FusionStorm has launched a new foundation aimed at raising awareness, and to fund research to solve complex issues that face our planet.

The foundation’s first cause is to raise money for Project Kaisei. The project’s goals are to increase awareness of pollution in our oceans, and create solutions to clean up marine debris left by man. There are massive accumulations of marine debris, known as the North Pacific Garbage Patch, spread out over thousands of square miles of the Pacific Ocean. It is thought to contain millions of tons of plastic debris. Project Kaisei is the only known organization ready to take action to clean up the debris, except it lacks the funding to do so.

“We need to evolve. We need to take responsibility as world citizens for what we have done. It is that simple,” said John Varel, CEO of FusionStorm. “The FusionStorm Foundation aims to make a difference by raising funds and creating awareness of efforts that can have a pragmatic, world-changing effect. We believe our role as leaders in our world community is to serve as a catalyst for change by focusing on projects where the results can show a direct enhancement to the quality of life for all living creatures on Planet Earth. Project Kaisei is our first focus.”

Project Kaisei is the ocean cleanup initiative of Ocean Voyages Institute, a non-profit organization based in Sausalito, Calif.

“I am grateful to John Varel and the FusionStorm Foundation for their commitment to ocean cleanup,” said Mary T. Crowley, director of Ocean Voyages and co-founder of Project Kaisei. “For a healthy Earth, we must give our ocean ecosystem a chance to recover. Project Kaisei heralds that chance.”