Colorado Return Final Post Sculpture made from trash from the ocean

My last day in Colorado we went to see, “Washed Ashore, Art to Save the Sea.” The traveling exhibit at the Denver Zoo.

The exhibit features 15 giant sculptures of sea life made almost entirely from trash collected from beaches.

It was developed by the nonprofit group The Washed Ashore Project to create awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution through art.

The sculptures were amazing!

From their website:

We collect trash that has been removed from beaches through volunteer community cleanups. This trash is then washed, sorted and prepared for the creation process. Each sculpture is designed and directed by a professional artist and then formed through a collaboration of Washed Ashore team members, volunteers and students.

A work of art is born. From tons of plastic pollution, monumental sculptures have arisen to awaken the hearts and minds of viewers to the marine debris crisis.

Our art pieces and educational programs travel the nation to inspire change in consumer habits.

About 300 million pounds of plastic is produced globally each year and less than 10 percent of that is recycled.

It is difficult to estimate how long it will take our trash to decompose. For some estimates take a look at this list in NOAA’s Guidebook to Beach and Waterway Cleanups.

Every year we add millions of pounds of plastic to our oceans that collect in gyres. What is a gyre?

An ocean gyre is a large, slow-spinning vortex of ocean currents caused by trade winds and the earth’s constant rotation. There are five major gyres in the world’s oceans that collect, churn and disperse millions of tons of plastic pollution from every continent. Rather than an island or garbage patch, the world’s ocean gyres are a constantly moving “plastic soup” with plastics found in every depth of the water column.

Sea turtles and other marine life can mistake plastic for food.

Plastic pollution in our oceans and waterways is a global crisis. Each year, sea birds, whales, seals, sea turtles and other marine life die after ingesting plastic or becoming entangled in it. Plastic pollution has spread into all marine habitats and every level of the food chain. According to a report released by the World Economic Forum and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, at our current rate, we can expect to have more plastic than fish, by weight, in the world’s oceans by 2050.

Can we turn this around? It seems doubtful.

Colorado Return Part 5 John Denver Sanctuary and Indepence Pass

Could not visit without driving up to the Maroon Bells and to Ashcroft.

They have created this peaceful sanctuary to honor John Denver in downtown Aspen across from the post office.

Large boulders with lyrics from his songs.

We had the privilege to spend quite a bit of time with him, Michael worked for him at Windstar. He was a very nice and genuine man.

We headed back to Denver over Independence Pass and stopped at the Grottos.

Deb and I decided we were too old to climb down into the grottos so here are a couple photos of it I found on the web.

Back to my photos....

It was beautiful and scary enough to make you catch your breath. Yes I think I could take the RV over it when I drive it out there sometime!

Leadville hasn't changed much, they have 10 months of winter and 2 months of fall at their elevation. Would not want to live there!

Colorado Return Part 4 Aspen

Yes there were a lot of new buildings in Aspen but it pretty much seemed the same as when we were there.

There are some neat sculptures, like this man, around town. They made you do a double take!

We stayed at the Limelight, a beautiful property in a great location. Park your car and walk everywhere in town.

The view out our hotel room window!

The Wheeler Opera House. We saw a lot of great performances there in the 80s. It was renovated in about 1985 and they are getting ready to do it again.

The

Top of the Pitkin County Court House. It used to be if you were approached at the post office and asked if you lived here - you said no - if you said yes they would hand you a summons to go immediately to the courthouse to serve jury duty.

I used to work at the Aspen Times, loved it. The Jerome has purchased the site for expansion.

One of the few funky shops left in Aspen.

The Explore Booksellers. Katherine Thalberg owned it in the 80s and she really liked me for some reason. I did drawings of her homes and shop. It's now owned by a non profit from Denver and has the same wonderful selection of books and feel as it used to have.