WDC, SpecialEffect and Secret Mode joined forces with over 40 games devs to clean up Brighton Beach during the UK’s biggest conference and expo for game developers, Develop:Brighton.
This excellent event was kindly sponsored by WDC partner, Secret Mode, which is publishing an ocean-cleaning game called Loddlenaut, and was a great opportunity for individuals from across the games industry to network while making positive impact on the ocean. The group was split into two teams; Team Whale and Team Dolphin, to see who could collect the most. Within an hour, the teams collected nearly 8kg consisting of over 1500 items of litter. This included a shocking 217 bottle tops, 158 food packages, and 203 loose pieces of plastic. They also collected a staggering 347 cigarette butts, with smoking items in general (including vapes, filters and cigarette packs), constituting a massive 25% of all items found that morning.
The group also found some more unusual items including a mini sombrero, a whole Pringles tube with pringles still inside, a coat hanger, underwear (!), a small rubber octopus and a Wonder Woman pin badge. By the end of the event Team Whale earned the top score by just over a kilo – but everyone was a winner really.
“It was an honour to tidy a small section of the beach, which looked pristine to start with but as we looked further, we noticed so many small items of trash.” Says James Schall, WDC Ambassador and VP of publishing strategy at Secret Mode. “It was quite the eye opener that most of the items we found were small but so numerous. In our game Loddlenaut, the player arrives on an alien world and embarks on a mission to clean up the otherworldly ocean – hopefully it will inspire our players to be super careful with how we use and throw away items, especially ones that will be with us for years!”
“It was amazing to see the games industry come together so eagerly to make a positive impact in the ocean. 95% of the plastic pollution found in the ocean comes directly from our towns and cities, and over time this plastic breaks down into smaller fragments due to exposure to the sun, wind and waves.” Says Sally Ward, Digital Partnerships Manager, “It never really disappears though; the pieces just get smaller and smaller, becoming microplastics, causing great harm to whales and dolphins and all sea life. Enabling people to make a difference in this way was really inspiring and it was also a lot of fun!”
If you are inspired by this event and would like to arrange your own Urban Beach Clean for your business or event visit https://uk.whales.org/urban-beach-clean and don’t forget to wishlist Loddlenaut on Steam!
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