In a shocking series of photographs, Seattle-based Chris Jordan has documented the impact that an abundance of plastic waste in the Pacific ocean has had on the albatross population...

Jordan's latest project, Midway: Message from the Gyre, simply shows a series of dead albatross chicks. But as each one decomposes, it offers up a vivid indication of what actually lead to its death: a diet of discarded plastic waste.

As Jordan explains on his site, chrisjordan.com, "These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manip