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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Name:
Gabrielle Kleber
Affiliation:
Student
Current residence:
Clarkston, Michigan
Kurt Stepnitz/University Relations
Gabrielle Kleber is getting a global perspective…through garbage.
“I was given a grant by the Circumnavigators Club, which is an international
organization devoted to global unity.”
She wanted to see for herself how ocean pollution affects the
world and how the world is dealing with it.
“I independently planned and executed a three-month, around-the-world
trip, where I visited seven different countries. I was in Hawaii, Australia,
the Maldives, South Africa, England, Wales and Iceland. At each of these
locations, I was cleaning beaches and also speaking to locals—local experts,
local residents—about the issue and how it impacted their environment,
their socioeconomic impacts.”
Kleber says her ultimate goal was to raise global awareness of a
problem to which many never give a second thought.
“People don’t understand what happens when they throw something in
the ocean. I spoke with a lot of people in the fishing industry while I was
traveling, and they all said the same thing—that they’re just tossing it into
an abyss. They don’t realize how connected everything is, that an item
thrown overboard in Japan can make it around the world in six years.”
She learned a lot about the world and about garbage on her
journey. And, along the way, some other important things.
“Take opportunities as they come and take risks. You have to do both of
those things. You can’t just let opportunities go, because they’re not going to
come back. You have to jump on them and take risks. Nothing—nothing, out
of the ordinary—is easy, but it’s almost always worth it.”
Page 14
Gabrielle Kleber, an international beachcomber,
is looking for trash, not treasure. The MSU
senior, majoring in chemical engineering and
environmental studies, has already earned the
title of world traveler. With a grant from the
Circumnavigators Club Foundation, which
encourages global fellowship and understanding,
Kleber tracked ocean debris that’s polluting
the world’s waters. Her seven-country research
expedition took her to some exotic, though
not pristine, locales in Hawaii, Australia, the
Maldives, South Africa, Iceland and the United
Kingdom. Along the way, she talked to experts
and locals and picked up 72,000 pieces of trash—
everything from diapers to computer parts to a
castaway Barbie doll. But her larger mission is to
learn how governments around the globe deal with
ocean pollution and how that affects people’s lives.
See more
Spartan Sagas
and tell your
story
spartansagas.msu.edu.
Spring 2011 MSU Alumni Magazine