Numerous books, films, and even a song and poem have been produced to tell the story of the 1992 rubber duck spill. Many accounts have explored the event as a curiosity, while others have focused on teaching about the problem of plastic in the oceans. This essay examines a variety of the accounts of that singular incident of plastic waste entering the ocean and how its results have influenced efforts to educate people— especially children— about the connections between plastic consumerism and plastic ocean pollution. To become more effective, education attempts must focus on integrative learning techniques, ones which at once acknowledge the complexity of ocean plastic pollution and connect it with people’s everyday lives, particularly the decisions they make about their personal plastic use.

The problem

The media is awash with reports on ocean plastic pollution. For instance, on 11 September 2020, a newsfeed reprinted an article reporting on “a growing island in the North Pacific— one that consists solely of trash,” one that “presents the shocking reality of the magnitude and composition of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Highlighting the increasing mass and density of the island, its name shortened to GPGP, the article links the effects with the cause: our everyday use of plastics. It begins “Single-use plastics plague our modern daily lives. They are cheap to produce, convenient, and sanitary— it’s no wonder why we produce a little over 300 million tons of plastic globally every year.” Revealing the environmental impact of the disposal of plastic waste, the article explains plastic’s effects on the oceans:

It then details how the GPGP, estimated to be “1.6 km— more than twice the size of Texas,” was studied, using two planes and eighteen vessels trawling 652 nets over three months.