The White Tide

On World Oceans Day, Sea Shepherd creates a yellow and white tide to denounce the billions of cigarettes polluting the oceans.
A single cigarette butt can pollute up to 500 liters of water. Cigarette butts pollute the ocean even more than straws and plastic bags do. Every year, billions of them end up in the ocean, carried away by the wind, the rain, in rivers or in pipes, after having been carelessly thrown in the streets. The toxic chemical components they are made of contribute to the ocean’s acidification and are deadly to the marine animals who eat them.
On World Oceans Day, it is urgent to raise awareness on this serious matter. "The White Tide" is the name of Sea Shepherd’s campaign, which aims to denounce how cigarette butts are polluting and killing the oceans and their wildlife.
In order to make this ecological cataclysm tangible, the association created a strong metaphorical image: a viscous & sticky tide that looks like an oil spill but whose texture and colors (white and yellow) are similar to those of cigarettes.
Whether you’re a smoker or not, you have the power to act, at your own scale, to save the blue planet’s health.