of Bionic Yarn, a recycled textiles-maker, fabricating yarn from plastics found in the ocean, and turning them into designer clothing which look and feel nothing like plastic. The company works with marine debris organizations and recycling companies from around the world to acquire the plastics, then RAW for the Ocean turns them into jeans, jackets, and other cool things. The clothing is, of course, recyclable as well. Bravo.

Pharrell said to National Geographic Ocean Views, “I have a lot to be thankful for, all of the cool things that have happened in my life. We have to give back in some shape and form, and that’s giving back to the Earth…It’s part of sustainability and the cause is to NEVER throw anything – plastics and trash – into the ocean again.”

So what can the rest of us do to help?

Pharrell, in partnership with G-Star Raw, has created a video game you can play on your mobile devices, with free download on the Apple App store and Google Play. It’s called “Battle for Big Blue”, and features a plastic-collecting octopus (Otto), who tries to collect as much plastic from the ocean as possible, all the while dodging marine adversaries, and is set to a soundtrack created by Pharrell himself. We’re talking here about a hip-hop mash-up of bloops and bleeps – videogame music. The game was first released on October 15th of this year; play it with your friends, or see if you can beat Pharrell himself.

This is an educational app, very kid-friendly, which features many alarming facts about the damage of plastics in our oceans. Did you know that there are six times more plastic objects in the ocean than marine life? Or that 90% of seabirds today have plastics in their stomachs? Scary stuff, for sure. But the game is challenging and fun, certainly a great way to educate us and our children on the dangers of ocean plastic pollution.

Let’s hope it will also inspire many of us to put in our earbuds, and walk the beach picking up plastic, while listening to the tune “Happy” and throwing in an occasional dance step a la Pharrell himself.

Here’s the game: G-Star Raw and Pharrell Battle for Big Blue – The Game. And the website is: www.rawfortheoceans.g-star.com/ Make sure to watch the documentary film which supports the game on YouTube: The Plastic Age: A Documentary feat, by Pharrell Williams, who says, “We aim to raise awareness. No one who has played the game will ever throw a plastic bottle in the ocean again.”

About the Author

Carol Blair Vaughn holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts and is a retired professor from Washington, D.C. She inherited her love for Latin America from her father, the former U.S. Ambassador
to Colombia, Panama, and Director of the Peace Corps, Jack Vaughn. Carol writes for the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR) and for an English language club in the southern region of Costa Rica. In the past, Carol served as Editor in Chief of What’s on Tap magazine.