I spied an actual photo of an albatross, its black oily wings spread out on the rocky beach as if it had been crucified. Its gut was open and neatly filled with plastic—toys, straws, bottle caps, cigarette lighters, plastic bags. I commented how powerful of an ad campaign it was. The lab manager looked puzzled.

“That’s not an ad campaign,” she said frowning. “That’s the actual gut sample.”

photo: Algalita.org