Kite Gang

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00

Kite Gang

Patrick McGrann

While working for the U.N., Patrick McGrann observed how bureaucracy and distance make it difficult to help people in troubled countries. He decided that in addition to needing jobs and stability, people in war-torn and poor areas also need to have fun.

On one of his trips home, Patrick met someone who had a great passion for kites. That meeting led to the founding of the Kite Gang. He tells Dick Gordon that children in refugee camps and their families face constricted opportunities; teaching them how to make kites can earn them some money and allow them to have fun at the same time.

Learn more about the Kite Gang
See photos of the Kite Gang

Plastic Ocean

Captain Charles Moore

Captain Charles Moore was sailing the Pacific in 1997 when he came across a large patch of plastic trash. His discovery shocked him, and compelled him to do research on the amount of trash in the ocean.

His recent findings are alarming: much of of the world's plastic waste has ended up off the western coast of the United States and the eastern coast of the Philippines. One floating garbage heap contains 3.5 million tons of junk, 80 percent of which is plastic.

Captain Moore talks to Dick about the problems plastic waste causes for marine and plant life, and why it's crucial to change the way we use plastic now.

See photos of the kinds of trash Capt. Moore finds in his research
Visit the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, where Captain Moore works
Watch a video clip explaining why plastic in the ocean is a problem

The Story from American Public Media - Kite Gang

Kite Gang

Kite Gang

Plastic Ocean