Into the Ocean | Branching Out | Part 3

[Music] As we eco-road trip across this amazing land, we can't forget the rivers we've crossed and the waves crashing beside coastal roads. More than 70 percent of our planet is covered in water, and more than 96 of that is in our oceans. Unfortunately, 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. That waste threatens not only life beneath the surface but also up here on land.

So today, we're following conservationists who are helping marine mammals—those that are suffering because of our pollution. "How's the man?" If you look, whoa! And we get to see how some innovative robots are catching the plastic before it makes it out to sea. Well, thankfully we have this robot because we missed all that.

I'm Ginger Z, chief meteorologist at ABC News. My family and I are hitting the road to help rebuild and get a firsthand look at what it takes to save the planet. [Music]

We begin in Florida's Crystal River, the goal: spot a sea cow, an adorable mammal that is currently threatened. "Who are we gonna see today? You know, like the three of us, we really like outdoors. Just a little worried about that, making fun of this hat. But let me tell you something; I'm going to be the only one without a sunburned neck. Who's ready?"

[Music] I feel like I'm just paddling a king right now. This kid, you tired? On our trip down the Crystal River, we saw fish, a turtle hanging on the log. "You want to go say hi?" And even a pirate. "Have you seen any manatees today, Captain Jackie?" "I did, but today we're here to see the manatee."

The Florida manatee has lost more than 20 percent of their total population in just the last year. Pollution from leaking septics, agricultural, and residential fertilizers are feeding algal blooms, which block out the sun and kill much of the seagrass, which is the manatee's main food source.

"Matthew, look! This is not just to meet Ben's best friends—the manatees love them! It's to celebrate them because they are having a tough time on the other side of Florida." Yeah, big time issues with water pollution, so we are going to see something that is threatened right now, and that's why they're so important. We have to be very careful around them.

[Music] "I thought, yes, you could see your body! Maybe she'll come over and say hello." Conservationists have stepped up efforts to rehabilitate the manatees that are in need of help, even releasing this healthy manatee back to its natural home today. "This was a great adventure! This is awesome, and I did not get a sunburn on my neck."

Next, we're off to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to meet an innovative Googled-eyed garbage-eating robot that's helping save our oceans. "We are about to do what, gentlemen? We're gonna meet Mr. Josh Deal, Mr. Trash Wheel!"

The Inner Harbor water wheel, affectionately known as Mr. Trash Wheel, sits at the outlet of the Jones Falls River. That's where we found John Collette, the engineer behind this innovative contraption. "Welcome aboard, Mr. Trash Wheel! This is the Jones Falls River; it drains a big section of Baltimore County and Baltimore City. When it rains, all the trash that's on the streets, in the parking lots, and in the alleys gets washed down into the storm drains and eventually into the river. The river brings it down here; this is really the last chance to get it before it spreads out all over the harbor and the Chesapeake Bay, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean."

"Can you see a minute?" "We sure can! When do you guys want to do it?" "He's moving! Let's see, we got it, we got it, we got it!" "So what do you see in there, Miles?" "It's, um, recently in buttercups. Yup, and that is so great that it's not gonna go into the harbor, into the ocean!"

Right to date, Mr. Trash Wheel has collected more than two million tons of garbage and debris that would have gone into the ocean, and Mr. Trash Wheel's super green! He runs entirely on renewable energy. On a day like today, when we don't have a lot of flow in the river, the solar panels charge batteries. Batteries power pumps, and the pumps dump water up into the buckets of the wheel, and the weight of the water turns the wheel. The turning of the wheel gives us the power to run the rakes in the conveyor age. "What do you think he sounds like when he's eating?"

The success of Mr. Trash Wheel led to the deployment of three other trash wheels in Baltimore alone, and John and his team are looking to build others on the West Coast and in Central America. "Can you guys locate Mr. Trash Mail?" "Yeah! Bye, Mr. Trash! You're doing your thing! Stay hungry!"

To finish up, we're heading south to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, to do some beach cleanup with Alex Shules, the co-founder of Four Ocean. This is a group that, around the world, cleans up 20 million pounds of trash already. Four Ocean has human crews all over the world cleaning up trash from beaches and oceans, but now they've teamed up with poorly marine to get a robotic volunteer called the Bee Bot.

"You guys want to use a robot?" "Yes! Clean the beach! Let's clean the beach up!" "I've been wanting to do this with you all forever! You're going to push this guy just slowly forward." "Oh yeah, he's rocking!"

So it uses tank tracks and drives around the beach, and it'll skim the top surface of the sand and it'll collect plastic and any type of debris that's on the beach. "Look! A candy wrapper!" "You've got cigarette butts, you've got bottle caps, bottle caps, lots of bottle caps, more wrappers!"

Well, thankfully we have this robot because we missed all that. Four Ocean is on a mission to end the plastic crisis; that means not only cleaning up but educating people about the terror that single-use plastics have created in our oceans. "We sell products made with a portion of plastic that we've collected from the ocean. This is actually the ocean drought bracelet, which has little microplastic in the actual bezel. And that's that—it’s more of that conversation starter. So it not only funds cleanup but also enables people to have that conversation. Say, 'What is that?'"

"This is my idea of family fun on the beach! I'm not joking. I'm so happy! This is the best way to wrap up an eco trip!" It really did feel amazing to have the family learning and working together, doing our part.

And we really hope that you might join us, because we're all in this together. "You guys give me big high-fives for cleaning up the beach!" "High five!" "You know who that's from? Mother Nature!" "Well done!" "And your mommy and daddy!"

Click on the links below to watch more episodes of Branching Out. [Music] [Music]