Visit earth911 to see the full article, or Keep America Beautiful Inc. to see statistics from the largest-ever litter study.

Did you know 46,000 pieces of plastic litter float on every square mile of ocean? The Museum für Gestaltung Zürich presents plastic garbage from all the world's seas and illustrates this plastic catastrophe. "From the pieces shown visitors can trace the origins, life cycle, sense and senselessness of plastic products." Check out treehugger for the full story.

The installation above shows how much plastic garbage is released into the sea every 15 seconds!

Two-thirds of beach closing and advisories in 2011 were due to high bacteria levels in the beach water that exceeded public health standards. This number of days reached the third-highest level in the 22-year history of the report, with a total of 23,481 days over all the beaches surveyed.

The NRDC's 2012 annual report on water quality of US beaches can be a useful tool for both vacationers and policy makers, who can use the information to incite change. Those with weak immune systems, such as small children, elderly people, pregnant women, and cancer patients are most likely to get sick from contaminated beach water. "The 2011 results confirm that our nation's beaches continue to experience significant water pollution that puts swimmers and local economies at risk." Inform yourself before jumping in the water. Visit treehugger for the full article or view the water quality rating of the most popular beaches.

"Washed Ashore" was a project that cleaned up litter on Oregon beaches and transforms it into marine life sculptures that are harmed by it. Click here to view all the pictures from earth911.