Storyboard and UX

Tech and Narrative

There is more plastic on our planet than ever before.  Almost everything that we buy and use comes to us in plastic.  This plastic ends up in our ocean and can break down, but it remains plastic.  There is much less red plastic found than any other color, because it looks like food.  There are 5 major ocean currents, or gyres that accumulate the plastic, and due to absorption of toxic chemicals such as PCBs and DDTs the trash not only directly kills sea life but also indirectly by poisoning the food chain.  We are part of that food chain. Plastic pollution researchers say that we need to focus on prevention, because a clean up operation would be too large and expensive and getting the plastic back to land would not be cost effective.

That's when Boyan Slat decided he would tackle the issue.  He built a troll, a device used to measure the amount of plastics in the water by trailing a mesh net behind a boat, and found that there are 40% more minute particles than larger ones. With a finer mesh there could be captive plankton that would need to be returned to the ocean.  Using centrifugal force the plankton and zooplankton could be separated.  They performed tests to determine up to which depth the particles resided in the water column. Data was needed to determine exactly how much plastic needed to be cleaned.  It would amount to the weight of 1000 Eiffel towers.  The top researcher hypothesized it would take 79000 years.  Slats invention could clean the mess up in 5 years using the power of the ocean itself.  If the ships were fixed to the sea bed the currents could move through the nets.  Designed after the manta rays, the stations would be powered by solar and hydrodynamic means.  The currents would drag the plastics into the nets and sea life would be able to go around or under the nets safely.  If the plastics retrieved by the stations were sold they could generate over 500 million dollars.  That is much more than the plan would cost to execute.

Narrative:

The young man stood on the edge of the manta ray shaped platform.  He gazed into the place where the water meets the sky.  Emotions ran through him with every heart beat.  “Ive done it,” he thinks to himself.  The water around him starts to boil.   Boyan peers though the beams of light tough enough to permeate the surface.  Life. Creatures. Something.  Eyes beckon for shapes in the crystalline water. Without focus they receive sprays of rainbow mist..  its a school of dolphins.  

Tiny silver fish splash about here and there as larger beautiful porpoises leap throughout with seemingly abundant joy.  The emotions of the planet seemed to be conveyed through these creatures.  The sun was setting. The wind was picking up. His dog yelped quietly and settled down in the whirring currents of the whipping air. Something was happening. Something strange and beautiful.  The young man could not help but think about his mission.  His goal was to help the ocean... and something strange was definitely happening there.

Fish started to zoom past his head in rapid succession. There were fish everywhere! And dolphins! And Whales! The creatures raced toward the drag nets, jumped over or swam under and rejoiced in spectacular celebration on the other side.  

A peaceful warmth fell over the young man as the sun descended into its own glowing reflection on the horizon.

invention

    A 19 year old Boyan Slat initiated a project that could analyze the plastic particles in the ocean, sort them from the organic living matter, and separate the particles so that they can be recycled.  The device could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic from the worlds oceans. He unveiled the idea at  TEDxDelft 2012.  There are several garbage patches where the technology could be utilized, improving many aspects of human life as well as the impact that we have on the ocean.

• The project can remove plastic from the ocean at an incredible rate
• The project utilizes the natural properties of the environment to power it
• The project is actually profitable
• A few of these placed in strategic places around the world could clean the ocean in a manner of years, not decades
• The world will be a healthier, better place for everyone

Film to life to Nuke HW