On 6 September, Helsinki celebrated Project AWARE's Debris Month of Action with a loud and big community event. Dimjami Music Band joined the celebrations to cheer up the divers who came together to conduct a Dive Against Debris survey and remove a staggering amount of marine debris from the Baltic sea.

"The main goal of the event is to make the people of Helsinki aware of the Baltic sea's dire condition, and that everyone can through their own choices and actions improve the condition of Helsinki's wonderful environmental element - the sea." commented Tiina Lehto. "This is a step towards a cleaner future!"

Artist Kristiina (Tikke) Tuura from Montreal also joined the AWARE Helsinki event to create a piece of artwork from the debris collected by Dive Against Debris volunteers.

"All the dirty, ugly, stinky pieces of trash found by volunteer divers can be turned into something beautiful to help raise awareness of the amount of marine debris that is polluting the Baltic sea" said Kristiina.

A panel of experts talked about the environmental effects and social significance of litter, and discussed the meaning of design for the environment.

"Thank you to all, who made this possible, companies, organizations, associations, divers, friends and all helsinkians, who came to see and help with our project." added Tiina letho.

For more photos of this year's Debris Month of Action events happening around the world, check out our Debris Month of Action 2014 photo album on Facebook. Thanks for diving against debris during Debris Month of Action!