What did Mark Rober learn about the root causes of water pollution during his experience with Team Seas in the Dominican Republic?

Mark Rober discovered that ocean pollution is primarily a systemic infrastructure problem rather than individual negligence. During his trip to the Dominican Republic, he initially saw mountains of trash flowing down rivers and assumed people were carelessly polluting. However, upon visiting poor neighborhoods upstream, he realized residents have no proper waste disposal options and are literally living on landfills through no fault of their own. This experience highlighted that temporary engineering solutions like trash-eating robots serve as crucial stopgap measures while governments work on long-term systemic fixes. Rober emphasized that the ultimate goal is to solve the problem upstream through proper infrastructure, making charitable cleanup efforts unnecessary. His work demonstrates how engineering innovation can address immediate environmental crises while advocating for sustainable, permanent solutions to global pollution challenges.