A mountain of filth lies within our world ocean. This is no exaggeration. It’s more of an understatement: there is a mass of marine debris in the Pacific the size of a continent. The oceans are controlled by a system of surface currents, which flow in a circular motion. As trash is discarded along a coast, it travels inwards towards the center of the vortex. As humans have continually thrown trash into the sea, it has aggregated into monstrous piles, the dumps of the ocean. While many of us hold an idealized view of the beach, with blue waves and clean water, there is an abomination just beyond our sight. Plastic has gained immense popularity despite its inability to biodegrade. This has led to an incredible amount of waste which has simply been disposed along the coasts. Millions of sea creatures have mistakenly consumed it as food, often resulting in death. The biodiversity of the ocean is crumbling as pollutants are introduced to the oceans at exponentially increasing rates. We fail to understand the ocean, and for that reason, we fail to protect it. Ignorance is no excuse. Knowledge is power: the power to act. When large oil spills occur, we immediately blame the oil industry. However, we fail to realize that without our excessive consumption, these businesses would not have grown to their massive state. Likewise, the presence of these garbage mounds is not due to any single entity; it is due to each and every one of us. By acknowledging the damage we have done as individuals, we may begin to reverse it and return to a state of harmony with the natural world.