My piece Cosmic Recyclers was inspired by my many beach trips as a California kid growing up in LA. My mom would take me and my sister to see the tide pools at Leo Carrillo beach, and it's always been one of my most favorite memories. I loved getting to look into these tiny beautiful worlds that were full of so many (seemingly infinite!) kinds of life. But it was also incredibly sad to see all of the trash that was left behind and washed up on the shore. My mom also took me and my sister to volunteer and help clean up the LA River that flows into the Pacific. It was awful to see how much garbage was clogged up in it. The impact of our clean-up may have been relatively small, but it felt important to be able to help in any way that we could. Plastic pollution has caused an ongoing and devastating global crisis, destroying marine life and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem and the food chain. For my piece, I wanted to show how big of a problem this is, but also share the beauty of those underwater worlds and the importance of cleaning up the trash. I wanted to show that every effort, no matter how small, makes an impact. I love the idea that we can all try to be Cosmic Recyclers (even if we don't have cosmic tendrils to help us out!). - Robin Eisenberg

Robin Eisenberg