Dutch student Boyan Slat is only 19 years old, but he already has 100 people working on his revolutionary plan to scoop thousands of tons of damaging plastics from the oceans. The world's "plastic soup," much of it swirling around in five main gyres or rotating oceanic currents, costs billions of dollars to the fishing and tourism sectors every year.
Once described by Aldous Huxley as the Lake Como of Guatemala, Lake Atitlán is a justified staple on the Central American tourist trail. However, over the past few years, agrochemicals, raw sewage, litter and shore development have taken their toll, turning the fresh blue water a murky shade of brown, turning tourists away.
