Nowadays, walking along the beaches in Cornwall in the south-west of england, you can pick up such small toys from time to time...
such...
And this...
Some people probably recognize that these are common LEGO bricks, but they can be found everywhere on this beach, and this has been the case for many years.
This is certainly not a gift from nature:
Twenty-five years ago, a container ship had an accident in nearby waters, and nearly 5 million Lego bricks fell into the sea.
It was February 13, 1997, when the container ship of the Tokyo Transportation Company departed from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and when it sailed 30 kilometers from Lands Point in Cornwall, England, it unfortunately encountered a once-in-a-century monstrous wave.
This container ship was large enough to still be tilted 60 degrees to one side by the huge waves, and after returning to the position, it was deflected 40 degrees to the other, and after several big bumps, the 62 containers on the freighter fell into the sea.
One of the dropped containers contained nearly 5 million LEGO bricks, which had been sent to North America by LEGO from a Factory in Denmark.
Over the next few days, 5 million LEGO bricks poured into the sea, some of which were washed away by the waves on Cornwall Beach, and nearby residents began to pick up these "lost LEGO bricks" continuously.
Since then, going to the beach to find "lost LEGO bricks" has gradually become a great pleasure for children in Cornwall and Devon.
Ms. Tracey Williams, who grew up in this area, was one of the children who searched for Lego bricks.
As a child, she used to go to the beach with her friends, pick up a bucket of plastic dragons, take it to a stall, and sell it to others for 10p each.
Years later, Williams grew up, moved to work, and faded away from his childhood hobbies.
In 2010, Williams moved back to cornwall's waterfront town, and childhood memories resurfaced, she walked around the beach a few times, and soon picked up a bright yellow LEGO lifeboat, and she was surprised to realize:
Thirteen years later, the beach can still pick up the "lost LEGO bricks"...
For Williams, who has grown up, these plastic blocks that are still drifting in the sea are no longer childhood fun.
They are a huge threat to marine life and the environment.
Williams also found that in addition to the large number of lost Lego bricks, there were more toothbrushes, bottles, and rope buoys, either from nearby boats or left by people walking and playing by the sea.
Since then, Williams has gone to Cornwall's fishing villages and beaches to pick up plastic waste in search of "lost Lego bricks."
Among the plastic garbage she picked up was both people's garbage and Lego bricks. Familiar people nearby nicknamed Williams "Miss Lego."
Picking it up, Williams suddenly realized, why not share this idea and let people with the same hobbies come to the beach, pick up Lego and clean up the garbage at the same time?
So in 2013, Williams built a facebook group called "Lost Lego in the Sea", which soon became a fire on Facebook, and more and more people flocked to the group to share the "lost Lego bricks" and other interesting things they picked up at the beach, as well as the garbage they cleaned up.
Sure enough, there are many people and great powers, and after 2013, everyone has collected a lot of all kinds of gadgets.
Can put together N series of themes...
As the cleanup progressed, Williams became more aware of the terrible harm to the ocean caused by the plastic waste thrown away by humans, and the plastic (toys) found in the "Lego in the Sea" group may even be as long as 1923.
A batch of plastic toys from half a century ago...
Williams sighed:
"If no one cleans it up, this plastic waste will continue to exist in the sea for hundreds or even thousands of years..."
This reinforces Williams' determination to carry out the "Lego in the Sea" action, and over the years, in addition to Lego bricks, the rest of the plastic waste has also been very profitable.
Ice cream spoon
Curling barrel
toothbrush...
After "Lego in the Sea" became popular on Facebook, some Americans even flew to Cornwall to pick up Lego bricks, and some people sent pictures from the other side of the world to show how far the "lost Lego" drifted with the ocean currents...
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an American marine geographer, has long been eager to track the direction of these bricks as they drift with the currents and track their destinations.
After the "Lego in the Sea" group was on fire, Dr. Ebbesmeyer also collected the data he needed through this group.
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer
In early 2021, someone picked up this batch of Lego, an iconic black dragon, in the Spanish sea.
Earlier, a Lego black octopus was also found off the coast of Texas, USA, and the shape showed that it also belonged to the "lost Lego" batch.
This year marks 25 years since the 5 million LEGO bricks sank into the sea in 1997, and Tracey Williams and LEGO in the Sea still haven't stopped picking lego bricks on the beach.
Because, this is not only the fun of finding "lost toys", but also a responsibility to protect the ocean...