Halfway between Hawaii and California floats the world’s largest ocean dump.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of an estimated 100,000 tonnes of plastic covering an area twice the size of Texas, according to environmental non-profit The Ocean Cleanup. The 1.8 trillion pieces floating in the Pacific Ocean, the organization says, are the equivalent of 250 pieces for every human on Earth.
In 2018, Penny Caldwell was sailing from Hawaii to Victoria. She deliberately chose a route that avoided the patch, but over the 15-day journey began noticing barrels and fishing gear floating in remote locations nowhere close to land.
“Initially I was kind of like, ‘Oh, how much of this is is real?’ How much of this are we being fed that, ‘oh there’s this big garbage plastic issue in the ocean,’ and how much of it is really tangible? I saw the tangible side of it.
“Ever since that trip, I’ve always thought, ‘OK, there’s got to be something more that we can do.’”
Caldwell of Nelson, B.C., will get her chance to make a difference this year. In November and December, she will join United Kingdom-based eXXpedition on a research trip to Chile and Antarctica. There, Caldwell will assist in studying the environmental impact of microplastics on the coast and ocean.
Plastic pollution in the world’s water sources is a growing environmental crisis. Plastic is not biodegradable, but it does break down in microplastics that are in turn ingested by aquatic wildlife and humans. In 2024, the United Nations Environment Programme reported 11 million metric tons of plastics enter the oceans each year. The U.N. estimates there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by mid-century.
The group eXXpedition is an all-women team of sailors and scientists who map the scale of plastic pollution in remote waters. Caldwell had previously applied and been selected to join a trip to Mauritius, but that was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, eXXpedition was asked if she’d be willing to join them for one of two journeys to either the Caribbean or Antarctica, the latter requiring a trip through the infamously treacherous Drake Passage.
She picked penguins over beaches.
“I’m one of those crazy sailors. It’s such a remote and unique place to travel.”
Caldwell grew up on sailboats. Her grandfather was a sailor, and her family spent summers sailing the St. Lawrence River near Montreal. Sailing became her passion, and in 1995 she became a coach with Sail Canada. A little over a decade ago Caldwell moved to Nelson and saw a need for sailing instruction on Kootenay Lake.
Her company Sail Nelson, which she operates with her husband Matt and is in its ninth year of operations, provides courses for everyone from beginner sailors who don’t have a boat of their own to experienced owners who realize they still have more to learn.
The job has provided Caldwell with plenty of time to notice pollution in Kootenay Lake, where annual cleanup efforts attempt to reduce shards of Styrofoam used to float docks and over 100 pounds of garbage will be removed from the shore.
Caldwell said the issue is acute during the annual spring rise of water levels on Kootenay Lake, which collects items like chairs left on beaches.
“Those of us who live on the water, we kind of laugh because it’s like, ‘What did the water gods give you this year?’”
On her trip, Caldwell and other researchers will trace plastics found in the ocean back to their sources on the shore. That data will be used to inform communities about where pollution is occurring and needs to be addressed. When she returns to Nelson, Caldwell said she hopes to bring some of her learnings into local classrooms.
During her 2018 trip in the Pacific Ocean, Caldwell saw plenty of plastic. But she also spotted whales, albatross and even porpoises that glowed with bioluminescence at night as they dove alongside her ship.
“When you have those kinds of experiences, they’re really unique and you want to conserve them. The water’s my playground. It’s in my best interest to make sure that I’m a steward for it and that it’s going to be around for a very, very long time.”