Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh tweeted against using balloons to celebrate loved ones when he shared a video of him swimming out to sea to collect a deflated heart-shaped balloon floating in the water, posing a danger to marine life.
Pugh, who is a “UN Patron of the Oceans,” shared the video on August 15, writing, “There are better ways to show your love than with a plastic balloon.”
In the video, Pugh can be heard saying as he climbs back on board his boat, “It just drives me nuts this stuff. There’s people let off all these balloons, showing the love to friends and relatives or whatever it is, and it just litters our beaches. All over the place.”
The clip of Pugh helping to clear the ocean of plastic had over 15,600 views at time of writing. Credit: Lewis Pugh via Storyful