Mermaid with a mission: North Salem artist raises alarm over plastic pollution

NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - She was a mermaid with a message.

North Salem artist and environmental activist Chrissanth Greene-Gross literally strutted her plastic stuff on Surf Avenue as she joined schools of elaborately – and often scantily -- costumed fantastical sea creatures, marching bands, floats, and dancers at Coney Island’s annual Mermaid Parade.

It’s a wild and wacky exhibition of sequins, shells, glitter, and creativity that draws thousands of visitors to the beach, boardwalk, and amusement district every June.

What better place to promote the protection of the oceans, which are under siege by microplastics that release toxic chemicals and disrupt the critical ecological processes that regulate their health – and, in turn, the health of the planet?

Greene-Gross has been lobbying for the passage of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA), a proposed state law aimed at combating the crisis of overwhelming, polluting single-use packaging.

Plastic, once it enters the ocean, takes centuries to break down. The so-called microplastics travel insidiously through the marine food chain. Scientists report finding microplastics not only in marine animals, but also in drinking water, food supplies, and human bodies.

The proposed law shifts the financial and physical burden of waste management away from local taxpayers and municipalities to the large corporations that produce the packaging.

Naturally, the industry fought back.

As of this writing, the legislation – sponsored by Assemblymember Chris Burdick of Bedford (D-93rd District) and Sen. Pete Harckham of South Salem (D-40th District) in 2025 – is languishing in Albany.

This last go-round, it was co-sponsored in the state Assembly by Assemblymember Deborah Glick, who is not running for re-election. It was one of her signature issues.

The bill was reportedly one of the most lobbied-on pieces of legislation in the last session. It passed in the Senate but never made it to the floor in the Assembly.

This past April, Harckham and Glick released amendments to the legislation which watered down the bill’s language, included the extension of compliance deadlines, decreased penalties, and narrowed the list of banned chemicals.

According to the lawmakers, the sweeping revisions "reflect extensive engagement with industry leaders, legislators, municipalities, advocacy organizations, and states that have already enacted packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws."

“Through a long and engaged dialogue with stakeholders, we have forged a middle ground with these amendments to our bill, and now we are working to finally gain the necessary legislative and executive approvals that will save New Yorkers millions of dollars each year while helping to protect our environment,” said Harckham in April.

“The goal has always been to deliver a bill that strengthens environmental and public health protections for New Yorkers while remaining workable for industry,” Glick said.

DIVING INTO THE TRASH STREAM

As part of Beyond Plastics’ “New York is Not Disposable” campaign, Greene-Gross created a cascading, 50-foot long “visual aid” made from her own household plastic waste. She dramatically unfurled the piece on the capitol's so-called "Million Dollar Staircase" in 2024,  2025, and this year.

She began this particular journey after helping another artist collect plastic for a project.

After digging through her own family’s "trash stream,” she was “astounded” to find that 98 percent of its trash was plastic.

The discovery, she admitted, changed her “profoundly” and made her determined to not only share what she’d learned, but to inspire others to take action.

Greene-Gross has also lugged the ginormous piece, which she called “The Plastic Tidal Wave" when it was 25 feet long, to other places, such as schools, for educational purposes.

Now that it’s grown to 50 feet in length, it’s known as “Plastic Tsunami.”

In 2024, Greene-Gross had an exhibit – “Greenwashed” --of similarly themed artwork at Coldwell Banker’s gallery at the historic Bailey House in Somers.

SHELL-ABRATE GOOD TIMES

The Mermaid Parade showcases the creativity of individuals from the city’s five boroughs – and beyond.

According to its organizers, it kicks off the summer with a true celebration of incredible art, the Big Apple’s “entrepreneurial spirit,” and community pride.

Greene-Gross was inspired to create a smaller, wearable version of her original artwork for the event. It featured a red-haired mermaid valiantly struggling against a sea of trash.

The artist said the costume served as both a work of art and a “call to action, encouraging greater awareness of consumption habits, recycling practices, and environmental stewardship.”

"Mermaids have long symbolized the beauty and mystery of the sea," she explained. "This Plastic Mermaid tells a different story – one of a marine world increasingly overwhelmed by human-made waste. By creating the costume entirely from discarded plastic, I wanted to make visible a problem that is often hidden from view."