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No single individual nor organization has the capacity to tackle plastic marine debris by itself. That is why we are constantly looking for synergies and are open for dynamic-partnerships with industries, [e.g. fisheries, shipping, recycling plants] academia and individuals. As both designers and researchers we have the professional skills to generate new and dynamic ways to help bring more awareness into this pressing matter.

Manuel Mansylla: Design Director La Fantastica LLC

Manuel has always felt a strong passion for Nature and a deep connection with the oceans. As an independent artist and designer, his work has been defined by a firm commitment of antiestablishment, promoting the use of re-claimed, recycled and repurposed materials as an answer to unsustainable practices. As an environmental advocate his work revolves around calling into question contemporary lifestyles that now threaten our living environment. For the past years he has been devoted to the remediation of the world’s single-use-plastics-over-consumption.

Jimena Leiva Roesch: UN International Delegate

Jimena is the Second Committee delegate for the Mission of Guatemala to the United Nations in New York.  She works towards advancing the global sustainable development agenda, particularly in the economic and environmental fields. She is an able negotiator and has represented the voice of the developing world in international negotiating processes. Her commitment towards a plastic-less society stems from her early years as a student, where she traveled the world and was impressed by the plastic ridden culture that is propagating in the developing world and is replacing more vernacular ways of life. 

Richard Gonzalez: Project Manager, Urban Design Lab

As an architect and urban designer, Richard is a native to New York City and brings an array of experience on issues effecting the urban environment. Previously, he has worked in the architectural profession designing a diverse mix of projects within New York, the U.S. and abroad. Such project types include master planning, corporate offices, institutional, residential and industrial buildings. With an extensive background on community based projects within Harlem and Washington Heights, he has worked with private organizations and not for profit entities, addressing the social and political needs of the community.

Michael Schouten: University of Amsterdam  

Michael is particularly interested in bringing together people with innovative ideas of societal value, and companies with the resources to executes such ideas. He has been involved with the trash patch since conducting PhD research at Columbia Law School. Having worked as a lawyer for several years, he is currently teaching at the University of Amsterdam and has also been involved in projects aimed at designing innovative ways to finance the transition to a green economy.

Although none of us are neither plastic specialists nor scientists, our diverse backgrounds allow us to maintain a holistic point of view while contributing a different perspective into an overly complex global scenario.

Our Commitment:

♳ practice and promote a plastic-less lifestyle.

♴ visualize the implications of single-use-plastics.

♵ broaden the audience’s scope on plastic pollution.

♶ centralize and harmonize disseminated information.

♷ celebrate novel ideas pinpointing at local and global solutions.

♸ envision plastic waste as a solution for other global challenges.

♹ facilitate discussions among academic and scientific communities.

Thor Raxlen: Director at Lair [Media Production Industry] 

When Thor set out to become a director, his top priority was the marriage of actor performance and visual effects. A veteran director of commercials, music videos, web specials and everything in between. Raxlen has stayed at the forefront of the world of special effects from his first year in the business. Years of editorial experience have caused Raxlen to develop a discerning eye, which keep his shoots smooth and uncluttered with excess and unnecessary scenes. His nine years of experience running Chelsea Digital, a post-production finishing boutique, gave Raxlen a new priority, to create a full service, effects driven production house.

Hannah H. Marcus: B.S. in Urban and Regional Studies

Finding creative solutions to the human need for shelter is what leads Hannah to explore unconventional organizations and activists.  Living her life creatively, often out of necessity, has been the ethos of her professional and extracurricular work.  Currently, she is investigating the potential for certain waste materials to serve as low-cost, low-impact construction materials, which she hopes could be used in the development of affordable housing. She currently works for the New York City Department of City Planning.

Jodie Dinapoli: No Longer Empty 

Jodie is a PHD Candidate at The Fine Arts Department of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, focusing on the study of multi-media installations that include cinema and animation. Currently working as a curator for No Longer Empty, a non-profit organization devoted to the arts in New York. Jodie’s commitment to art as a positive component for community and cultural development, has inspired her to lead a plastic-less life in the city. Drawn to Trash Patch’s mission and energy, she’s helped coordinate our artwork installations, particularly the exhibition Weaving In & Out in East Harlem this Summer.

Lauren Mccarthy: School of the Art Institute of Chicago [SAIC] 

Go to Blog Roll

Ghost’s Anatomy:

Ping Pong Plastic:

Not All is Made of Plastic:

Tabula Rasa:

Our Trash: