About ZeroPlus

The ZeroPlus Ocean Plastics Project is the passion project of artist and designer Eric Everson. The overall vision is to develop cheap and easy-to-reproduce tools that will make ocean plastic clean-up easier while raising awareness of the issue. Plans and instructions would then be freely available online under an open source model.

What's in a name?

In statistics, 0+ is used to denote when a number is not zero, yet is small enough to be statistically insignificant. On the one hand, the name for The ZeroPlus Ocean Plastics Project acknowleges that we will never be able to remove every last piece of plastic from the oceans. The oceans are too vast and deep and some plastics are just too small. On the other hand, if we work together we may one day reduce ocean plastic to a statistically insignificant amount.

Origins

One of Eric's favorite long-standing hobbies is to set himself various design challenges: to design something, usually home or transportation related, within a theme. Feeling the call of the Pacific, recent focus has been on live-aboard sailboats. The result of one such challenge was a concept for a bamboo trimaran for tropical cruising.

When the topic of ocean plastic came up, that trimaran design came rushing back to mind. A stable form factor and convenient structure for mounting would make the trimaran an excellent platform for developing an ocean plastic recovery skimmer. Building the full-size trimaran would be cost prohibitive and time-consuming, though. There must be a better way.

Thinking it through

Such is the way with creativity. Some ideas are better than others. Even some "good" ideas may not be worth the time and resources they would take to execute. More importantly, though, even good ideas can be made better with careful deliberation.

Phase I of this project has certainly required a lot of deliberation. It represents the synthesis of nearly half a century of interests, studies, and experiences. At the heart of it all is a deep and abiding reverance for nature. Phase I has involved getting clarity on project requirements and refining the preliminary designs, but even more time has been invested in the knowlege and skill building required for success.

The guiding question for how to proceed into Phase II has been, "what is the minimum amount of resources necessary to make this vision a reality?" This question guides not just the artist's immediate plans for development, but also how to make future adaptation by others as easy and economical as possible.

About the Artist

Farm boy. Sailor.
Way too kind-hearted to be the next Dread Pirate Roberts.

Eric is a medium-agnostic artist who prefers to blur the lines between art and design. His philosophy is that all forms of creativity are equally worthy. "If we consider design as something seperate from art, then design may be defined as applied art. In turn, art itself is applied philosophy, so why make the distinction at all?"

A minimalist with an interest in symbolism and exploring levels of abstraction, he enjoys the challenge of communicating an idea or concept simply and efficiently (likely why he finds designing the occasional logo or icon so stimulating). As someone who tends to think in 3D, a love of sculpture is only natural. From a practical perspective, however, the concept often dictates the medium of expression. Paint, pencil, or pixel might be just as likely applied.

    Key Terms
  • "secured" - purchased, registered, insured, required safety equipment, reasonably confident it won't sink.
  • "minimally functional" - safely sailable, working auxiliary power, functioning head and galley.
  • "initial prototype" - a prototype towable skimmer.
  • "minimal projected budget" - it might take more, but I don't think I can do it for less.