In London, a Grim Warning About Ocean Plastics

In the near future, taking a dip in the ocean could be more like thrashing in the ball pit at McDonald’s. A conservative estimate puts more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the seas, degrading into ever-smaller fragments but never decomposing and fatally clogging the guts of birds, whales, and many other creatures who mistake it for food.

Now Londoners out taking a stroll can get a nauseating reminder of the ravages of oceanic pollution, via Jason deCaires Taylor’s new public artwork “Plasticide.” The concrete sculpture, which sits by the National Theatre, presents a family of four on a beach picnic, the parents smiling blissfully while surrounded by a flock of seagulls vomiting plastic. (The puke is actually made from trash found around the Spanish island of Lanzarote.) The despondent children look less oblivious—perhaps an indication they know this will be their generation’s problem next.