Bird on a Wire by Robert Simmons. All Rights Reserved. I am a working scientist as well as an artist with a very deep interest in studies of small things. The smallest of things, material and biological, can have tremendous effects on the wider world. One very important aspect of plastics in the environment is that they tend to only break into small pieces, invisible to the naked eye, rather than degrade. These minute pieces are easily incorporated into the lowest levels of the food chain and begin the process of bioaccumulation of toxic materials Public awareness is the first step in reducing the use of these materials. Imagery is a powerful tool for introducing ideas and concepts where technical language, however accurate, might not be clearly understood. I use photography of marine debris as a means for getting the message out about the hazards of pollution at microscopic as well as the macroscopic scales. These images can be beautiful in form and color but when taken in context it is, indeed, a terrible beauty.