Museum Dedicated to Plastic Opens in NYC Highlighting Environmental Impact

NEW YORK — Single-use plastics become a big part of our everyday life, and more people become aware of the environmental impact of it. On World Ocean Day, a week-long pop-up museum dedicated to plastic has opened its doors in Soho, New York. The museum highlights the environmental impact of plastics and what life could look like if we change our ways. "We use five hundred billion of them [single use plastic bottles] every single year," said Dune Ives. Ives is the Executive Director of Lonely Whale, a non-profit group who launched a new campaign against single used plastic water bottles last week, following their "Stop Sucking" campaign against plastic straws. "Over one hundred thousand marine animals dying every year because a plastic injection or entanglement," she added. The museum shows artwork that exposes the money behind the bottled water industry. And an interactive screen depicting how the ocean would look like in 30 years if we don’t change our ways of using plastics. The museum also shows plastic alternatives and what the ocean could look like when it's plastic-free. "I hope people can see this art and be impacted in a way that will make them question the way that they hydrate," said Max Nova, director Optical Animal and the designer behind the interactive screen. "and decide hopefully to move towards using alternative solutions other than single-use bottles." A free bottle of hydration is available on the way out and a photo booth at the end of the museum, where you can make a pledge to go plastic free. The exhibit is open until June 12.