--- title: Environment: Prince Charles Urges Action to Protect World Oceans description: Prince Charles called ocean waste "one issue that we absolutely cannot ignore" canonical: https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-19T04:15:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:16:22.361Z article:section: Science og:title: Prince Charles Wants to Clean Up the World's Oceans og:description: The future King called ocean waste "one issue that we absolutely cannot ignore." og:url: https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1ed4e63c742776f/698784480b72e304a26de3d9/rtr4txas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Britain's Prince Charles greets participants in a conference about the rule of law in the 21st century as he visits the National Archives in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Charles Wants to Clean Up the World's Oceans twitter:description: The future King called ocean waste "one issue that we absolutely cannot ignore." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1ed4e63c742776f/698784480b72e304a26de3d9/rtr4txas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Britain's Prince Charles Urges Action to Clean Up the World's Oceans by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 19, 2015 4:15 AM UTC  Prince Charles, center, greets participants in a conference about the rule of law in the 21st century titled "The Magna Carta of the Future" as he visits the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2015 Prince Charles, center, greets participants in a conference about the rule of law in the 21st century titled "The Magna Carta of the Future" as he visits the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2015Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 19, 2015 4:15 AM UTC The U.K.’s Prince of Wales made an ardent speech on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., urging world governments to [tackle](http://news.yahoo.com/charles-camilla-surprise-us-students-washington-visit-184826340.html;%5Fylt=AwrTWVVXLQpV9V0AYOLQtDMD) the growing problem of oceanic pollution. Prince Charles told the government officials, corporate executives and nonprofit leaders present that he was “horrified” to learn that up to 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s seas each year. “One issue that we absolutely cannot ignore is that of the increasing quantity of plastic waste in the marine environment,” he said on the first day of his 20th official visit to the U.S., reports Agence France-Presse. The 66-year-old heir to the British throne then described a harrowing image of seabirds being killed after mistaking plastic for food. Accompanied by his wife Camilla, he also paid a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King Memorial. On Thursday, the Prince will meet with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office to discuss climate change, youth opportunities and other world affairs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/"},"headline":"Britain's Prince Charles Urges Action to Clean Up the World's Oceans","datePublished":"2015-03-19T04:15:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:16:22.361Z","description":"The future monarch called ocean waste \"one issue that we absolutely cannot ignore\"","url":"https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/","keywords":["Environment","Prince Charles","Pollution","U.K.","Oceans","Washington","waste"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1ed4e63c742776f/698784480b72e304a26de3d9/rtr4txas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1ed4e63c742776f/698784480b72e304a26de3d9/rtr4txas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Britain's Prince Charles greets participants in a conference about the rule of law in the 21st century as he visits the National Archives in Washington","caption":"Britain's Prince Charles greets participants in a conference about the rule of law in the 21st century as he visits the National Archives in Washington","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3750375/environment-prince-charles-oceans/","name":"Britain's Prince Charles Urges Action to Clean Up the World's Oceans"}}]}] ```