A free 2017 calendar, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, features winning artwork in a contest that focuses on the problem of trash in the ocean, otherwise known as marine debris.
All pictures on this page courtesy of NOAA
More than 700 students from around the country participated in the contest, and one of the 13 winners was a seventh grader from Washington state named Sallie S. Neither her full name nor hometown was disclosed, and I never received a response to an email sent to her on my behalf by NOAA officials.
Sallie’s statement on the back of the calendar: “Marine debris impacts our oceans and Great Lakes, because the plastic and other garbage could badly injure or kill the sea animals. What I will do to keep our ocean debris free is to not litter. Not littering is very important, because if you litter the debris can go into drains, then it can go into the lake or the sea. Then once it goes in the sea, ocean organisms could then die.”
