It’s estimated that around 171 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans, not including the amount that has sunk below the surface.
To address plastic pollution, YouTubers Mark Rober and MrBeast collaborated with two major U.S. ocean conservation organizations, Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup, to launch the fundraising campaign “TeamSeas.” Their campaign successfully raised millions of dollars, leading to the removal of 17,000 tons of ocean trash.
Launched in October 2021, TeamSeas brought together content creators from 145 countries with a combined following of over 1 billion people to tackle ocean and river pollution.
The funds raised through the campaign were allocated to two non-profit organizations: The Ocean Cleanup and Ocean Conservancy.
Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, said, “TeamSeas aligns perfectly with our mission to reduce plastic in the oceans. The donations will support the expansion of our Interceptor technology to prevent riverine plastic from entering the seas.”
TeamSeas utilized social media to achieve significant results, removing 17,000 tons of trash from oceans and rivers and raising global awareness about plastic pollution.
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) commented, “TeamSeas shows the power of collective action. We’ve successfully removed 34,080,191 pounds of trash—4 million pounds more than our goal—verified by an independent third party.”
Over 1000 influencers from 145 countries joined TeamSeas’ initiative
TeamSeas builds on MrBeast’s earlier environmental efforts. In 2019, after reaching 20 million subscribers on YouTube, MrBeast was inspired by a follower’s suggestion to use his platform for environmental impact. He partnered with former NASA engineer Mark Rober and the Arbor Day Foundation to launch the TeamTrees campaign.
TeamTrees raised over $24 million, with significant support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who donated $1 million, drawing widespread attention to the initiative.
By 2022, TeamTrees had successfully planted over 23 million trees globally, including in the U.S., Canada, Haiti, Nicaragua, Kenya, Madagascar, Indonesia, and Nepal.
Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation, remarked, “We are proud to be the official planting partner for TeamTrees. MrBeast, Mark Rober, and many other YouTubers inspired over half a million people to support tree planting and environmental action.”
MrBeast stated, “We mobilized the internet to plant 20 million trees, and we’ve achieved that goal! This effort goes beyond mere hashtags and shows real impact.”
Oceans are one of the most important ecosystems on the planet, yet every year, about 11 million tons of plastic waste escapes into waters. According to a new study, nearly 1,300 different marine species have been documented with plastics in their bodies and if the situation doesn’t change, most fish species will be extinct by 2048.
Maybe such initiatives as TeamSeas are not a silver bullet for global plastic pollution and climate change, yet it’s becoming crucial to take collective action in order to make a remarkable positive impact on our planet and save it for future generations.
