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*https://www.facebook.com/thevonwong/
*www.vonwong.com
*http://www.nature.com/news/bottles-bags-ropes-and-toothbrushes-the-struggle-to-track-ocean-plastics-1.20432
*http://www.discovery.com/dscovrd/nature/there-could-be-more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-ocean-by-2050/
*https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/04/pesky-plastic-the-true-harm-of-microplastics-in-the-oceans/

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Ben Von Wong's piece works great as the first step in activism for this particular issue.  The image is striking, thoughtful and at the same time easily digestible.  The piece is effective in immediately drawing people into the issue without having to know a lot about the background of it.  It also inspires a call to action in the viewer.  His message that we can all do a small part by recycling is clear and an easy first step.  Although the image doesn't touch upon the arguably worse topic of microplastics, it's a great first step in growing awareness about plastic in the oceans.
I'd recommend further reading about microplastics and their affect on sea creatures, particularly this piece by National Geographic.
https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/04/pesky-plastic-the-true-harm-of-microplastics-in-the-oceans/

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An x-ray scan showing microplastics in an individual zooplankton.
https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/04/pesky-plastic-the-true-harm-of-microplastics-in-the-oceans/

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Benjamin Von Wong is known for his sweeping vistas and large messages in his photographs. What he sometimes misses or doesn't touch on , is the finer details of whichever issue he is advocating. In this case, while he does a great job drawing attention to plastic bottles in the ocean, his campaign misses the arguably bigger problem of microplastics. Microplastics aren't visible to the naked eye and are extremely hard to clean up. For this reason, they cause an even bigger problem in the food chain, starting in the smallest of creatures and working their way up to the largest. Von Wong's piece fails to recognize this, instead focusing on the more visible and easier to clean up plastic bottles.

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A fish swims with a plastic bag attached to it's fin, highlighting the amount of plastic garbage in the ocean.
*http://www.discovery.com/dscovrd/nature/there-could-be-more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-ocean-by-2050/

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Plastic bottles washed up on Kamilo beach in Hawaii.  The beach is famous for it's white sand, but has been called the dirtiest beach in the world.  According to the journal Nature, up to 30% of the top layer of sand is garbage.
*http://www.nature.com/news/bottles-bags-ropes-and-toothbrushes-the-struggle-to-track-ocean-plastics-1.20432

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Vong Wong and his crew sort through 10,000 plastic bottles, cleaning them and removing the caps. The 10,000 plastic bottles represent how many plastic bottles an average American will consume in a lifetime.
*www.vonwong.com

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Ben Vong Wong shot a series of images of a mermaid in an ocean made of plastic. In the images, the mermaid is swimming and then eventually washed up dead on shore. The series is titled "10,000 plastic bottles, a mermaid, and a single wish", because the average number of plastic bottle Americans consume in a lifetime is 10,000. Von Wong aims to highlight the sheer amount of plastic in the ocean, and the deadly affect it has on fish. His depiction of the dead mermaid helps to accomplish this while also humanizing it. Von Wong wants to create a conversation about plastic drinking bottles and encourage people to re-use and recycle their plastic. This image accomplishes that by using plastic water bottles as the sea, which draws attention to the irony of our water bottles(a source of nourishment) being the cause of the death for sea creatures. it also highlights the fact that this reality can be changed by moving away from plastics or recycling what we do use.

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By 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the sea.

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By 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the sea.

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A mermaid is depicted washed up dead on the shore.  The water in the sea is made of plastic, highlighting the amount of plastic and it's affect in fish in the ocean.
*www.vonwong.com

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Benjamin Von Wong is a Canadian Photographer specializing in large scale, hyper-realistic fantasy and activist photography. He shoots for corporations like Nike and Sony, but also focuses on collaborative work with corporations that aims to bring awareness to social and environmental issues like climate change and hunger in third world nations.  Von Wongs work regularly goes viral, and his most recent campaign, a mermaid lying on 10,000 plastic bottles is his most successful yet.

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*https://www.facebook.com/thevonwong/