07/13/2026
We must learn that when we throw things AWAY that that is where we live!
At 18, Boyan Slat gave a TED talk about cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. People called it impossible. At 19, he dropped out of aerospace engineering to found The Ocean Cleanup. The early prototypes failed — booms broke, plastic escaped, critics celebrated. But the team kept iterating like true engineers. Today, their giant U-shaped floating barriers sweep the Pacific gyre while their "Interceptor" machines catch trash in the world's most polluted rivers before it ever reaches the sea, since rivers carry the majority of ocean-bound plastic. Combined, the organization has now removed tens of millions of kilograms of waste, and aims to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. Everything they collect is recycled, some into products that fund more cleanup. The lesson: the fact that something has never been done doesn't mean it can't be. Sometimes it just means a teenager hasn't tried yet.
At 18, Boyan Slat gave a TED talk about cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. People called it impossible. At 19, he dropped out of aerospace engineering to found The Ocean Cleanup. The early prototypes failed — booms broke, plastic escaped, critics celebrated. But the team kept iterating like true engineers. Today, their giant U-shaped floating barriers sweep the Pacific gyre while their "Interceptor" machines catch trash in the world's most polluted rivers before it ever reaches the sea, since rivers carry the majority of ocean-bound plastic. Combined, the organization has now removed tens of millions of kilograms of waste, and aims to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. Everything they collect is recycled, some into products that fund more cleanup. The lesson: the fact that something has never been done doesn't mean it can't be. Sometimes it just means a teenager hasn't tried yet.
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